by 
Last updated on December 10th, 2021
This weekend’s box office figures are in, and the “Jem and the Holograms” movie did worse than even initially low expectations projected.
The live-action film based on the popular 80s cartoon opened this weekend with a total of $1.3 million. It’s the fourth worst opening ever for a film opening in more than 2,000 theaters, and the worst ever for a film opening in more than 2,400 theaters. The film’s producer specializes in films that’re low budget (“Jem” cost $5 million to produce), so I suppose there’s the possibility of the film making some money in the end, especially from overseas. Of course, that cynically assumes non-North American viewers will watch anything/”don’t know better.”
Forbes pointed out in an article that the current nostalgia-reboot-craze is heavily based on male-centric properties that get plenty of reboot changes/large budgets, while female-centric properties get ignored, no reboot chances, and/or low budgets. Of course, there’s also the nature of this film missing the point of its parent TV show by a country mile, even if it wasn’t saddled by a low budget.
The film’s earned a 20% Rotten Tomatoes rating, though that’s higher than several of the other films it was up against, the similarly low budgeted “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” (13%), along with “Rock the Kasbah” (8%) and “The Last Witch Hunter” (14%). “Kasbah” made a similar amount of money, but since it had triple the budget of “Jem” (a whopping $15 million), it’s in an even worse shape.
On the bright side, the “Jem” comic book has gotten rave reviews, and has been collected into a trade paperback. If you want a modernized, decent portrayal of the Holograms, save your movie ticket money and buy the comic instead.
