Hugh Jackman was forced to apologize for breaking the internet after posting a pair of cryptic images that had fans believing a Wolverine comeback was imminent, and while a lot of folks are never going to give up on the idea, the actor is clearly at peace with his decision to retire the claws following 2017’s Logan.
The 52 year-old has been taking it relatively easy since then, and since the release of The Greatest Showman almost four years ago he’s been maintaining a fairly low profile. Archival appearances in Deadpool 2 and The New Mutants, a voice role in Missing Link, an unseen cameo in Free Guy and HBO TV movie Bad Education have kept him busy enough, with political drama The Front Runner his only major theatrical release since December 2017.
However, Jackman’s full-blown return to leading man status in Warner Bros.’ Reminiscence couldn’t have gone much worse. The sci-fi mystery thriller reportedly needed to earn $110 million at the box office just to break even, and it debuted last Friday with a paltry $2 million, where it gained the unwanted distinction of scoring the worst opening weekend in history for a feature debuting in over 3000 theaters.
Written and directed by Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy, the plot follows an ex-solider in post-apocalyptic Miami who operates a business that lets clients relive memories from their past, before a mysterious woman drags him deep into a conspiracy with potentially deadly implications. It’s a solid concept in practice, but the execution has hardly been universally lauded, with Reminiscence holding a Rotten Tomatoes score of 36%. It may have tanked horribly in theaters, but at least WB’s latest hybrid can say that it’s the number one title on HBO Max.