Some of them are a major hit with audiences. The idea of a mashup is a delicate thing. Some films are flops, and some flops are disasters. So, the good news is, we're all mostly spending our money on good films. Conversely, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther is one of Marvel's all-time biggest commercial and critical hits. The result is something memorable and fun, and there are great performances from Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, and Ron Perlman. There are many reasons this adaption of Tom Wolfe's novel of the same name didn't work out, but most point to it being miscast, having too many changes from the source material, and going way over budget. It proved to be a rare box-office fail for screenwriters/producers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, the team behind the live-action "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" trilogies. since. If you’re too far from them, though, then you lose the original appeal. Sci-fi basically built the idea of a cult following for a film. Like what you see here? So, when it’s time to pop on a sci-fi movie, how can you tell the awesome flops from the overrated hits? Shortfall; $7.4 million (Budget: $150 million; worldwide gross: $142.6 million). 2. Judging by reviews and Rotten Tomatoes scores, The Punisher (2004) was a very slight and utterly insignificant improvement on its 1989 predecessor. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Like the 2003 Hulk movie directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, which grossed merely $245 million worldwide. A big-budget indie movie, starring Oscar Isaac, and set against the backdrop of the Armenian genocide, "The Promise" struggled to find a U.S. distributor partly because of geopolitics, producer Eric Esrailian told The Hollywood Reporter: "It became clear that the government of Turkey was going to have an influence on this movie." But at the time, the movie made less than half of what its predecessor did. Note: This list is ranked purely by first release date, and all grosses are correct as of December 1, 2019. So because the film was adapting an absolutely beloved novel, fan expectations were going to be unreasonably high. Before he reigned as Arthur Curry in "Aquaman," Jason Momoa tried, but failed, in this film to bring new box-office life to Robert E. Howard's classic warrior character, first brought to the screen by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Conversely, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther is one of Marvel's all-time biggest commercial and critical hits. When all was said and done, the film had a loss of $38.5 million. Vulture reported that the film could lose Warner Bros. up to $150 million. Jonathan Taylor Thomas had it all at one point in time. According to Box Office Mojo, the film, based on the Playmobil toys in an apparent bid to replicate the success of "The Lego Movie," made only $1.1 million in the US and $16 million overall. The price tag on this movie was so high, and the buzz was so bad, that even before this 1995 pirate adventure, starring Geena Davis, opened in theaters, the film company behind "Cutthroat Island" struggled for cash, and filed for bankruptcy. With a worldwide gross of an impressive $821 million, Spider-Man became the third-highest-grossing movie of 2002 and the seventh-highest-grossing movie of all time. And the ending (in which the PreCrime unit is dissolved) is predictable and toothless. The critics praised it for its well-paced story, entertaining action scenes, but most of all its heart. The John Wayne-produced version of "The Alamo," conversely, was one of the Top 10 grossing films of 1960, and was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. For fans of satire, it’s a great send-up of military culture and modern propaganda. With a worldwide gross of $56 million, Elektra just barely made back its production budget. Shortfall: $63.4 million (Budget: $125 million; worldwide gross: $61.6 million). These 20 actors and actresses know a thing or two about "the other side" of Hollywood and have gracefully decided to bow out after a box office sleeper! Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance grossed $132 million, which is almost two times less than Ghost Rider. Simple: with our help! The performances are charming and hilarious (particularly Donald Glover as a young Lando Calrissian), and there’s plenty of Star Wars trivia to keep superfans glued to the screen. The first Trek reboot tried to change all of that by making everything bigger, and much more explosive. On the surface, The Goldfinch felt like it could be a prime awards contender, given a starry cast and the fact it was based on an award-winning book. Subscribe to our daily newsletter to get more of it. Finally, in 2017, Fox and James Mangold made a critically and commercially successful Wolverine movie with Logan. Finally, we get to Marvel’s unequivocally biggest box office hit yet in Avengers: Infinity War. Sci-fi basically built the idea of a cult following for a film. On the contrary, the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot wasn’t successful on any level. The Telegraph reported that the film made just $18 million on its $80 million budget. Unlike Thor: Ragnarok, the third installment in the Blade franchise wasn’t its strongest point. According to Digital Spy, Fox took a $100 million loss on the animated film. Do we go by box office? Reported budget: $100,000,000 (estimated). However, beyond some fun action and one-liners, the movie doesn’t hold up too well. Freddie turned his attention to television guest appearances, but would never come close to leading box office status. Thor: Ragnarok was also a major box office hit, grossing $853 million worldwide and becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2017. I mean, there was no excuse for it. This movie did so terribly that estimates of how much money Disney lost because of it became a heated topic of discussion. Shortfall: $17.9 million (Budget: $100 million; worldwide gross: $82.1 million). This content is imported from YouTube. The critics slammed the movie for its weak script, shoddy CGI and called Nicolas Cage’s performance so predictably loony that it stopped being even remotely amusing. It wasn't helped by the fact it was merely OK, and it ended up with the worst box office haul of the entire franchise. The film received rave reviews, however, after being re-edited and shown at the New York Film Forum in 2013. Shortfall: $110.5 million (Budget: $150 million; worldwide gross: $39.5 million). Box Office Scoop reported a $111.7 million loss. Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. In fact, the home video sales were so good that this film eventually got a sequel! Connery had been a film fixture for decades until he suddenly wasn't. There just wasn't the excitement for it and with better options on offer (Shazam!, Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel), even the overseas market couldn't save it. ), has experienced a box office flop? In 2008, on the heels of Iron Man's success, Marvel Studios made The Incredible Hulk. But, before the MCU, most Marvel movies weren’t nearly as successful. ", denies the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians. However, if out of some morbid curiosity, you do want to check it out, it's available on YouTube. However, the sequel made sure to kill the franchise the one surefire way -- with three villains. The first time Hollywood adapted Jules Verne's classic adventure novel, in 1956, the result was a popular success that won five Oscars, including Best Picture. Shortfall: $3.3 million (Budget: $95 million; worldwide gross: $91.7 million). The third installment in MCU’s Captain America trilogy, Captain America: Civil War, became the highest-grossing film of 2016 with a worldwide gross of $1.1 billion. No superhero film has ever made $2 billion at the box office -- not until Avengers: Infinity War happened. Wait, Cameron Diaz, the comedic actress who captured the hearts of millions with her multiple memorable roles in romantic comedies (who could forget this scene in The Holiday? The film was praised for its impressive action sequences, comedy and wit. couldn't get near the $250 million+ grosses of the previous two movies. The Matrix is a movie that was a hit in every category and spawned a series of sequels, video games, and endless fan debate. For Jake Lloyd, however, his time in the spotlight was more of a nightmare. And while it grossed more money than its 2000 predecessor, it wasn't close to being the earlier film's box-office equal. The film got rave reviews, with critics calling it the new standard for MCU films. a complete/total/expensive flop The new mobile technology turned out to be an expensive flop. There are no attempts at gritty realism here: this is pure, high-octane fun. But production costs ran high, and the film just couldn't recover. George Clooney was shunned by Hollywood after movie flop. People thought the motion-capture style looked creepy, the title reportedly alienated boys, and the thought of seeing a mom get kidnapped was too scary for kids. The movie was also MCU’s biggest critical success and currently holds a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In its opening weekend it made just $7 million, and thanks to terrible reviews it didn't stand a chance at coming anywhere close to turning a profit. According to Rolling Stone, the movie's budget was $40 million, and it took in just $7 million at the box office in the summer of 1994. This historical action film, starring Patrick Wilson and Jason Patric, went down without much of a fight at the box office. And all of it worked. The then-Universal Studios president said it best: "'Land of the Lost' was just c---. An original sci-fi from Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt seemed like an exciting prospect, but Captive State failed to captivate US audiences back in March. In the motion picture industry, a box-office bomb or box-office flop is a film that is considered highly unsuccessful or unprofitable during its theatrical run. The young actors do a good job bringing the Rangers to life while the older heroes and villains are played by amazing actors such as Bill Hader and Bryan Cranston. While the ones that failed commercially, most likely failed critically as well. The film was praised for outstanding performances across the board, emotionally resonant story, visual effects, as well as action sequences. Like Dark Phoenix, it's perhaps not a surprise that Terminator: Dark Fate underperformed at the box office. Critics gave it so-so reviews. But it failed to scare up much business. The 2002 Harrison Ford vehicle is a Russian sub drama that sunk with audiences. On the other hand, some older Marvel films and those current ones that are not part of the MCU have performed incredibly well at the box office. There are many ways to define “hit” movies. Read on to find out which "bad" science fiction movies are actually pretty great, and which hits are actually overrated. But we want to make it clear that this isn't just a list of movies we didn't like. People don’t like to talk about it, but Daniel Craig seems to have the James Bond curse. Spoiler alert: It didn't scare up much business. According to a 2012 Time report, the movie lost over $146 million, which would be around $164 million in 2020 dollars. This 2001 film, based on the "Final Fantasy" video-game series, made headlines as the first motion-capture-animated feature film. However, for each X-Men: Days of Future Past there’s an X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Starship Troopers is really beloved. And it tanked so terribly that Frank Price resigned as Universal's president after it flopped. The movie was everywhere, spawning a cartoon, a special Burger King burger, and more Will Smith singing than anyone was ready for. Unfortunately, hardly anyone watched it! Allegedly, produced solely to hold on to character rights, Richard Corman’s 1994 Fantastic Four movie was never released in theaters, nor was it ever intended to be seen by an audience. More like F.L.O.P.P.E.D! The movie was also a massive box office flop, grossing only $10 million against a production budget of $35 million. Grossing $167 million worldwide against a production budget of $155 million, the film ended up losing up to $100 million. The thought of a holiday film succeeding at the box office seems as if it would inspire warm and fuzzy feelings, but for Jack Frost, the seasonal vehicle for Michael Keaton in the mid-'90s, the movie snowballed at the box office! 