They say revenge is a dish best served cold, and that seems to hold true for the writing and directing team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.
The duo were originally hired way back in 2007 to write and direct “Jonah Hex,” but left in 2008 over “creative differences.” The team were replaced by the left-field choice of animation director Jimmy Hayward (“Horton Hears A Who!”) and their script was chopped, ripped, screwed and basically bears little resemblance to what ended up on screen thanks to countless revisions and changes at the hands of the film’s producers. The result? Well, the film, which cost approximately $80 million, barely brought in $5 million this weekend and was absolutely savaged by critics.
And last night, Neveldine and Taylor hit their Twitter account to crow about the film’s failure saying: “JH: box office karma.” Clearly, the duo are very unhappy about their experience working on the film and have been holding that grudge for a while. It’s kind of amusing, if somewhat professionally gauche, to rub Warner Bros.’ face in it, but really, who’s to say their version would’ve been any better. After all, these are the same guys who made “Gamer.”
“Jonah Hex” is in theaters. For now. But don’t expect it to last too long as its dismal opening and competition will pretty much ensure it will disappear from screens in the next few weeks.