Liam Neeson’s Forgotten $40 Million Western Rides Onto New Streamer Seeking Redemption

After the record-breaking success of his gross-out comedy film Ted in 2012, writer-director Seth MacFarlane was tapped to direct a sequel. But before Ted 2 materialized, he snuck in a passion project that probably wouldn’t have gotten made otherwise. The movie in question, A Million Ways to Die in the West, combined MacFarlane’s lifelong love for Westerns with his signature silly humor. He starred in the movie himself, but surrounded himself with A-listers such as Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, and Charlize Theron. A Million Ways to Die in the West didn’t do as well as Ted, and it hasn’t had nearly the same level of cultural impact. But it was moderately successful for its time, and is riding onto a new streaming service this January, where more audiences can discover it. Produced on a reported budget of $40 million, A Million Ways to Die in the West grossed nearly $90 million at the global box office. By comparison, Neeson’s recent return to box office success, The Naked Gun, grossed a little more than $100 million globally against a similar budget. The Naked Gun was produced by MacFarlane. Ted, on the other hand, remains one of the highest-grossing comedy movies ever made, with over half a billion dollars in the bank. Ted 2, which debuted in 2015, made more than $200 million at the global box office. A prequel series was released on Peacock last year.
‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ Earned Poor Reviews

A Million Ways to Die in the West earned mostly poor reviews, and is now sitting at a 33% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “While it offers a few laughs and boasts a talented cast, Seth MacFarlane’s overlong, aimless A Million Ways to Die in the West is a disappointingly scattershot affair.” Comedy-Westerns weren’t exactly a box office draw during the 2010s; in fact, the Western itself was facing a second extinction, with only the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino managing to attract crowds of any significance with the likes of True Grit and Django Unchained. Incidentally, Django Unchained was released only a couple of years before A Million Ways to Die in the West, but it grossed over four times as much and earned far better reviews.

You can watch A Million Ways to Die in the West on Peacock beginning January 1, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.