Speaking at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, where he was featured in a discussion with Steven Soderbergh :
‘There was the hope the film would be a massive hit because it would then continue the English-language adaptations of the trilogy novel series. Unfortunately, when everything was all said and done, the film didn’t kickstart a new franchise, as the box office wasn’t great.
Here's more statement by David Fincher on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo film:
“It would be interesting to see, if you took this piece of material that has millions and millions of people excited, and you did it within an inch of its life, would it support the kind of money it would take to do?” said Fincher about his mission with ‘Dragon Tattoo.’ “We pledged early on that we wanted to make a movie that was not embarrassing to its Swedish heritage.”
Fincher also said one of the things they didn't waver on was the fact that they wouldn’t shoot it in Atlanta and fake like it’s Sweden: “Atlanta for Sweden? No. We didn’t want to transpose it. We wanted it to be true to its essence.”
“I was proud of it. I thought we did what we set out to do,” Fincher added. “We did it the way that we could. And when people said it cost too much for what the return on investment was—Okay, a swing and a miss.”
The film was made for a budget reportedly around $90 million. It's box office run earned $230 million around the world, including over $102 million in North America. Despite being a financial disappointment for the studio, the film did quite well for a Rated-R crime thriller about a very sensitive subject.
source: The Playlist