Coming off the success of 2004’s Ray, which earned Jamie Foxx an Oscar win for Best Actor, the acclaimed actor joined forces with prominent A-lister Jessica Biel for the 2005 sc-fi action Stealth. And despite having a substantial amount of star power behind the movie, which cost Columbia Pictures a whopping $135M, the end product left a lot to be desired for both fans and the studios.
Not only the movie was panned by critics and fans upon its release, but it also became a historic bomb that didn’t even manage to pull its budget back, falling short by $61.6M. And while another summer blockbuster Revenge of the Sith, which dominated 2005’s summer, didn’t make things easier for Stealth, it isn’t the lone reason behind its box-office disappointment.
The Predictable Plot Didn’t Help Stealth’s Box-Office Run
For a movie released around the same timeframe as Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, it was always going to struggle. However, the third entry in the prequel trilogy isn’t the lone factor behind Stealth‘s historic bomb at the box office, as the movie itself wasn’t very good. And the general complaint against the movie was how predictable its plot was, with many deeming it as a dumb-downed Top Gun, without Tony Scott’s flair. Another notable element that held back the Jamie Foxx-led action flick was its unrealistic dialogue.
Furthermore, renowned film critic Roger Ebert’s review of the sci-fi flick, which came before Stealth‘s release, called it an unsuccessful mashup of Top Gun and 2001, which also contributed to its failure.
Jamie Foxx Later Opened Up About His Discomfort Promoting Stealth
Unsurprisingly, the actors involved in the project were too aware of Stealth‘s shortcomings, especially Jamie Foxx, who recalled he wasn’t comfortable promoting the action flick. While the actor’s career didn’t suffer a lasting impact from Stealth‘s disastrous performance, he wasn’t very proud of the end product and only promoted it due to contractual obligations. He said,
“Sometimes you do a movie and you have to go promote it, so on Stealth I was like, ‘Yeah, this is the greatest.’ And people would see me after seeing the movie and say, ‘I can’t believe you lied to me like that.’”
Following its unsuccessful run at the box office, the studios reportedly suffered a net loss of $111.7 million, with the movie falling into obscurity. On the bright side, both Biel and Foxx moved on to bigger and better things, and while the studios didn’t earn a dime, the actors did get their paychecks for investing their time in this dumpster fire.
Stealth is available to rent on Apple TV.
