‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes’ is Delayed, May Go Away Entirely
'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones' came out less than three weeks ago, but box office-wise (at least domestically) it's done. Having made less than $30 million stateside, that number is less than half of the film's production budget. So it's no surprise that production company Constantin Films is delaying the start of the sequel 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes.'
That's the news from The Wrap, and a delay may mean that we never hear about the sequel again, even though Sigourney Weaver was recently cast in the follow up. With less than ten million grossed internationally, it looks like the film hasn't been released everywhere worldwide, so it's possible that if -- say -- China really loves the film the movie could become profitable (we'll call this 'Pacific Rim'-ing), but that seems unlikely.
Ten to fifteen years ago, the franchise might have been saved by home video, but -- as there was no real word of mouth on the picture -- it seems unlikely that it will become a cable favorite or get the sort of attention that would lead to a follow up. That said, it made sense for the studio to have everything for the sequel lined up: With films aimed at a certain age group, those fans grow up and sometimes out of interest with a series ('Twilight' was smart at producing their sequels as quick as possible). In this case, the audience wasn't there from the start.