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Coming off the success of 2004’sRay, which earned Jamie Foxx an Oscar win for Best Actor, the acclaimed actor joined forces with prominent A-lister Jessica Biel for the 2005 sc-fi actionStealth. And despite having a substantial amount of star power behind the movie, which cost Columbia Pictures a whopping $135M, the end product left a lot to be desired for both fans and the studios.
Not only the movie was panned by critics and fans upon its release, but it also became a historic bomb that didn’t even manage to pull its budget back, falling short by $61.6M. And while another summer blockbusterRevenge of the Sith, which dominated 2005’s summer, didn’t make things easier forStealth, it isn’t the lone reason behind its box-office disappointment.
Also read:“I’m not a clone”: Jamie Foxx Reveals His Medical Condition Was So Bad He Couldn’t Even Walk, Addresses Bizarre Rumors After His Recovery
The Predictable Plot Didn’t HelpStealth’s Box-Office Run
For a movie released around the same timeframe asStar Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, it was always going to struggle. However, the third entry in the prequel trilogy isn’t the lone factor behindStealth‘s historic bomb at the box office, as the movie itself wasn’t very good. And the general complaint against the movie was how predictable its plot was, with many deeming it as a dumb-downedTop Gun, without Tony Scott’s flair. Another notable element that held back the Jamie Foxx-led action flick was its unrealistic dialogue.
Furthermore, renowned film critic Roger Ebert’sreviewof the sci-fi flick, which came beforeStealth‘s release, called it an unsuccessful mashup ofTop Gunand2001, which also contributed to its failure.
Also read:Jamie Foxx’s Strange Encounter With Some Girls in a Club Gave the ‘Collateral’ Actor a Hard Reality Check
Jamie Foxx Later Opened Up About His Discomfort PromotingStealth
Unsurprisingly, the actors involved in the project were too aware ofStealth‘s shortcomings, especiallyJamie Foxx, who recalled he wasn’t comfortable promoting the action flick. While the actor’s career didn’t suffer a lasting impact fromStealth‘s disastrous performance, he wasn’t very proud of the end product and only promoted it due to contractual obligations. Hesaid,
“Sometimes you do a movie and you have to go promote it, so on Stealth I was like, ‘Yeah, this is the greatest.’ And people would see me after seeing the movie and say, ‘I can’t believe you lied to me like that.’”
Also read:Jamie Foxx Made Ellen DeGeneres Regret Being His Friend After She Was Left Stranded on the Side of a Road
Following its unsuccessful run at the box office, the studios reportedly suffered a net loss of $111.7 million, with the movie falling into obscurity. On the bright side, both Biel and Foxx moved on to bigger and better things, and while the studios didn’t earn a dime, the actors did get their paychecks for investing their time in this dumpster fire.
Stealthis available to rent on Apple TV.
Santanu Roy
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2543
Santanu Roy is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on movies, with over 2,000 articles under his belt. He has been pursuing a degree in Animation and possesses a deep love for the medium of animation. Having spent the better part of the last two years pumping out articles for FW, Santanu excels at covering movie analysis and news surrounding Pixar, DCU, DreamWorks, and Batman’s cinematic legacy.With psychological thrillers and intimate slice-of-life dramas ranking among his favorite genres, Santanu is a big admirer of Luca Guadagnino, Shane Black, Park Chan-wook, and Brad Bird.
