Called the worst comic book movie ever by IMBb, Marvel’s Ghost Rider failed to connect with the audiences, resulting in a disastrous box office collection. Rated 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie’s sequel also turned out to be a failure, earning a rating of a mere 17% on the same review-based website. However, years after the release of the last Ghost Rider movie, actor Nicolas Cage opened up about how Marvel’s bosses ruined the $ 378 million superhero franchise.

Ghost Rider Ghost Rider
Having earned a Worldwide Box Office collection of $378 million, the Ghost Rider movies revolve around an edgy character who dealt with some scary subjects. And owing to this, Nicolas Cage, who portrayed the role of the protagonist Johnny Blaze, claimed that the movies fell apart as they weren’t ascribed the necessary R-rating.

Nicolas Cage opens up on how the wrong ratings hampered the franchise

In an interview with JoBlo, Nicolas Cage opened up on why critics didn’t enjoy the Ghost Rider movies. Citing how the maturity ratings ascribed to the movies were a huge issue in the actual conceptualization of the script, Cage explained,
“Ghost Rider was a movie that always should’ve been an R-rated movie. David Goyer had a brilliant script which I wanted to do with David, and for whatever reason they just didn’t let us make the movie.”
Ghost Rider (2007)

Furthermore, recalling how he would have expected a much grittier version of the movie, he added, “That movie is still a movie that should be made, not with me obviously, but it should be an R-rated movie.”

Ghost Rider actor compared his movies to another successful R-rated Marvel movie

Moreover, Nicolas Cage went on to explain how the 2016 Marvel Comics movie Deadpool was a huge success while it had a Restricted maturity rating. Based on a twisted scientist Ajax, who experiments on the mercenary Wade Wilson to try and cure his cancer, Deadpool was a movie of revenge by a disfigured Wilson – the result of the experiment gone wrong.
DeadpoolDeadpool
With more than $786.6 million collected as box office revenue by the first installment, Nicolas Cage explained how the R-rating helped Deadpool to have an edge. He said,
“Heck, Deadpool was R-rated and that did great. Ghost Rider was designed to be a scary superhero with an R-rating and edge, and they just didn’t have it worked out back then.”
After Cage’s explanations, it seems that the only way to revive the $378 million Ghost Rider franchise is to incorporate the initially intended gritty elements to it. Having a better connectivity to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe might be another component that can help the makers achieve wider recognition and success.

SOURCE: NME