Monterey Jack wrote:But a nice, cushy franchise job with a built-in audience is probably the best way for Gibson to get back into a studio's good graces these days.
That's always true. It's also a lay-up in terms of built-in audience, and with the first movie being a hit but also a lousy movie, he's got nowhere to go but up.
From the sounds of it, he's basically all the way back -- got an acting role lined up in DADDY'S HOME 2 (sure it's crap, but it'll make money) and seemingly several directorial choices to choose from. A good place to be in.
You gotta play the game a little in order to do the things you really want to do (and Hacksaw Ridge was only moderately successful at the box office).
Yep. I would argue though that Hacksaw was more than a "moderate" success -- it's basically been deemed a solid, if not major, success overall. Any time you quadruple your production cost, that's eye opening, especially for an "adult" movie nowadays. $164 mil worldwide on a $40 mil budget? No wonder why Hollywood is interested (plus the movie was good, too, obviously -- which doesn't hurt!).
Those kinds of movies really do not make big dollars anymore. The adult audience is staying home and out of the multiplex...more and more it's becoming Tentpole City outside of the rare exception (Hidden Figures, La La Land, etc.).