It seems as though Bloodshot is already in danger of being erased from the history books entirely, despite only getting released in theaters two weeks ago. Vin Diesel made the call not to delay the movie’s debut despite the growing Coronavirus pandemic, and while making the decision based on his fans should be commended, it looks to have backfired.
The comic book adaptation sank at the domestic box office, failing to even crack the $10 million barrier, although that came as part of the lowest-grossing weekend in 22 years. Things got progressively worse, with the Coronavirus crisis forcing the movie business into a state of virtual lockdown, torpedoing any chance that Bloodshot had of making a profit, even with a relatively thrifty $42 million budget.
In an attempt to recoup their losses, Sony have already made it available for digital download in an effort to convince the quarantined and self-isolated to shell out and watch Bloodshot from the comfort of their own homes, but unless they can secure a release in the key Asian markets where Diesel remains incredibly popular, the project looks set to end up firmly in the red.
We reported the other day that Bloodshot’s failure had the producers seriously considering a reboot already, with Paramount set to swoop in and pick up the property from Sony and Diesel possibly being recast. And now, we’ve heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Transformers is being rebooted and National Treasure 3 is in development, both of which were correct – that the soft reboot will be based on the Bloodshot Reborn run of comics, which seems a little ironic given the circumstances.
For those unfamiliar with the run, here’s the synopsis from Wikipedia:
Relaunched in 2015 by Jeff Lemire and Mico Suayan it ran for 18 regular issues, plus a #0, and annual, and the Bloodshot Island 4 issue miniseries. Bloodshot has had his nanites removed by Kay McHenry (Geomancer) and is trying to live a normal life. But when a number of shootings are carried out by men who look like Bloodshot, he must go back into the world he tried to leave behind.
Having shelled out nine figures for the rights to make movies and TV shows based on Valiant characters, there’s no chance that the producers behind the series were going to let Bloodshot‘s failure see them fall at the first hurdle. Most people will have probably forgotten that it even exists by the time the Coronavirus crisis is over, too, so we’ll no doubt be hearing about this proposed reboot in the not too distant future. Especially now that Paramount is taking over from Sony and already has numerous other Valiant characters under their roof.