Rollerball – Prison Rules

Rollerball (2002) is one of the worst movies any of us have ever seen; and that is saying something.

Directed by John McTiernan—who always seems to appear on our pod, despite directing some of our favorite films—Rollerball was a remake of a 1975 film starring James Caan.

The 2002 version retains none of what made that movie work. It's social criticisms are half-baked, the actual Rollerball scenes are nauseating, and its lead, Chris Klein, makes wood appear emotive by comparison.

Shot, reshot, and shot again, Rollerball is an absolute mess onscreen. Off-screen, the situation was even worse. McTiernan, who was in a bitter battle over the course of the film, illegally wiretapped the movie's producer—an action that would land him in prison years later.

Thus, Rollerball's 3% on Rotten Tomatoes should not come as a shock, nor should its meager box office gross of $25.9 million (its budget was $70 million). One didn't require night vision to see that this project was set to crash and burn.

Now, sit back, pound as many Voodoo Ranger Fruit Force IPAs from New Belgium as your stomach will allow, and watch out for the motorcycles! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Chumpzilla, and Bling Blake are ready to start the revolution—John-A-Thon!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – Go Ballistic! (00:00)
• Lingering Questions – How in the hell was this released in this state? (48:12)
• The "Close Your Eyes and Take the Money" Trivia Challenge – The Double Turn Podcast uses the Rollerball as a bludgeon, and then Chumpzilla challenges the field to trivia about the movie. (1:24:48)
• Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week and next up: We continue "Hops and Xtreme Flops," with the the skydiving heist film, Drop Zone! (1:36:10)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—why McTiernan got sent to the pen and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, Amazon Music, and more!

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