Amazon is facing a potentially costly mess.
The $50M Jason Statham action film “Mutiny” has opened in most territories, but its box office performance is significantly weak. The U.S. opening weekend came in below $8M, while the UK managed only about $500K. With other markets also soft, the film has reached roughly $20M worldwide so far — less than half of its production budget.
These numbers are way off the film’s original tracking metrics, which were comparable to those of other successful Statham movies. A new report says “Mutiny” is running at about half or less of the box office previous Statham films achieved.
Now, buyers are laying the blame on the accidental Amazon leak. Just a few days before it was set to hit theaters, the 95-minute film was fully playable on Prime Video for more than two hours before it was ultimately removed. Regardless, the damage had already been done. As a result, “Mutiny” has become the most-pirated movie of the week, with a leaked 4K, fully mixed version circulating online — an unusually high-quality leak that makes piracy a potentially significant factor.
Speaking to Deadline, buyers believe the leak contributed to the poor box office. Estimates could theoretically range from hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars per territory, making compensation difficult to calculate. Amazon, Lionsgate and the producers have not commented publicly, while Lionsgate is reportedly discussing next steps with Amazon. The clearest indication of the leak’s financial impact may come from Premium VOD numbers in the coming weeks.
Buyers apparently want Amazon to make a “good-faith” compensation offer rather than pursue litigation. The contractual structure reportedly means buyers would have to sue the producers, who would then have to pursue Amazon, making a legal fight unattractive for parties that regularly work together.
The core issue here is that a $50M movie has generated only $20M globally so far and is performing at roughly half or less of comparable Statham titles. Is it just a coincidence that these weak numbers came amid the film leaking online? Or was “Mutiny” always doomed to fail?
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