Desert Warrior struggles at US box office debut

Our first major Hollywood-style movie is off to a weak start: Desert Warrior, a Saudi-backed epic with a reported USD 150 mn budget, earned a mere USD 472k in its opening weekend in the US despite a wide release across over 1k theaters, World of Reel reports.

Behind the scenes: The film, starring Anthony Mackie and Ben Kingsley and initially directed by Rupert Wyatt, has been hit by poor reviews and audience reception. Taking six years to wrap up, the picture reportedly suffered from production issues — its budget nearly doubled from an initial USD 70 mn, with Wyatt reportedly exiting during post-production and the film undergoing major re-editing.