Rumblings out of Universal indicate there are big problems with the studio’s megabudget epic 47 Ronin, which stars Keanu Reeves. 

  Sources say that first time director Carl Rinsch buckled under pressure and lost control of the project. The budget has now soared past $225 million which means that with the millions the studio will have to spend on publicity and marketing, the movie will need to make more than half a billion dollars just to break even.

Reeves with 47 Ronin Japanese cast

    Executives who saw a rough cut of the movie instantly ordered a series of reshoots in London to put Reeves back in the centre of the action after seeing that the star wasn’t even in the climactic battle scene.

    Rinsch has now been removed from editing the picture, which fictionalises the Japanese story of a group of 18th century warriors who aim to avenge their master’s death.  Reeves, in his first starring role in a tentpole project since The Matrix trilogy, is surrounded by a mainly Japanese cast.

   47 Ronin was orignally due to be released in November this year but the date was then put back to February next year. It has just been rescheduled again….this time to Christmas Day 2014.

   A source close to the production described the situation as “a nightmare.”