It's been called an Aladdin for grown-ups and if director George Miller could wish for anything from the spirit of the film, more cinema-goers and more money would probably be in it because it's doing really badly since its premiere last week.
Three Thousand Years of Longing, despite screening in 2,400 cinemas in the US, has only managed to take in just under $4 million in the US. As the film had a budget of well over $60 million, this is of course a major setback and it is by far the weakest opening of all Miller's films, but perhaps that's not so surprising really. Sure, the film has two seasoned and reputable actors in the form of Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton and the Mad Max: Fury Road director behind the camera but it's also a very different type of film to Miller's previous productions and it rather qualifies under the avant-garde section. In fact, it's about as far from a diesel-fuelled apocalyptic romp as you can get.
But according to Comscore media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, hope is still alive. Especially since the film hasn't yet premiered in either Europe or the Asian market, and while he doesn't think it will be a smash hit there either, it will undoubtedly attract audiences. It should also be known that Three Thousand Years of Longing is competing with Top Gun, Elvis, Nope and Bullet Train, which attracts a much wider audience and are more "cinema-friendly" films.