In the case of the Aug. 24 release, however, “theatrical experience” was nearly nonexistent. On an unreported production budget, its total domestic gross was a paltry $587,211, showing in only 250 theaters nationwide at its peak.
At Rotten Tomatoes, the online barometer of critical favor (or lack thereof, as the case may be), Thunderstruck is certified “rotten” with an approval rating of just 20 percent. (Note, however, that only 10 critics registered with the site bothered to review it.)
One of those two supposedly positive reviews came from The Washington Post’s Sean O’Connell, who wrote that basketball fans “could do much worse.” (Strangely, O’Connell’s quote does not adorn the DVD cover. In fact, no quote does.)
The family film fared better with audiences, as 69 percent of Rotten Tomatoes visitors liked it.
One of them, Kadeem Stewart, gave it three and a half out of five stars … yet admitted he hadn’t seen it because “Thunderstruck is not near me in my local theater.”
Well, hell, if that’s the case, Kadeem, why not four stars?
Another rave, this one courtesy site user Prasanna Rajhmohan, reads in its entirety, “man the trailer is wicked.”
That poster-ready tagline sounds suspiciously like our favorite sentence from Oklahoma Gazette’s own review of the film, for which we hired a teen guest critic: “He looks like he was from a lame Disney Channel show and has a wack haircut.”
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