It’s both tragic and ironic when a disaster movie becomes a box-office disaster. "Pompeii" made only $23.2 million dollars during its run in domestic theaters earlier this year, which was but a mere fraction of its $100 million production cost.
When I did my theatrical review of "Pompeii" back in February, I didn’t know it’d be such a commercial disaster. The movie had all the elements that make a disaster film enjoyable (including corny catchphrases and a predictable love story), so my guess as to why it was such a box office disaster is this:
"The Lego Movie" was released two weeks before "Pompeii" and enjoyed a number one spot at the box office for four solid weeks. During that same time period, and one week before "Pompeii's" release, Kevin Hart’s "About Last Night" also came out. In my opinion, with all of the comedic competition, this was a disastrous time to release a disaster movie.
I saw "Pompeii" in all of its 3D-glory, and I believe that it is one of those films that takes advantage of this technology. There is nothing cooler than having large explosions and debris flying all over the screen and in your face. The Blu-ray comes with the 3D version of the film, so you can fully experience the movie as it was intended to be seen (provided you have a 3D HDTV and Blu-ray player).
Upon a second viewing of the film, I stick by my original rating and would highly recommend this movie for a weekend rental and/or purchase.
Film: 3.5 Yaps Extras: 4 Yaps