Hollywood Spent $90 Million On A Sequel Nobody Asked For. It Made $18 Million. The Studio Has Announced A Third Film.

 Hollywood

Greenland 2: Migration opened to $8.4 million on a $90 million budget. Chris Pratt's Mercy made $41 million on $60 million. The Mandalorian & Grogu is tracking below $400 million. Hollywood's solution: more sequels, bigger budgets, identical strategy.

By Box Office Betty, Satirz Entertainment Desk  |  May 11, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Greenland 2: Migration, the sequel to Greenland — a film that most audiences saw on VOD during the pandemic and then forgot — opened on January 9, 2026 to $8.4 million domestically against a production budget of $90 million. It has since made $18.1 million worldwide. This means Lionsgate spent $90 million to make $18 million, achieving a return rate of 20 cents on the dollar, which in any other industry would be called a catastrophic loss and in Hollywood is called "underperforming due to competitive marketplace dynamics."

Meanwhile Chris Pratt's Mercy — in which a detective has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to an AI judge, a premise that sounds exciting and received a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes — is currently sitting at $41 million worldwide on a $60 million budget. A blizzard hit the East Coast its opening weekend. The blizzard has been blamed. The 24% Rotten Tomatoes score has not been blamed, officially, though it is also present.

"Audiences weren't ready."— Hollywood, about every film that cost over $60 million and made less than that. Audiences were ready. They just weren't interested. These are different conditions.

The one genuine bright spot: Zendaya and Robert Pattinson's A24 film The Drama has quietly earned $30.85 million on an estimated $30 million budget — meaning a film with two of the biggest stars in Hollywood, made for a fraction of the franchise budgets, is breaking even on originality alone. Hollywood has noted this. Hollywood will not change its strategy. But it has noted it.

Greenland 2 FlopChris Pratt MercyZendaya A24$90M For $18MAudiences Not ReadySequel Nobody Asked For

Disclaimer: Satire. All box office figures from IMDB tracking lists and Internewscast. The 24% RT score is documented. The blizzard was real. The blame allocation is editorial. — Ed.