Last week, due to boredom and for my amusement, I decided to make a 3-part observation post on Dean Ambrose's upcoming WWE Studios movie, "12 Rounds 3: Lockdown." The first part briefly covers the promotion that's being done for the movie, which has been somewhat quiet, save for airing the trailer during commercials of RAW and on the WWE Network. Commentary doesn't even mention the movie at all, and they have vehemently plugged Big Show and The Miz's previous movies. Are they relying on word of mouth and Ambrose's fanbase to do the work? Even the adorable Renee Young went out of her way to promote his movie on her Twitter and Instagram account. Anyways, the second part will cover the review consensus and box office earnings (again, if any) after the weekend.
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When they said "limited" release, they weren't kidding. The movie is only showing in 10 theaters nationwide and it doesn't look like they'll be adding more screens outside the US. This is addition to being released as VOD the same day. This is a big step down from the 2009 "12 Rounds" with John Cena. Then again, that movie had a bigger budget, had 20th Century Fox as their distributor, and it showed on over 2000+ screens. It made about $5 million in its opening weekend and, after opening in other countries, made a total of $17 million. "12 Rounds 2: Reloaded" with Randy Orton skipped a theatrical release and went straight to DVD and Blu-Ray in 2013.
The overall consensus for the first two films were negative, citing it as Die Hard ripoffs. "Lockdown" will be no different. I found a gif of a recent clip (possibly the ending or a scene near the ending) where one of the baddies exploded and I laughed at the cheesy special effect. I think a grenade going off on the person would have a bigger explosive radius, no? Bah, whatever. On with the coverage!
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I'm also seeing a lot of online articles of Ambrose's interviews, such as USA Today and ComingSoon.net, being released today. I honestly don't recall seeing this much coverage for any of WWE Studios movies with their Superstar being in the lead. It's fun to see the small media coverage being made for the movie and with Ambrose. It contrasts how frustrating it is to see what they're doing with him on Raw and Smack Down! and a week before Night of Champions next Sunday.
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It looks like the movie came out on VOD a little early on Thursday night, though you can only rent it for now. Unfortunately, it also made it easy to pirate/illegally download the movie before its opening day. It's only $7, people!
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Ambrose is currently at Pittsburgh for Wizard World Comic Con. They livestreamed the Q&A on his Facebook page, which is managed by WWE because Ambrose doesn't bother with social media. The session ran for a little over 20 minutes and there was very little questions asked because Ambrose just went on and on. He did admit that one of the henchmen he kills in the movie is actor Daniel Cudmore, who portrays Colossus from the "X-Men" franchise. "I killed Colossus."
Live from Wizard World... #12Rounds3Lockdown
Posted by Dean Ambrose on Friday, September 11, 2015
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As of 5:47 PM Sunday, here is the critic consensus for the movie:
Movie Rating (via IMDB): 5.9/10
Critic Score vs Audience Score (via RottenTomatoes): *__% vs 72%
* There are currently not enough critic reviews to give it an average score.
Box Office Opening Weekend (via Box Office Mojo): Not applicable; they're not even tracking it!
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Well, I'm not surprised that it wouldn't do well with critics (there are 3 negative reviews so far). I think the big problem was the fact that "Lockdown" was forced to become a part of the "12 Rounds" franchise. By taking the title "12 Rounds" literally instead of what it was intended for from the original film, it made no sense for the film's premise and it skewers its relation to the franchise. I think the film would've been more exciting if it didn't have to follow in Cena and Orton's footsteps.
I have a feeling WWE was not confident with Ambrose or the film production, so they probably made some script changes to associate it with what they believe was one of their most successful movies from WWE Studios. Not only that, they gave it a limited release of only running it in 10 freaking screens and made it VOD on the same day. As one website puts it, "An action film starring a WWE wrestler [...] this is the wrong genre for a limited release." And I agree with that statement. I initially thought it was great that WWE decided to give the film a theatrical run and was expecting to see it play on at least over 500+ screens. This wasn't them playing it safe; this was WWE backtracking. WWE has actually sabotaged Ambrose's rise inside AND outside the ring.
Nonetheless, I went and showed my support by giving in and renting the movie on Google Play for $7.99. This was new to me; I have a 30 day window to watch the movie after renting it. When I start watching it, I have 48 hours to finish viewing it before it gets wiped. I have to find a time to watch it on TV... and without Vince walking in on me. I'll post the third part of my observation on Friday, where I have a feeling the film will be pulled from theaters by then and WWE will just stop promoting the film altogether before Night of Champions.
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