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Released with apparent award-season ambitions, it failed to rate any Academy Award nominations. It recorded the ninth-worst wide opening (more than 2,500 theatres) ever, and didn't fare much better overseas, even having its UK release postponed. Criticized, among other things, for its bland and uninspired story, Punisher: War Zone received generally negative reviews. The "Playmobil" movie broke a record upon its release — though not a positive one. However, it was a hit and spawned a franchise. Production of the film (about two US songwriters in Morocco who find themselves in the middle of a CIA power play) was plagued with the most common problems of every box office flop: delays, overspending, and issues among stars. The critics praised, above all, the movie’s heart, characters and performances. Whatever the reason, it ended up being the most expensive comedy film at the time. Britney Spears made her big-screen debut in Crossroads, and her character needed a charming leading man to match her character's determined and precocious nature. When she’s not working on articles for CBR and Screen Rant, this nerdy alien can usually be found glued to the TV screen with the latest episodes of her favorite shows, re-watching an all-time favorite, playing mediocre guitar, or curled up with a book. "Pan," a prequel to JM Barrie's "Peter Pan," was controversial before it even was released because of the casting of Rooney Mara (a white woman) as Tiger Lily, a Native American in the original. When it came to JTT's film career, he wasn't as lucky. What's the biggest box-office bomb of all time? Thanks to the success of franchises like Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy, we’re seeing more sci-fi movies than ever before. With a worldwide gross of $1.4 billion, Avengers: Age of Ultron became the fourth-highest-grossing movie of 2015 and the third MCU film to hit $1 billion. After a streak of forgettable misses, like the film Stealth, which underperformed, Biel's appeal isn't exactly at the box office! Spider-Man 3 wasn’t a complete mess, but it wasn’t as good as the previous two installments. And for the most part, "Addams Family Values" was enjoyable — it even developed into a cult classic. The MCU formula for superhero movies rarely ever fails, and that is stretching the definition of failure to include The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World. This film is another failed attempt to mine a familiar property for more box-office gold. Arriving on the heels of Thor: Ragnarok’s massive success, Black Panther knocked it out of the park. Guardians of the Galaxy were a bunch of nobodies, but Gunn and his talented star-studded cast made a hilarious and entertaining film set to the backdrop of '70s hit songs and turned Guardians into A-listers. Will Smith would earn his first career Oscar nomination for his performance as boxer Muhammad Ali in this 2001 biopic. an unsuccessful product, plan, etc. Even Stan Lee commented that they made Matt too tragic. The third and (for now) final attempt to adapt Punisher for the bring screen came in 2008 with Punisher: War Zone. Using stats from the box-office site The Numbers, we've compiled a list of the 42 movies that, versus their production budgets, lost the most at the box office. And you could certainly argue that there Pullman’s “Independence Day” speech is one of the coolest moments in sci-fi movie history. Even though this film didn’t kick off a franchise like they wanted, it’s really worth checking it out. This big flop came from one of Hollywood's biggest moviemakers: Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump," the "Back to the Future" trilogy), who produced. This was unlikely to endear moviegoers to the film, and it flopped. "Bruce Almighty" made almost $500 million, so it makes sense that studios thought that a sequel starring Steve Carrell and Lauren Graham would be box-office gold — turns out, those two couldn't compete with Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston. Shortfall: $69.5 million (Budget: $90 million; worldwide gross: $20.5 million). That was the case with Ender’s Game. Sam Raimi’s final Spider-Man movie may not have gotten rave reviews, but it sure did make some serious money. Whether you're a comic book fan or a casual moviegoer you can enjoy a Marvel movie. Really? And that's because some people bought tickets, but, judging by its 0 rating on Rotten Tomatoes, no reviewers liked it. It seemed as if the movie was setting up a sequel at the same time that it ensured no one would want to watch it! Gold star to you if you saw them all. If you look back ten years ago, you'll see that superhero movies -- even popular ones and those deemed commercially successful -- didn't make that kind of money. sixth-worst wide opening (more than 2,500 theatres) ever. ), Shortfall: $1.2 million(Budget: $140 million; worldwide gross: $138.8 million). Josh Trank’s film received generally negative reviews, which criticized virtually every aspect of the movie. Shortfall: $37.4 million (Budget: $115 million; worldwide gross: $77.6 million), In the summer of 2002, this John Woo-directed World