Why it maybe failed

Maybe it failed cause it looks like a cross of a KARATE KID parody and an A-TEAM episode.

I agree with both of the above posters, even if they disagreed. Remo's schizophrenic filmmakers were unsure of their target audience amid 1985's sociopolitical spectrum, and villain Grove was a dull competitor to Bond nasties of the SPECTRE/Blofeld variety.

More reasons to consider....

A) MEDIOCRE MARKETING... Despite focusing Remo ads around the iconic Statue of Liberty sequence (emulating Hitchcock) there was no real communication to introduce audiences to who Remo was (or Chiun) and WHY they should be interested in these new heroes. Remo Williams didn't offer audiences any of the usual gimmicks that had become James Bond cliches - but the producers hid from this fact in shy embarrassment, rather than boldly and proudly pointing out Remo's fresh attributes in clever advertising that might have stuck uniquely in audience memory, enough to go "hey, let's go see that." Examples - gadgets, vehicles, damsels?... Remo clumsily destroyed his own training gym, drove a beatup old truck off a mountain, and got chastised by a loudmouth NYC traffic cop. Somebody could easily create a new trailer for YouTube remarketing Remo the way it could have been advertised.

B) LACK OF APPEAL... As a crude-thug "leading man," Fred Ward didn't attract ladies as easily as the charming debonair Bond did, and Remo wound up as chaste as a monk. (The Dobermans probably got more tail than he did.) The producers didn't want to risk an "R" rating from the Destroyer books, for fear of alienating potential box-office from the tamer PG 007 crowd. At the same time, they couldn't figure out how to manage the "new" 1-year-old PG-13 rating. Its strictness scared away many parents, fearful of taking their kids to a risky adventure movie that was "almost R"... ironic that while PG-13 Remo was more brutal and profane than PG Bond, the Remo movie utilized ZERO sex appeal (unless you count a Pentagon officer caressing the knuckles of Kate Mulgrew in her buttoned uniform) which disappointed fans hoping for Remo to indulge a little lust temptation. Chiun's bigoted Korean male chauvinist pig attributes could have been used in marketing to help explain why Remo is the way he was.

C) ***BAD RELEASE... the studio released Remo in OCTOBER - WHY? That seems an odd time to launch a new secret agent franchise, much less try to capture a substantial audience for profitable success. Roger Moore's final Bond was that summer's "View to a Kill" released Memorial Day weekend at the end of May 1985 - right in time for the backyard BBQ holiday audience. I understand Remo's producers wanting to avoid competing with bigger-profile 007. Springtime (March-April 1985) could have captured a partial school audience eager for summer escapism to begin - while also benefiting from audience anticipation of Moore's final Bond not yet in theaters. Later, August 1985 could have netted summer vacationers craving one last adventure flick before school resumed, AND benefitted from audience disappointment from View to a Kill. At any rate, OCTOBER 1985 seems a barren deathbed as lousy as January. Far fewer audience members were available to the box-office at that point, so Remo slipped quickly out of theaters unnoticed.

D) SMALL SCREEN... Despite Remo's producers hiring former 007 filmmakers (the writer & director had previously made 70's Roger Moore flicks) they spent only a fraction of a Bond budget, and worse yet ignored the WIDESCREEN 2.35 aspect ratio of Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy by filming REMO WILLIAMS in "small screen" 1.85 - barely wider than a TV set. This lack of ambitious spectacle further diminished Remo's impact with low-brow blue-collar cheese factor. Although photographer Andrew Laszlo filmed Remo's locations beautifully, they would have looked even more impressive widescreen.

ultimately Remo was discovered by audiences at home, thanks mostly to HBO which aired it incessantly. For several years I remember overhearing dozens of people in video stores pointing out Remo to their friends asking if they'd seen it yet - always enthusiastic, like it was a surprising gem they were eager to share. Likewise kids at school were fond of quoting Chiun.

The producers still didn't appreciate what they were sitting on, because after Reagan left office, they made a Remo TV series pilot 20 times more bass-ackwards cheap than the movie.

So because it's a comedy we have to like it? That seems to be what you're saying because in your opinion comedy's can't be analyzed or criticized.