Trivia / Death Wish (2018)

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $30 million. Box office, $34 million (domestic), $48,578,407 (worldwide). This remake of the 1974 film was delayed from its planned Thanksgiving 2017 release after the Las Vegas Shooting, only to land two weeks after the Parkland Shooting. Its poor timing bore the brunt of its scathing reception from critics.
• Cast the Expert: Eli Roth cast medical technical advisor Dr. Alan Azuelos in the film, and he was such a natural that he's the one who delivers the painful news to Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) that his wife has been killed.
• Creator Backlash: Joe Carnahan was not happy with how his script was handled. He had little nice to say about either the rewrites or the casting of Bruce Willis in the lead role (which caused him to leave the project), such that he's considered taking his original script and making a standalone film out of it.
• Release Date Change: The release date was pushed back from November 2017 to March 2018, possibly due to the Las Vegas shootings. Unfortunately for the studio, it still arrived less than after another hugely publicized mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, and subsequently the film took a huge hit as a result.
• Saved from Development Hell: Development began in 2006, with Sylvester Stallone attached to direct and star, until he dropped out. Then it was announced in 2012 that Joe Carnahan was going to write and direct, before he also dropped out.
• What Could Have Been: Sylvester Stallone was originally set to star, but he backed out due to Creative Differences and to work on other projects. Other candidates included Michael Biehn, Jeff Bridges, Russell Crowe, Matt Damon, Benicio del Toro, Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Keaton, Christopher Lambert, Stephen Lang, Liam Neeson, Ron Perlman, Brad Pitt, Dennis Quaid, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Will Smith and Peter Weller.

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