Nowadays, people tend to look back at Edgar Wright’s film adaptation of the comic book series “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” with fondness. A decade later, the film has found its audience through streaming and home release, creating a rabid cult following. But at the time of its release, ‘Scott Pilgrim’ was far from a hit. In fact, it was an outright bomb.
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Speaking to EW, as part of the outlet’s oral history of the creation and legacy of the 2010 film, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” Wright discussed the upsetting situation he found himself in when the film opened outside of the top 3 during its debut weekend. Upon release, as Wright explained, the film was not an instant hit. And one of the most annoying aspects of the ‘Scott Pilgrim’ box office opening was the jokes, particularly from other filmmakers.
“It opened the same weekend as ‘The Expendables’ and ‘Eat Pray Love,’” the filmmaker said. “I remember getting an email from Marc Platt, one of the film’s producers, on the Friday asking Universal to put more into the spend and predicting doom for the weekend. And I thought — naively — I thought, Well, it’s only Friday morning, how could they know? They know. It opened at number five.”
He added, “It’s that thing where it becomes a bit of a punch line. I’ve never liked Seth MacFarlane, because that weekend he tweeted ‘Scott Pilgrim 0, the World 2.’ I was like, fuck you. And then I lay in wait until ‘8 Million Ways to Die in the West’ came out, or whatever it was called, and I rubbed my hands with glee. I didn’t tweet anything because I’m not a total monster. [Laughs]”
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MacFarlane, as many know, is the creator of the hugely popular animated series “Family Guy” and, as Wright pointed out, the director of the comedy film, “A Million Ways to Die in the West.” That film, which was released 4 years after ‘Scott Pilgrim,’ went on to debut at #3 at the box office, well below expectations, and only stayed in the top 10 for three weeks. So, while Wright didn’t tweet about it, his “glee” is not unwarranted.
Both filmmakers are clearly doing just fine now, though. MacFarlane would go on to direct ‘Ted 2,’ which would be a big hit. And Wright, of course, directed “The World’s End” and “Baby Driver.” His next feature is the upcoming thriller, “Last Night in Soho.”
