Thescreescore – Amazon Prime Video’s latest sci-fi offering, a reimagining of H.G. Wells’ classic War of the Worlds, is facing a critical mauling, performing significantly worse than Tom Cruise’s 2005 adaptation on Rotten Tomatoes. While the streaming giant has scored successes with original films like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and Coming 2 America, and even the Chris Pratt-led The Tomorrow War, this latest venture into the genre falls dramatically short. Cruise, a veteran of sci-fi hits like Minority Report, Edge of Tomorrow, and Oblivion, has a track record that Prime Video’s version simply can’t match.
The 2005 War of the Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg, boasts a respectable 76% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, despite a less-than-stellar 42% audience score (Popcornmeter). This new iteration, a screenlife film starring Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, and Clark Gregg, directed by Rich Lee, and penned by Kenneth A. Golde and Marc Hyman, currently sits at a dismal 10% on the Popcornmeter, based on over 100 audience reviews. While critical scores are pending, the early audience reaction paints a bleak picture. Despite being Prime Video’s current global streaming champion, the film’s critical failure casts a shadow over its commercial success.
This isn’t to say that a low audience score automatically translates to box office failure; Cruise’s War of the Worlds proves that. However, the abysmal audience reception for Prime Video’s version suggests a significant hurdle to overcome. Generating the necessary word-of-mouth buzz to sustain a long-term streaming presence seems highly improbable given the current trajectory. The question remains: can Prime Video’s marketing muscle overcome this critical chasm, or will this War of the Worlds be relegated to the digital battlefield’s casualty list? Only time will tell. Source: Rotten Tomatoes.
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