Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey's 2002 collaboration is still one of the wildest films of the 21st century

Kingdom of Fire used dragons to trigger an apocalypse in the United Kingdom, making it one of the wildest films of the 21st century. Kingdom of Fire mixes fantasy and post-apocalyptic genres featuring various tropes from each, with a small group of survivors living a grim existence that is threatened from time to time by enormous dragons. Its unusual approach to the fantasy genre makes it Kingdom of Fire One of the best dragon movies of all time. However, despite its interesting premise and star-studded cast, the film failed to impress critics.

Kingdom of Fire it has a positive critic score of 41% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics generally saw the film as a mess of conflicting ideas, but it was more popular with audiences as it had excellent visual effects and performances from its main characters. Kingdom of Fire is one of Matthew McConaughey's best films, with the actor appearing as a muscular American dragon hunter, with his reluctant collaborator, a survivor of the original dragon attack, being one of Christian Bale's most underrated characters.

Reign Of Fire Stars Two Future Oscar Winners

Gerard Butler also has a major role in Reign Of Fire

The plot of Kingdom of Fire looks like a B movie but it has a surprisingly famous cast. Christian Bale plays Quinn, who witnesses the dragon's awakening. He manages a group of survivors who grow more desperate by the day, until an armored convoy of dragon hunters arrives. Denton Van Zan, played by Matthew McConaughey, is the larger-than-life leader who may have the answer to ending the apocalypse. Bale and McConaughey later won Oscars, with Bale winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in The fighterand McConaughey winning Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club.

Gerard Butler is still best known for his breakout role as King Leonidas in 300but the multi-award winning actor has appeared in many other action films. Butler plays Quinn's best friend and fellow survivor, Creedy, in Kingdom of Fire. The two run the failed survivor camp together while putting on famous film productions for the children who live there. Kingdom of Fire is still one of Gerard Butler's best action films, and this relatively early role showcased Butler's acting skills in some unexpectedly emotional moments.

Reign Of Fire's dramatic potential is more impressive than you might think

A Reign of Fire reboot may finally do it justice

Kingdom of Fire It may be over the top, but there are some unexpectedly emotional moments throughout the film. Quinn and Creedy's growing desperation informs their characters and explains much of Quinn's hostility toward Van Zan. Although Van Zan seems more of a caricature when he arrives, the character is developed, emphasizing the fact that Van Zan has seen similar horrors to Quinn. The scenes the two characters share are often very serious and reminiscent of typical war movie moments rather than a story about a dragon apocalypse. This juxtaposition makes Kingdom of Fire sometimes unintentionally hilarious.

Kingdom of Fire can have several genres and ideas brought together in one filmbut it's never boring. The film is a wild and unpredictable ride from beginning to end, with many ideas that can be explored. Genre mixing is now a fairly regular occurrence in the world of cinema, and a reboot of Kingdom of Fire could be based on one or more elements from the original film. Considering the success of many recent film and TV franchises that are appealing because they incorporate several different genres, Kingdom of Fire it could simply be ahead of its time.

Since then, Reign Of Fire has become a cult classic (despite its failure at the box office)

Home video changed everything

At the time of its release in 2002 Kingdom of Fire it was just seen as a big, dumb action movie. While there were tentpoles, the post-MCU era of big franchises that popularized wild fantasy with big cheesy swings was still years away. X-Men it had only been released two years earlier; Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man film just a few months earlier. Game of Thrones it wouldn't hit TV screens and make dragons popular for another nine years. Kingdom of Firethe box office certainly reflected the zeitgeist: it vastly underperformed at the box office, earning just $82 million against a budget of $60 million.

Despite that, Kingdom of Fire became a cult classic in the following yearsanother reason it deserves a reboot. As with so many flops that deserved a better reception than they got, since Kingdom of Fire A home video hit, it was quickly adopted by those who missed it in theaters to become a true cult hit. He continued to grow his fan base in the following years, as Bale, McConaughey and Butler had great careers and his fans went back to his filmography to discover the 2002 action film.

What a Reign of Fire reboot could look like

The original film left a lot of story to tell

ONE Kingdom of Fire restarting can be a lot of fun. While it still looks great for a 2002 film that used heavy CGI, today's VFX technology could make it even more incredible, and it wouldn't be surprising if it borrowed the same VFX house that brought Game of Thrones' and House of Dragons' dragons for life. A scene from a flying dragon's point of view could be a highlight, and with modern technology it would be possible.

Furthermore, Kingdom of Fire left the door open for a future story. If the film isn't a full reboot, a legacy sequel could serve as a narrative extension, picking up threads from the film's ending. Put Kingdom of FireIn the end, it seemed like all the dragons had been eradicated, but it would be easy enough for one or two to survive to reborn a new dragon scourge. If Bale and other actors whose characters survived wanted to return for a sequel, Reign of Fire 2 it could continue with them having rebuilt civilization only to see the dragons try to destroy everything again. Either way, there's more than enough story for a big sequel, and it's long overdue.