Over the years, Hollywood has proven it will turn to anything with a built-in fan base and name recognition when looking for the next big hit. A pre-established narrative to adapt isn’t even a prerequisite. In some cases, filmmakers have used that to their advantage, crafting creative, emotionally engaging works like The LEGO Movie and Barbie. In others, the lack of a compelling story to bring to life was a detriment. In 2012, Universal and director Peter Berg brought the board game Battleship to the big screen, and it didn’t deliver the intended results. If anyone is morbidly curious to see how Battleship turned out, time is running out to watch it for free.
Battleship is currently scheduled to leave Peacock on September 1st, meaning subscribers have a little over a week to check it out. Battleship will surely pop up on another streaming service at some point (it was a hit on Prime Video earlier this year), but there’s no telling when or where. So, if you’re subscribed to Peacock and are interested in watching Battleship, be sure to make time for it over the next few days.
It isn’t a stretch to say Battleship was poorly received when it first released. The action film earned largely negative reviews (33% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes), and even viewers weren’t too kind (54% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes). With The Avengers breaking records and cementing the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the premier film franchise, Battleship got overshadowed. The poor word of mouth led to an even worse box office performance. Battleship grossed $303 million worldwide against a budget in the range of $209-220 million, costing Universal and Hasbro $150 million in losses. It’s one of the biggest box office bombs of all time.
If that kind of reception caused people to stay away from Battleship, it’d be understandable. However, time has been somewhat kind to the board game adaptation. We’re not making the argument that Battleship is actually a work of art that was unfairly maligned when it premiered, but in the 14 years since its release, it’s earned a reputation as a big, dumb, fun guilty pleasure. If you know what you’re getting yourself into, there’s some fun to be had with Battleship, which takes obvious cues from blockbusters of the past and uses them to tell a story about humanity fighting back against an alien invasion. If nothing else, there are some standout set pieces that will put your home theater system to good use.
Battleship is actually the perfect kind of movie to watch on streaming. The negative reviews meant it lacked the “must-see” factor that would have made a trip to the theater worth it, but from the comfort of home, it’s much easier to take a chance on something that may or may not be your cup of tea. Additionally, Battleship doesn’t require much out of the audience to get enjoyment. This isn’t a prestige picture that was gunning for awards, where you have to be in the right mindset to properly engage with the poignant story being told. With Battleship, you can just sit down and soak in the over-the-top genre thrills for fun, even leaving the film on in the background while you work on other things. It’s the type of movie you can unwind with.
The box office performance of Battleship meant no sequel ever got the green light, and it remains to be seen if the board game will ever be turned into a film again. In a way, Battleship seems like the concept that would be ripe for a reboot; it arguably wasn’t executed the best way the first time around, but maybe another filmmaker could come in and put a fun spin on things. However, it’s been so long since Battleship premiered that another film adaptation may not be high on the priority list. If it was going to happen, it arguably would have happened by now. At least we’ll always have the 2012 movie to provide a bit of guilty pleasure.
