I will forever believe that the failure of Journey of the Brave boiled more down to two main factors than the quality of the movie. Now, while I will admit that the movie itself isn't that great, I still find it better than 13, and many will agree that's an improvement.
From the outset, one could argue that Journey of the Brave was doomed to failure. This was either due to incompetence, stupidity or some sort of strategy to ensure failure. I'd bet more on the first two, but let's get down to what happened.
When Journey of the Brave was nearing release, it was revealed that it would only be sold at Walmart on Launch Day and then later sent to other retailers. Now, while this wouldn't be too bad if those release dates of different retailers were only days apart, the release to other retailers didn't happen for quite a few months. Yes, you read right, MONTHS! I don't care if your excuse is "we'll see how it does here first", this is inexcusable. There are those who refuse to shop at Walmart. This is especially true in smaller towns where they've gotten a reputation for being the reason that other businesses close their doors for good. Not to mention that you alienate yourself from towns that have banned the building of a Walmart. (Yes, they exist.) Yes, they did branch themselves out to other retailers eventually, but I fear it was too little too late. Anyone will tell you to branch out to as many retailers as possible, as quickly as possible, or you miss out on sales. Really, I don't know what the sales strategist was thinking here.
Another thing I feel hurt it was that there was NO Spanish option for the US release of the movie. No audio or subtitles for those that speak Spanish. With the US having such a large population, and 13% of them being native Spanish speakers, (As of 2015.) that's really not a number you want to ignore. Also, don't go telling me that ALL or most of them can fluently speak English, my own testimony would prove you wrong. I run into people who hardly speak English EVERY SINGLE DAY I work and I have to try and help them. At least give a Spanish Captions Option. It's the least you can do to get 13% of the US population to buy your movie.
These are the two main factors I feel caused more harm to the sales figures of the movie than the quality of it. I will forever stand by that.
