Entertainment
The Worst Sci-Fi Remake of the Decade Gets Steamrolled by Chris Pratt
The walls are closing in on Rebecca Ferguson and Chris Pratt‘s new sci-fi film, Mercy, which opened to poor reviews and an underwhelming box office reception a few weeks ago. The movie hasn’t recouped its reported $60 million budget yet, and seems unlikely to turn a profit theatrically. It will have to rely on its surprisingly solid audience scores on the PVOD and streaming markets, where similar titles tend to do rather well. Mercy follows a police officer’s life-or-death attempt to clear his name after being accused of murdering his wife. Pratt plays the police officer, while Ferguson plays the AI judge in charge of his case. Mercy was directed by Timur Bekmambetov — the pioneer of the “screenlife” format — who previously worked with Pratt on the 2008 action film Wanted.
Since then, Pratt has established himself as one of his generation’s biggest stars, while Bekmambetov has devoted himself to the “screenlife” format. The filmmaker previously produced movies such as Unfriended and Searching, both of which grossed more and earned more positive reviews than Mercy. The movie holds a 24% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads: “Constricting its two stars inside an airless presentation of a clunky techno-thriller premise, Mercy is tedious enough to make you cry uncle.” Despite these setbacks, Mercy‘s 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is an encouraging sign for its home video run. The movie can also celebrate the small victories, such as overtaking past sci-fi movies that performed even more poorly.
Here’s the Sci-Fi Disaster That ‘Mercy’ Has Overtaken
With its $50 million worldwide haul, Mercy has overtaken one of the worst sci-fi remakes of the decade, Flatliners. Released in 2017, the movie featured Elliot Page, Diego Luna, James Norton, Kiersey Clemons, and Nina Dobrev. Flatliners, directed by Niels Arden Oplev, grossed $45 million against a reported budget of $19 million. A remake of the 1990 cult classic of the same name, the movie earned poor reviews, and now holds an unusually low 4% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator’s consensus reads, “Flatliners falls flat as a horror movie and fails to improve upon its source material, rendering this reboot dead on arrival.” You can watch the movie at home, and check out Mercy in theaters.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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January 19, 2026
- Runtime
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100 minutes
- Director
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Timur Bekmambetov
- Writers
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Marco van Belle
- Producers
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Charles Roven, Majd Nassif, Robert Amidon, Timur Bekmambetov