‘The Uprising’ Bombs at Box Office Despite Last-Ditch Scramble to Market Film as Robin Hood Origin Story

Paul Greengrass's historical epic opens with an anemic $3.25 million, becoming the latest film about the outlaw to fall flat.

Last month, Focus Features abruptly changed its marketing campaign for Paul Greengrass’s “The Uprising,” selling the gritty drama about the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 as a Robin Hood origin story. The gambit generated headlines, but failed to pay off.

This weekend, “The Uprising” debuted to a paltry $3.25 million from 2,068 North American theaters. That’s an anemic result for a film that cost $20 million to produce and one that stars Andrew Garfield, an Oscar nominee and the star of two “Spider-Man” films. Worse, the film’s B- CinemaScore suggests word-of-mouth won’t help the historical epic. Focus will lose money, but its exposure was limited. The indie studio spent $11 million for domestic rights plus millions more to promote and distribute the film.

It’s been a rough year for movies about Sherwood Forest’s most famous resident. A24’s “The Death of Robin Hood,” which also cost $20 million to make, only generated $9.5 million globally and $5.4 million domestically. That suggests that Gen Z moviegoers aren’t as into the legendary outlaw as earlier generations were.

In 1991, “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” was a massive summer blockbuster. Kevin Costner may have sported a dodgy accent, but he was riding high off “Dances With Wolves” and “Field of Dreams,” and thanks to his star power, the $60 million production earned a massive $390.5 million globally to become the year’s third-highest-grossing film. Since then, the character’s box office track record has been less glorious. Ridley Scott’s 2010 “Robin Hood” reunited him with his “Gladiator” star Russell Crowe, but the $237 million production was a disappointment, earning $321.7 million worldwide. Plans for a trilogy were scrapped.

A 2018 effort to make the merry bandit younger and scrappier similarly collapsed. Released in 2018 and starring a 29-year-old Taron Egerton, “Robin Hood” grossed $86.5 million globally, less than the $100 million it cost to make it.

It’s hard to fault Focus for trying something, anything, to get people in the doors. “The Uprising” wasn’t going to get awards buzz, and movies about the distant past are a tough sell unless they’re directed by Christopher Nolan. The studio probably looked at tracking and thought — why not?

True, the effort felt a little ham-fisted (a few weeks ahead of release, promotional materials included an addendum to the title, “The Rise of Robin Hood”). But at least it wasn’t false advertising. Greengrass has acknowledged that the film’s ending sets up the famous outlaw’s next chapter. Based on the box office results for “The Uprising,” fans may have to settle for the origin story rather than Robin Hood’s second act.