Although film production appears as a money-stamping business, studios can face major losses which can at times turn out to be unrecoverable ones. Universal faced something similar when they witnessed a $10M loss following Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s vanity project, By The Sea.
Despite critics and audiences slamming the movie, Universal backed the project with the hope that Angelina Jolie would star in Bride Of Frankenstein or Wanted 2. Considering their loss as a potential way of making money, the production company took the loss on themselves, only to find the actress refusing the $342M Wanted sequel, starring Chris Pratt.
Angelina Jolie And Brad Pitt’s Movie Suffered Disastrous Loss
Following Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s 2005 hit movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith, where the real-life couple met for the first time, the duo reappeared with their romantic drama By The Sea in 2015. Making a limited debut at the box office, the movie brought in average revenue, grossing $3.3M. Despite having potential, Jolie and Pitt’s passion project failed to earn the budget of the movie.
“Passion projects are most often films that are ‘off the beaten path’ for the stars who use these productions to tell a story that they are passionate about, but not necessarily aimed at a mass audience.” critics stated about By The Sea.
Although it was believed that a payoff was likely to come in the future, Universal still suffered a disastrous $10M loss following the film’s release. However, they still backed Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s movie, considering the actress’ appearance in Bride Of Frankenstein or Wanted 2 as a potential way of recovering from their financial loss.
However, things didn’t go as planned, since Universal faced a major betrayal from Angelina Jolie. Irrespective of how Universal backed her and Pitt’s sunken movie at the box office, Jolie refused to make a payback with her appearance in the Wanted sequel.
Angelina Jolie Refused Starring In The $342M Wanted Sequel
The 2008 action thriller Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie was an instant hit following its release. Loosely based on Mark Millar and J.G. Jones’ comic book, the film packed with great storytelling changed the way people looked at comic book movies. Made with a budget of $75M, Wanted (2008) earned $342M worldwide. Surprisingly, even before, the prequel made millions at the box office, the filmmakers and Universal had planned for its sequel, Wanted 2.
However, despite shared excitement and creative involvement, the sequel ultimately never materialized. There were several factors that played a significant role, but Angelina Jolie’s refusal to play Fox was one of the biggest reasons why the film was never made. Although Jolie’s character met her end in Wanted, Fox was planned to be resurrected in Wanted 2. But, the actress was simply disinterested in returning to the planned franchise.
“Being dead makes it difficult. They were (trying to bring me back) but I kind of feel like if I die in a movie, I should die actually. I’m that way, and that character is not as complex as Salt. It would just be doing the exact same thing in another movie, so it’s not that interesting to me.” Angelina Jolie shared.
It is interesting how, despite making millions off the Chris Pratt starring prequel, Jolie still refused to appear in the second installment. Although the actress ethically owed it to Universal, especially after them losing millions in her 2015 By The Sea, Jolie still adamantly refused to appear in Wanted 2.
Watch By The Sea (2015) on Amazon Prime Video and stream Wanted (2008) on Netflix.
