Two
of the actor's last three
films have barely received
theatrical release and, in between them, this Ghost Rider sequel became the rare Marvel flop, its indefensible $ 51.8 million
domestic pull (less than half
of its predecessor's take, though it also had half the budget) ranking it lower than all but four
films to spawn from the comics publisher: The Punisher and its sequel, Jennifer Garner's Elektra (a baffling spin - off to Johnson's weak Daredevil), and the notorious Howard the Duck.
The
film came into the festival without a
domestic distributor, looking to make a deal, and — bucking many trends we have seen this festival season — chose to go with Neon and 30WEST, favoring a traditional
theatrical instead
of streamed
release with platforms such as Netflix.