Sometimes, you hear a pitch for a movie that leaves you scratching your head and wondering who the hell could possibly be asking for such a thing to exist. In the case of 2016’s forgotten financial disaster Monster Trucks, the concept was literally co-created by a four year-old child, who also happened to be the son of Paramount’s president.
Taking its title incredibly literally, the story is of course about a truck that is also a monster. Lucas Till’s high schooler is putting one of the titular vehicles together from bits and pieces of scrap, when an unusual creature that just so happens to feed on oil escapes from an underground system of subterranean tunnels being disrupted by a fracking operation, forcing it to seek refuge under the hood of said car. And thus; the monster truck (with genuine monster) is born.
In a turn of events nobody could have possibly seen coming except from every single person who was aware of its existence, nobody cared about the film in the slightest, causing Monster Trucks to bomb spectacularly. At an eye-watering cost of $125 million, paying customers only found themselves willing to shell out $64 million in ticket sales, leaving the studio deep in the red.
One day, Hollywood will learn that gifting the world with a very expensive blockbuster nobody asked for, needed, or wanted and then expecting it to magically make money in spite of poor reviews is not a solid business model, but we’re a long way away from that happening. However, Monster Trucks has managed to do the unthinkable, by hooking a brand new crowd on streaming.
Per FlixPatrol, the long-forgotten flop of epic proportions is the 22nd most-watched title on Netflix around the world, and the danger is there that it could yet rise higher as the week moves on. Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about the prospect of sequels.