Joe Carnahan Blames Studio for ‘The A-Team’ Flop: “We Should Have Made Three of These”

Joe Carnahan, coming off the streaming “success” of “The RIP” and passable reviews—79% on RT and 63 on MC—is now reflecting on one of the more notable failures of his career, and he doesn’t believe it deserved its fate.

It’s fair to say that Carnahan’s 2010 film “The A-Team” didn’t exactly live up to expectations. Inspired by the popular 1980s television series, the summer action film debuted to mixed reviews, and that’s despite featuring a strong lineup of actors, including Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, Patrick Wilson, Sharlto Copley, and Jessica Biel.

More than 15 years later, in a new interview with Empire Magazine, Carnahan doesn’t blame the film’s failure on himself or his actors, but rather 20th Century Fox, whom he believes botched the rollout:

This is one of those movies where we screwed up the marketing. We should have made three of these.

“The A-Team” grossed $177M worldwide against a $110M budget — 20th Century Fox ended up losing over $70M on the failed IP launch, which Roger Ebert wrote “so bored [me] out of my mind that I found my attention wandering to the subject of physics.”

Looking back at the cast, he recalls the strong bond that developed among the actors. According to him, they spent plenty of time together, which created a real sense of camaraderie on set. He also points to Rampage Jackson’s performance as B.A., noting that despite not being a trained actor, he brought a lot to the role.

Let’s be clear, I’ve already written about how Carnahan isn’t a bad filmmaker—his forte is in gritty, character-driven action and pulpy crime stories. That said, I don’t think defending “A-Team” is a hill worth dying on, and he has yet to top his 2002 breakout “Narc,” which remains the best thing he’s done—raw, intense, and stylish in all the right ways.

Everything since “Narc” has lived in its gritty indie shadow. Instead, he has leaned hard into pulpy, high-octane genre fare, especially with “The Grey,” “Smokin’ Aces,” “Stretch,” “Boss Level,” and the underrated “Copshop.”