Assassin's Creed started off as a promising project. The film sported an experienced creative team behind it -- including stars Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and director Justin Kurzel (Macbeth). The talent was also helped by Ubisoft Studios' major investment in the film, giving it an even greater chance for success. Yet somehow, the film is shaping up to be one of the year's biggest flops.

Based off the bestselling video game series, Assassin's Creed follows Callum Lynch, who uses a device called the Animus to explore the memories of his 15th century ancestor Aguilar -- who was, as the film's title would suggest, an assassin. The concept is ideal for cinematic adaptation and, at first, general audiences seemed to think likewise. However, the film's financial result suggests video game adaptations will continue searching for that breakout hit.

THR reports that Assassin's Creed is currently on track to lose between $75 - $100 million. The film opened to a meager $14.9 million over the four-day Christmas holiday, leading to a disappointing six-day total of $22.4 million. Taking into account the film's $125 million dollar production budget, Assassin's Creed doesn't look to have a very bright future.

Marion Cotillard as Sophia Rikkin in Assassin's Creed
Marion Cotillard as Sophia Rikkin in Assassin's Creed

According to the report, Assassin's Creed joins several other box office flops, like Steven Spielberg's The BFG, which lost between $90 - $100 million after the film garnered only $178 million against a budget of $140 million. There was also Robert Zemeckis' WWII thriller Allied that could lose Paramount $75 - $90 million after the film ended with just $80.3 million worldwide. Elsewhere there was Paramount's remake of Ben-Hur, which, according to the report, could lose the studio as much as $120 million after the $110 million film only managed to gross $94.1 million worldwide.

Even with these flops, 2016 still managed to reach a record-breaking sum of $11.13 billion (and counting). And from the looks of it, the once-promising Assassin's Creed will wind up on the wrong side of the success/flop list. While Ubisoft revealed that they didn't expect the film to make much money, there were still high hopes that its impressive cast and popularity as a video game franchise would generate more interest in a theatrical release than it has so far managed. Unfortunately, facing off against the likes of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and, more recently, SingAssassin's Creed simply wasn't what holiday moviegoers (or critics) were looking for.

Factoring that result with the film's poor financial run definitely puts the sequel plans into doubt. But no matter what its future holds, at least Assassin's Creed tried to be something more than just another generic video game movie.

Source: THR