The cruelest irony is that, when watching the film, it’s clear that the Wachowskis (who wrote and directed) see things in the industry trending in the opposite direction. But Speed Racer’s failure a decade ago, and the subsequent rise of superhero-centric franchises ( The Dark Knight came out that July), seems to mark a crucial moment for Hollywood, one where these kinds of big-budget risks were becoming rare. Speed Racer was probably doomed no matter what its box-office competition, given its poor reviews and hyperstylized, visual effects–heavy world-the Wachowskis’ vision was simply too sincere and goofy to catch on.
The Four-Letter Code to Selling Just About Anything Derek Thompsonīut it crashed and burned, opening in third place behind the second weekend of a movie that would end up defining the next 10 years in blockbuster filmmaking: Iron Man, the first in Marvel’s long-running, never-ending, continually record-breaking cinematic universe. It was, after all, seen as one of the top family movies of the season. Speed Racer was given a prime release date at the start of the summer box office in early May, a huge budget ($120 million), and a massive merchandising push. A film was first mulled in 1992 and considered by directors as varied as Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuarón, and Hype Williams, before finally landing with the Wachowskis in 2006 (the movie was released in 2008) as the follow-up to their trilogy of Matrix movies.
It’s a living, breathing cartoon, populated with real actors.Īn adaptation of the iconic, kitschy 1960s Japanese anime and manga series about a heroic race-car driver was, bizarrely, a Hollywood hot property for more than a decade. Beyond all that plot, there are the unusually overwhelming visuals every scene pops with primary colors and CGI landscapes.
The film cuts between his childhood, when he’s already obsessing over cars and his older brother’s star racing career his adolescence, falling in love with the girl next door and learning how to drive and the race itself, in which he’s trying to break his (now-dead) brother’s record, competing with a literal ghost. The audience processes a colossal amount of storytelling at once, as our hero, Speed (Emile Hirsch), prepares for a pivotal race. This episode is written by Jake Dee, edited by Juan Jiminez, and narrated and produced by Dave Davis.The opening seven minutes of the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer are the definition of sensory overload. So what happened, or rather WTF Happened to Speed Racer (2008)? We dig into it on this week’s edition of WTF Happened to this Movie.
It picked up a cult following over the years, but the box office take was poor, only earning $93 million worldwide, far below its budget. Only holding a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, one thing worth noting is that the critics who liked Speed Racer really liked it. Shot with an IMAX release in mind, the $120 million film opened to middling reviews. Again, a promising cast, including rising star Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon and Matthew Fox (then riding high off the success of Lost), was assembled. Based on the famous sixties anime, the Wachowskis and Warner Bros poured a ton of money into what they were hoping would be their next big franchise. But, of course, one of their most unfairly neglected films ever is their 2008 big-screen version of Speed Racer. With the release of Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections, the Wachowskis are back in the limelight, with renewed attention on The Matrix franchise and some of their other, more neglected films (although Lilly Wachowski wasn’t involved with the new Matrix).