Anthony Mackie's Desert Warrior Is One Of The Biggest Box Office Flops Ever

Many times, when a movie bombs at the box office, it generates a lot of attention. Take the Melania Trump documentary "Melania," which flopped at the box office earlier this year in spectacular fashion. But every once in a while, a giant flop slips through the cracks in terms of the larger cultural conversation. That's precisely what happened with "Desert Warrior," which is now on track to become one of the biggest flops ever.

Starring Anthony Mackie ("Captain America: Brave New World") and directed by Rupert Wyatt ("Rise of the Planet of the Apes"), "Desert Warrior" opened in North American theaters last weekend, though hardly anyone noticed. It made just $487,848 on just over 1,000 screens, making for an abysmal $483 per-screen average. That gives it one of the worst box office openings of all time, but it gets so much worse.

This movie, which most people reading this probably haven't even heard of, carries a monster $150 million production budget. It's also been caught in post-production hell for several years. As "Michael" ruled the box office on its opening weekend, this historical epic quietly bombed its way into the history books.

The film centers on a princess who flees into the Arabian desert as she's hunted by mercenaries. Forged into a warrior and aided by a legendary bandit (Mackie), she unites warring tribes for a last stand that will alter the course of history. The cast also includes Ben Kingsley ("Iron Man 3"), Sharlto Copley ("Monkey Man"), and Aiysha Hart ("A Discovery of Witches").

To be crystal clear, this movie's failure can't be placed on Anthony Mackie's shoulders, or any of the actors for that matter. Heck, for reasons we'll get into, Rupert Wyatt can only shoulder so much of the blame here. It's a mess that is far bigger than any one person. But before we get into that, it's worth discussing historical context. This isn't just a big box office bomb. Depending on how things shake out, this could be the single biggest bomb ever. At the very least, it's going to wind up in the discussion, barring a miracle.

Determining the single biggest bomb ever isn't an exact science but there are some well known examples we can look to. "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" may well be the biggest box office bomb of all time. Starring Eddie Murphy, the failed sci-fi/comedy made just $7.1 million worldwide on a $100 million budget. It truly doesn't get much worse than that. "Desert Warrior," as it stands, would be very lucky to clear $3 million domestically.

There's also another historical epic in the form of "The 13th Warrior," which was a bomb for the ages, taking in less than $62 million worldwide on a budget reported to be as high as $160 million. At this point, "Desert Warrior" isn't going to sniff a number that high, if the domestic numbers are any indication. There is, however, a pretty major caveat.

"Desert Warrior" was a Saudi-funded production from MBC Group. It was shot in Saudi Arabia and isn't Hollywood fare. When this movie starts rolling out overseas, it's entirely possible that audiences show up in a way Americans didn't. If that doesn't happen? Yikes.

So, what the hell happened? How did "Desert Warrior" suffer such a grim fate? Vertical Entertainment picked up the domestic rights in February, and it's a small-time distributor. It was never going to do big business in Vertical's hands. Were the backers banking on it doing the vast majority of its business elsewhere in the world? Perhaps. Hollywood can no longer depend on the Chinese box office largely because China is favoring homegrown titles these days. Maybe something similar will happen in Saudi Arabia.

More likely, this is the result of a troubled production that has been in the works for years. This movie began filming in late 2021, with production wrapping in early 2022. Deadline published a deep-dive into the behind the scenes drama back in 2024, revealing that Rupert Wyatt walked away during editing over creative differences, only to return later. He is said to have wanted a "nuanced" movie, while the MBC wanted something more akin to "Braveheart."

Filming itself wasn't troubled, per se, according to accounts. It all fell apart in post-production, which took years to complete. Also, a large chunk of the $150 million budget was literally putting infrastructure in place to manage a production of this size. "On-set insiders say Saudi production hub Neom Media was effectively laying the infrastructure for an entire industry on the budget of 'Desert Warrior,'" the report noted.

It was a big production where creative differences got in the way, and it was minimally marketed to American audiences with a bad reception. It's sitting at 27% on Rotten Tomatoes right now. This movie's place in the history books will be solely determined by overseas audiences in the weeks/months to come.