War II drama, starring Nicolas Cage, was supposed to be counter-programming to Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man." Just ignore the Green Goblin costume, we all did. The film had a $160 million budget and made just $61 million back, NME reported. Two years after "Green Lantern" failed to light up the box office as expected, Ryan Reynolds fired even more blanks with another comic-book adaptation. None of his misses has come up as lopsided at the box office as this 2002 outer-space comedy. If you talk to fans, Interstellar was one of the biggest sci-fi movies of the past decade and the box office seems to bear this out, as the film’s raw star power brought quite a few fans to the theates. Now that the Fantastic Four are back with Marvel, reportedly Disney is planning its own reboot. For fans of the trio of Nora Ephron films featuring Meg as a leading lady, the thought of her disappearing from the world of film may be surprising! The New York Times called the film "neither a smash nor a disaster," but the film's deficit begs to differ. And there’s only one real conclusion: some of these hits are highly overrated. IMDb estimated its budget at $47 million, and the film made just $12 million. James Gunn’s film surprised just about everyone with a whopping $773 million worldwide gross. Pajiba reports that the film had a total loss of almost $95 million. True to Zemeckis form, 2011's "Mars Needs Moms" features what was then cutting-edge technology. history. Walt Disney Studios eventually announced that it was taking a $200 million second-quarter write-down because of "John Carter.". Nicole Kidman stars in this comic take on the same-titled 1970s horror novel (which was previously made into a 1975 cult classic). The first two episodes of The Inhumans were screened in IMAX theaters grossing a disappointing $3.5 million worldwide. The Independent went so far as to call it the worst box-office flop of all time. Many of the movies on this list were major hits, however Men in Black was some kind of new level of success. This disaster-at-sea epic is definitely no "Titanic." Marvel movies, especially MCU movies, are made for everyone. With "Avengers: Endgame" breaking records and making box-office history last summer, it's always good to remember that for every amazing movie there's a flop or two waiting to happen. Shortfall: $8.2 million (Budget: $100 million; worldwide gross: $91.8 million). This more recent attempt at Verne's tale, with Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan, did not fare nearly as well. The critics commended the movie for a thoughtful tone and story, giving special praise to Hugh Jackman for a gritty and nuanced performance. The third Avengers film was a result of ten years of extensive worldbuilding, meticulously planned storytelling and character development. Shortfall: $1.8 million(Budget: $100 million; worldwide gross: $98.2 million). Minority Report had one of the coolest sci-fi premises of all time: how would society react when crime could be predicted? You know what they say, if at first you don’t succeed, try and fail again. Shortfall: $51.9 million (Budget: $137 million; worldwide gross: $85.1 million). Credited for reinventing the modern superhero genre and the summer blockbuster, Spider-Man is an essential superhero movie for any comic book fan. "47 Ronin" had a lot of problems. Schuyler Fisk is no stranger to the spotlight! Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? However, the movie is far more interested in slick chase sequences than crunchy philosophical dilemmas. Shortfall:: $23.28 million (Budget: $175 million; worldwide gross: $151.72 million). We eliminated titles that had no reported grosses because they debuted on streaming (a la Will Smith's "Bright"). 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"Concorde" is the fourth and final film in the "Airport" franchise. In 2004, a new studio attempted to bring Punisher to the big screen once again, but this time with Thomas Jane as Frank Castle. A month after Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 another Marvel franchise premiered what would become its final film, Fox’s Fantastic Four. Square, the company that financed "Final Fantasy," went on to quit the movie business and shut down its animation facility in Hawaii because of the overwhelmingly terrible numbers of "Final Fantasy." Criticized for its campy style that isn’t backed up with a whole lot of substance, Blade: Trinity received the worst reviews of all three Blade films. It's not shocking that it couldn't find its audience. Even a connection to a big brand doesn't help sometimes though. This movie blended traditional and digital animation, and it's absolutely stunning to look at. Irina Curovic is a freelance writer in love with TV shows, movies, anime, books, and music, in no particular order. Due to the secrecy surrounding costs and profit margins in the film industry, figures of losses are usually rough estimates at best, and there are often … It’s basically cool makeup and set pieces along with mediocre action and a vague antagonist. Ready to get started? Honor Guard: Who Would Win? This 1999 Antonio Banderas action movie is based on a Michael Crichton novel. Eventually, they decided to release it themselves and show it at the Cinemadome in Hollywood. A decade later, a sequel that cost five times as much to make (and that starred Jamie Kennedy instead of Carrey) grossed a small fraction of the original's haul. Still, despite everything we just said, with 38% approval rating The Fantastic Four is the highest-rated Fantastic Four movie on Rotten Tomatoes. The swashbuckling pirate-themed movie was an adventure tale with horrible acting, a deficient and often incoherent script, continuity problems, spectacular but boring special effects and action-film sequences, and logistical issues due to being filmed on two continents (in Malta - serving as 1600s Jamaica, and Thailand).