Cocaine Bear helmer Elizabeth Banks says the blame for the failed film reboot of Charlie's Angels begins and ends with her after the action-comedy bombed at the box office.
During an interview with Variety, Banks spoke about how the 2019 installment of Charlie's Angels struggled to generate box-office buzz. Despite past comments that seemed to suggest sexism was at play for the movie's downfall, Banks owned up to its struggles. 'I took full responsibility for Charlie's Angels -- certainly no one else did," Banks said. "It was all laid on me and I happily accepted, because what else am I supposed to do?"
Banks' Charlie's Angels is the latest installment in the franchise and the first since Full Throttle in 2003. Starring Banks as a former Angel who became Charlie's assistant, Charlie's Angels featured Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska as new-generation Angels while Djimon Hounsou and Noah Centineo also featured in the movie. With a budget of up to $55 million, Charlie's Angels could only muster $73.3 million at the global box office, becoming the second successive reboot in the franchise to flop after the failed 2011 TV series of the same name. In past interviews, Banks expressed her displeasure regarding the marketing of Charlie's Angels, disagreeing with its perception as a symbol of feminism.
Elizabeth Banks Looks to the Future
Looking for a big bounce back, Banks has admitted several times she's taking a risk making Cocaine Bear, saying in the interview that it could be a 'career-ender.' The action-comedy film is inspired by the true story of an American black bear that ingested a duffel bag of cocaine in 1985 and later died. After the bear ingests the hard drug, it goes on a killing rampage throughout a small Georgia town, leading to a collaboration between locals and tourists to survive the wave of attacks.
The first trailer for Cocaine Bear dropped last November, generating interest in the film and its premise. It features The Americans' Keri Russell, Straight Outta Compton's O'Shea Jackson Jr., Solo: A Star Wars Story's Alden Ehrenreich and The Many Saints of Newark's Ray Liotta in one of his last theatrical features before his death last May while filming Dangerous Waters in the Dominican Republic.
After starring in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, Seabiscuit and The Hunger Games, Banks launched her producing and directing careers with the Pitch Perfect movie franchise. The original Pitch Perfect, which Banks co-produced, accumulated $115 million at the worldwide box office on a $17 million budget following its 2012 release. Meanwhile, the Banks-helmed Pitch Perfect 2 became the highest-grossing musical comedy film ever made, bringing in $287 million globally after debuting in 2015. Pitch Perfect 3 became the second-highest-grossing musical comedy movie ever with $185 million in global ticket sales. Cocaine Bear marks Banks' third feature film in the director's chair, following Pitch Perfect 2 and Charlie's Angels.
Cocaine Bear opens in theaters on Feb. 24.
Source: Variety