18 Years Ago Today: Nicolas Cage Film Opened at No. 1, But Now Has a 9% Rotten Tomatoes Score
- Nicolas Cage’s action thriller Bangkok Dangerous opened at No. 1 on Sept. 5, 2008, earning $7.8 million in its opening weekend, ending Tropic Thunder’s three-week reign at the top of the box office.
Nicolas Cage's action thriller Bangkok Dangerous opened at No. 1 on Sept. 5, 2008. The film earned $7.8 million in its opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.
The win ended Tropic Thunder 's three-week run at the top of the box office. Still, it marked one of the slowest weekends for movie theaters in five years, per Bloomberg.
The Pang Brothers directed the film, a remake of their own 1999 Thai movie of the same name. Cage played a hitman sent to Bangkok for one final job.
The film also became one of Cage's more forgettable outings. It currently holds a 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 93 reviews.
Behind the low score was a much bigger financial problem for the film.
Inside One of Nicolas Cage's Biggest Box Office Bombs
Despite topping the charts, Bangkok Dangerous struggled to justify its reported $45 million production budget at the box office.
Domestically, the film grossed just $15.3 million total, according to Rotten Tomatoes. That left a massive gap between production costs and domestic ticket sales.
Critics were not kind to the film either. Rotten Tomatoes' Critics Consensus summed up its shortcomings bluntly.
"With murky cinematography, a meandering pace, a dull storyline, and rather wooden performances," it read. "The Pang Brothers' Hollywood remake of Bangkok Dangerous is unsuccessful."
One critic aimed his harshest words directly at Cage's performance.
Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov, per Rotten Tomatoes, described him as "funless, scowly, grim, and steroidally impervious." He argued Cage seemed detached from the tone around him.
In the end, neither the box office nor the reviews did the film any favors.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Sep 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
