The new George R. R. Martin adaptation, which stars Dave Bautista and Milla Jovovich, has hit a record low for the author with users on Rotten Tomatoes. The most well-known adaptation of the author’s work is the HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones, which ran for eight seasons between 2011 and 2019. Altogether, the show, which featured breakout stars including Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Gwendoline Christie, and Jason Momoa, earned 59 Primetime Emmy awards, which is the most for any drama series in history.
Other George R. R. Martin books and stories have been adapted for the screen since then. This includes Fire & Blood, which became the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. The spinoff series premiered in 2022 and has already been renewed for season 3, ahead of the 2024 premiere of season 2. His sci-fi horror novella Nightflyers has also been adapted to the screen twice, once as a movie in 1987 and next as a Syfy television series in 2018. However, none of his previous adaptations have had the same Rotten Tomatoes reception as his newest movie.
In The Lost Lands Has Received Mixed User Reviews
Its Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Broke A Dismal Record
In the Lost Lands has broken an unfortunate record for George R. R. Martin with its Rotten Tomatoes audience score. The movie, which was directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, follows the witch Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich) and the hunter Boyce (Dave Bautista) exploring the mythical lost lands to present a queen with the gift of lycanthropy. Ahead of its debut, critics’ In the Lost Lands reviews earned the movie a dismal 18% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Below, read an excerpt from the 2 out of 10 review written by ScreenRant‘s own Alex Harrison:
Boyce’s emotional arc is as muddled as Alys’, especially by the end. In the Lost Lands goes for some last-act reveals (in the same rapid-fire succession of all its storytelling) that land as truly nonsensical, and actually illustrate the importance of character very well. A twist might “make sense” for the plot, but if it doesn’t cohere at the level of character, it just doesn’t work. And an ending like that, after everything that came before, leaves me with only one recommendation: don’t waste your time.
Rotten Tomatoes has now collected more than 100 verified user reviews for In the Lost Lands, which is enough for them to tabulate an official audience score on the Popcornmeter. While this score could fluctuate as more reviews are added, the George R. R. Martin movie has earned a 51% score from audiences with an average rating of 3.1 out or 5. While this is superior to the movie’s Tomatometer score by a considerable margin, it marks the lowest audience score that any Martin adaptation has ever earned on the platform.
What This Means For In The Lost Lands
It Is A Negative Standout Among Martin’s Work
Not only has In the Lost Lands hit a record low for George R. R. Martin, it is one of just two properties to have earned him a Rotten audience score, after the 2018 series Nightflyers (55%). Everything else is above the Fresh threshold, including House of the Dragon (78%), Game of Thrones (85%), and even Dark Winds (70%), which he executive produced but is not based on his work.
Dark Winds, which premiered in 2022, is adapted from Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee series.
It also seems likely that In the Lost Lands could continue to be the lowest for George R. R. Martin for quite some time, as impending adaptations of his work including the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, another Game of Thrones spinoff that could very well win over audiences just like its predecessors.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
