I really enjoyed it, but I have to say, I'm disappointed though not surprised it's performing poorly at the box office. It's a big, complicated, hard SF, cyberpunk noir that moves at its own pace and makes the audience do a bit of work. It was never going to be a mainstream hit.
The first Blade Runner wasn't that popular with US audiences initially, was it? It got a better reception overseas, and became a cult hit, if I remember correctly. I didn't quite get it when I saw it the first time. It was after all the hype about the Star Wars movies, and it had Harrison Ford in it, but it was a very different kind of SF film. It's become one of my all-time favorites, however.
Hopefully, we can go see it next weekend. I was apprehensive about their making a sequel, because this so often means that one's memories (or take on) the first movie will become tarnished. Sort of like what they did when they kept making
Alien movies after the first two. In my mind, all the later
Alien movies don't exist, and the story ended with #2. Except once seen, they can't be completely unseen.
I don't know how the lukewarm opening will impact the decision to make more movies like this in the future. Nowadays, it seems like everything with a higher budget needs to make all the money back in the first week or it's deemed a failure. Making a movie that has a more sustained career as a cult classic doesn't seem to be on studios' radar anymore.
I don't know what's shifted in the world that's made it so everything is about short-term profits nowadays, but this isn't just confined to movies.