- “Your Highness,” a 2011 R-rated fantasy stoner comedy, was a colossal box office disaster, earning only $28 million on a $50 million budget.
- The film’s marketing heavily relied on a brief, controversial scene featuring Natalie Portman’s stunt double, which failed to attract audiences.
- Critics and viewers panned the movie for its uneven tone, miscast actors, and crass humor that has aged poorly.
- Despite its failure, the film is remembered as a fascinating Hollywood cautionary tale for its ambitious but deeply flawed concept.
The Fantasy That Crashed and Burned
In 2011, Hollywood took a wild swing, combining the high-fantasy genre with an R-rated stoner comedy in “Your Highness.” Backed by director David Gordon Green, hot off the success of “Pineapple Express,” and a star-studded cast including James Franco, Danny McBride, Zooey Deschanel, and Natalie Portman, the film seemed poised to break the rules. Instead, it just broke, becoming one of the most notorious box-office bombs of its time and a cinematic punchline that still echoes today.
On paper, the premise was a gamble. High-fantasy is notoriously difficult to sell outside of major franchises like Lord of the Rings, and raunchy comedies often struggle to find a broad audience. “Your Highness” attempted to be both, resulting in a film with a severe identity crisis. The story follows lazy Prince Thadeous (McBride) and his heroic brother Prince Fabious (Franco) on a quest to save Fabious’s fiancée (Deschanel) from an evil wizard (Justin Theroux). Along the way, they meet Isabel (Portman), a fierce warrior seeking her own revenge.
Marketing a Misfire with Portman’s Appeal
The studio’s marketing strategy hinged almost entirely on one element: Natalie Portman. A trailer famously highlighted a scene of Portman’s character revealing her bare bottom. However, this tactic backfired spectacularly. Not only did the scene feature a stunt double, but it also misrepresented Portman’s role. Her character, Isabel, is absent for a large portion of the movie, leaving audiences who came for the Oscar-winning actress feeling short-changed. It’s a shame, as Portman’s comedic chemistry with Danny McBride was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise unwieldy script.
A Legacy of Cringe and Financial Ruin
“Your Highness” was considered crude and out of touch even upon its 2011 release, and time has not been kind to its humor. Many of its jokes, including a particularly bizarre scene involving a Minotaur, have aged terribly, venturing into territory that would likely get a film “canceled” today. The film’s tone careens wildly between fantasy parody and gross-out sex jokes, never quite succeeding at either.
This creative failure translated directly into a financial disaster. With a production budget of $50 million—expensive for a comedy but cheap for a fantasy epic—the film only managed to gross a dismal $28 million worldwide. It failed to find a second life on DVD or streaming, solidifying its status as a forgotten flop. While not a good movie by most metrics, “Your Highness” remains a fascinating case study of Hollywood ambition gone wrong—a unique blend of genres and a series of staggeringly bad decisions that make for a truly bewildering watch.
Image Referance: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/raunchy-natalie-portman-fantasy-broke-180658647.html