In the Lost Lands, the most recent collaboration between husband-and-wife duo Paul W. S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich, has just been released in theaters, and, unfortunately, it seems to be struggling to find a proper audience. In the Lost Lands was based off of a George R. R. Martin short story, telling the story of a witch who ventures into the dangerous “Lost Lands” in order to find a gift for a queen. The movie came out on March 7th, and so far, its Rotten Tomatoes score has left a lot to be desired.
In the Lost Lands‘ reviews were pretty negative across the board, with most of the criticisms aimed at the poor storytelling and production. Dave Bautista was the other big name attached to In the Lost Lands‘ cast, unfortunately adding another blemish to his filmography. Even though the project looked like it could have been promising, the extremely poor reviews for the film indicate that In the Lost Lands won’t be replacing Milla Jovovich’s most popular series, the Resident Evil movie franchise.
In The Lost Lands’ Poor Rotten Tomatoes Score Means It’s Probably Not Milla Jovovich’s Next Big Franchise
The Film Is Unlikely To Repeat Milla Jovovich’s Past Successes
Milla Jovovich is a very well-known actress, who has been pretty consistently solid in some of her more action-focused films, able to carry some movies and series to a good amount of success. However, her biggest film franchise was undoubtedly her Resident Evil movies, which managed to earn a total of $1.2 billion at the box office over the course of seven movies. While those movies were never huge critical darlings, they were generally regarded as some of the better video game movies, at least until the much better adaptations that have been coming out in recent years.
While there are seven total Resident Evil live-action movies, the most recent film, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, was a full reboot of the property, not featuring Milla Jovovich.
In the Lost Lands has been received much worse than most of the Resident Evil movies, and especially considering today’s movie landscape, it is very unlikely that this film is going to launch another franchise that could rival those movies. These days, audiences tend to have higher standards when it comes to the moviegoing experience, and a mediocre or bad adaptation of a relatively unknown short story isn’t going to be able to break out in the way it would need to if it wants to become a serious franchise going forward.
Resident Evil Wasn’t A Critical Success Either, But Had A Major Advantage
Resident Evil Managed To Become A Hit Despite Its Shortcomings
As noted earlier, the Resident Evil movies were never really successful when it came to critical reviews, but those films still had a couple of big advantages over this most recent attempt. The most obvious reason for their success was the fact that Resident Evil was, and remains, a very successful and popular video game franchise outside the movies, giving it a significant advantage in name recognition. While In the Lost Lands‘ original author, George R. R. Martin, is very well-known, the work itself isn’t something most people would recognize.
|
Milla Jovovich Resident Evil Movie |
Worldwide Box Office |
|---|---|
|
Resident Evil |
$103,787,401 |
|
Resident Evil: Apocalypse |
$129,342,769 |
|
Resident Evil: Extinction |
$149,871,103 |
|
Resident Evil: Afterlife |
$300,228,084 |
|
Resident Evil: Retribution |
$240,647,629 |
|
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter |
$314,101,190 |
Even though the Resident Evil weren’t the most faithful adaptations of the games, the series began back when video game movies weren’t as common, and were generally a lot worse than they tend to be today, with projects like the Sonic franchise and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. While the Resident Evil movies weren’t anything amazing, they were able to get by with a combination of name recognition and fun action scenes that weren’t as common to come by in those days.
Why In The Lost Lands Had Real Franchise Potential
The Film Could Have Been Something Much Bigger
As Hollywood is very focused on franchises these days, it makes sense that the filmmakers were likely thinking of In the Lost Lands as a film that could launch a much larger franchise. It has all the necessary ingredients: it is an adaptation of something that has a connection to something very popular in George R. R. Martin, it has a cast headlined by two pretty big stars, and it takes place in a large world that has a lot of potential for future stories.
Related
Where To Watch In The Lost Lands: Showtimes & Streaming Status
Dave Bautista and Milla Jovovich star in the Paul W.S. Anderson adaptation of a fantasy short story from Game of Thrones’ author George R.R. Martin.
Initially, it might seem like a strange property to base a franchise around, as the only thing to adapt from is a single short story, but it absolutely could’ve grown into something much bigger. George R. R. Martin is extremely well-known for his fantasy books, most obviously A Song of Ice and Fire, and if this movie was well-received, it could’ve easily ridden off his name to continue to grow. Unfortunately, In the Lost Lands‘ poor reception means that Martin is unlikely to go back to the world himself, and few people would look forwards to another movie.
In the Lost Lands
2/10
- Release Date
-
March 7, 2025
- Runtime
-
101 Minutes
- Director
-
Paul W. S. Anderson
- Producers
-
Jeremy Bolt, Kirk D’Amico, Milla Jovovich, Dave Bautista, Jonathan Meisner