Brad Bird Talks ‘Tomorrowland’ Reception: Can’t Tell Every Filmgoer “That’s Not What We Meant”

With Tomorrowland about to be released on Blu-ray, director Brad Bird has been thinking about the movie’s poor performance this summer — and wondering if people simply misunderstood what the film was trying to say.

“Obviously it was disappointing to me,” the director told USA Today about Tomorrowland’s lack of success at the summer box office and with critics. “The gist of some comments that I did get was that some people felt we were wagging our finger at them if they liked apocalyptic movies. We like those movies as much as anyone else. I love Terminator 2 and The Road Warrior and Blade Runner.”

Instead, Bird said, the movie was about the thought process behind those movies. “We were wondering why is there no other point of view about the future and does it become a self-fulfilling prophecy if we keep imagining that that’s the only future and we have no say in creating it,” he said. “Our desire to show perhaps another way to look at it was either seen as false or trying to shame people who enjoy the stories that feature the apocalypse.”

Not that it’s easy to convince everyone of that, he lamented. “Unfortunately I can’t go with every filmgoer to a film and go, ‘Oh no, that’s not what we meant. What we meant was this,’ ” he joked.

Tomorrowland will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on Oct. 13.

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