Critical response
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 40% of 90 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.8/10. The site's consensus states: "Equilibrium is a reheated mishmash of other sci-fi movies."[11] Metacritic gave the film a score of 33 out of 100, based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[12] Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times dismissed Equilibrium for having heavily borrowed from Fahrenheit 451, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and other science fiction classics.[13] Roger Ebert awarded the film three stars out of four, noting that: "Equilibrium would be a mindless action picture, except that it has a mind. It doesn't do a lot of deep thinking, but unlike many futuristic combos of sf and f/x, it does make a statement."[14]
Wimmer said in a Dreamwatch interview that "the paying customers seemed to get it", and said the critics "didn't seem to see that the film had a different message than" Fahrenheit 451 or 1984.[15] Responding to the critics' views, Wimmer later said, "Why would I make a movie for someone I wouldn't want to hang out with? Have you ever met a critic who you wanted to party with? I haven't."[16]
Box office
The film had an estimated production budget of $20 million. International pre-release sales had already made a profit, so the studio reduced the film's promotion and advertising budget to avoid the risk of the film losing money; as a consequence, theatrical release was limited.[16]
The film was shown in only 301 theaters at its widest release in the United States, earning $541,512 in its opening week, and only $1.2 million when it closed on December 26, 2002; the film earned $4.1 million internationally, for a total of $5.3 million worldwide.[2]
