Bomb Report: Real Tag

* Directed By: Ash Brannon
* Written By: Ash Brannon, Clive Nakayashiki
* Release Date: October 26, 2018
* Domestic Distributor: FOX
* Cast:  Chloë Grace Moretz, Anne Hathaway, Dakota Fanning, Tiffany Haddish

In 2015, Glass Ball Productions president Clive Nakayashiki saw the original Japanese film *Tag* and decided to do an American remake. 20th Century Fox was set to distribute the film worldwide while Toho distributed the film in Japan with Will Finn attached to direct by December 2015. However, he was later replaced by Ash Brannon (known for directing *Surf's Up*).

FOX financed the picture with capital from TSG Entertainment, which invests into the studio’s slate of films.  After nearly three decades of disposable sequels and godawful franchise mashups with the *Alien* series, the studio wanted to turn *Real Tag* into an event picture that will led into their next new franchise. Glass Ball gave *Real Tag* a bump in budget over their previous films with an estimated $150 million price tag after tax rebates.

The initial release date was penciled in for March 23, 2018 and then it was shifted to February 2, 2018 and moved again to August 10, 2018.

When FOX tested an early edit, the audience response was mixed and *Real Tag* was sent back for over four weeks of reshoots to retool most of the third act which rose the budget up to an insane $200 million.

Once the reshoots were issued, the release date moved again to October 26, 2018.

Trailers and marketing material were mostly met with fan indifference showing no indifference over other typical horror movies.  FOX did support the release with a huge global marketing blitz that was estimated to be an enormous $150M.  It bowed against *Hunter Killer*, *Johnny English Strikes Again*, and *Suspiria*. Reviews were largely negative and tracking for the film was $17-19 million but the film ended up disappointingly grossing a mere $9,801,291 — placing #5 for the weekend falling behind leading and dominating holdovers *Halloween, Venom, A Star Is Born,*and *Cool Spot* (another property of Gingo Entertainment under Gingo Animation) which were still thriving in their respective 2nd, 4th, and 7th weekends. Auds gave the movie a crummy C+ Cinemascore and in typical genre fashion, *Real Tag* plummeted 62.7% to $3,412,521 in its second frame and fell 77.7% to $762,120 in its third session.  The domestic run closed with a terrible $31,924,708, the lowest gross for a Glass Ball Productions film.

*Real Tag* had also shown a lack of audience growth in the international market and after a mediocre run, after being banned from China for being too violent which ended its chances of breaking out even more. It opened in India, the biggest market that it was released in, with a so-so $57,516,425 but then sank a laughable 99.5% the next weekend to just $287,582, ending its chances at breaking out. The offshore run stalled at $262,275,505, overperforming but not enough to save its terrible domestic total.

*Real Tag* closed its worldwide run with $294.4M, making it the highest grossing Glass Ball film despite being a bomb. FOX would see returned about $82.2M after theaters take their percentage of the gross — which leaves hundreds of millions worth of P&A money in the red and the budget untouched by the theatrical receipts.