It goes without saying that marketing campaigns are more important for original productions than they are movies backed by the weight of a recognizable IP or franchise to fall back on, but even the presence of Tom Cruise couldn’t elevate Edge of Tomorrow to the box office heights it deserved to find.
Without being hyperbolic, the sci-fi spin on the tropes of the Groundhog Day formula has got to be regarded as one of the genre’s finest examples to emerge during the last decade, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact director Doug Liman oversaw a nightmarish production that went over budget, behind schedule, and then suffered through extensive reshoots.
In the end, Edge of Tomorrow was nothing short of spectacular, and it found widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike. That being said, a global box office haul of $370 million rendered the profit margins razor-thin once you take the $180 million budget and other associated costs into account, and it’s very unlikely that the long-mooted sequel is ever going to materialize.
As pointed out on Reddit, one of the major reasons why the film disappointed in spite of its quality was the horrendous marketing campaign by Warner Bros. The trailers and TV spots painted the picture of a standard sci-fi shoot ’em up that just so happened to feature Tom Cruise in the lead role, failing to lean into the fantastic humor, anarchic streak, and unique selling points.
Matters were compounded by the fact the studio couldn’t even settle on a title while it was still in theaters, something that even continued during the home video release. Was it Edge of Tomorrow? Was it Live Die Repeat? Or was it Edge of Tomorrow: Live Die Repeat? The answer depended entirely on where you were at what time, with the mass confusion robbing everyone of at least one sequel – if not more – to a stone-cold modern classic.