Hollywood: These are the most expensive failures in the history of cinema
This article provides a comprehensive analysis of major box office failures that resulted in significant financial losses for studios, including an in-depth look at why these films performed poorly and how studios can avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
From The Thirteenth Warrior, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Wonder Woman 1984, and John Carter, these films have struggled to make back their huge budgets, resulting in significant losses for their makers. We analyze these films in detail, exploring the factors that contributed to their underwhelming performances.
Disturbing silver screen stories tell us what has become a cliche that even with the best intentions and greatest willpower, luck can make you fall at any time. This article examines the flops in film history – major financial headaches for studios and some of the biggest box office and film disappointments. These film projects entered a financial maze without recovering huge budgets, and left behind huge debts after their production.
- John Carter (2012)
Budget: A staggering $263 million
Box Office Gross: Even though they earned a whopping $284 million globally, they failed to pay such a huge outlay.
Estimated loss: approximately $255 million
One such profile is John Carter, the effort to bring the legendary character of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s 1930s novels to the screen. It’s also worth noting that this project suffered from years of development delays coupled with a huge budget and heavy advertising spend. Despite all the hype, it only succeeded in recouping a small portion of its budget, leaving behind huge financial losses. It is often mentioned among Hollywood’s biggest financial disasters. - The only knight
Budget: About $225 to $250 million
Box Office Gross: The film grossed $260.5 million, but this was not enough to cover the film’s costs.
Total loss: about $240 million
The Lone Ranger movie is said to be very promising because Johnny Depp will once again work with Gore Verbinski, the director of the hit Pirates of the Caribbean series. However, during production, controversy arose over the depiction of indigenous people, causing potential viewers to lose interest in the film which eventually became a commercial disaster and cost investors millions of dollars. - The thirteenth warrior
Budget: About $160 million
Box office gross: Earning just under $62 million
Estimated loss: approximately $227 million
The story of The Thirteenth Warrior was an exciting ancient epic story with Antonio Pandraz as the main actor. It was a poor commercial success, largely due to its complex story and expensive production. However, she was unable to achieve great commercial success, which led to huge financial losses. - Mortal Engines (2018)
Budget: About $100 to $150 million.
Box Office Gross: Earning just $84 million worldwide
Total loss: about $204 million
Mortal Engines, an adaptation of the popular young adult sci-fi novel, received critical acclaim upon its release. However, the film version was financially disappointing. This led to huge losses because the film was unable to recoup its production costs. - Cutter Island
Budget: about one hundred million dollars.
Box office gross: $10 million
Total loss: about $202 million
The story of the failure of Cutthroat Island can be described as one of the most expensive films to fail ever. It nearly broke under the star power of Geena Davis and Matthew Modine but barely managed to make back a fraction of its cost. The production company Carolco Pictures suffered a devastating financial setback as a result. - The Flash (2023)
Estimated budget: The planned budget ranges between $200-220 million and does not include marketing costs.
Estimated box office gross: This grossed $102 million domestically and another $248 million overseas.
Estimated Loss: The film grossed around $763 million worldwide but is expected to represent another loss for them of around $200 million. Warner Bros.’s profits turned around. Discovery expected the film to be a financial failure.
A relatively new film – The Flash has grossed approximately $248 million worldwide, and over $100 million in the United States; But it was still unsuccessful. Estimated costs ranged between $200-$220 million, with losses of approximately $200 million initially expected, although the film was expected to be a huge success at the box office. - Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Budget: The film’s production budget was sixty million dollars.
Box Office Gross: This film only made about $80 million in today’s money.
Total loss: This resulted in the film losing approximately $198 million. It was produced with a rich collection, but could not withstand budget constraints.
The 2003 star-studded animated adventure, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, starring Brad Pitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, became the most expensive flop of all time. Its budget was about $60 million, but it barely amounted to $80 million, thus losing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. - Strange World (2022)
Domestic Box Office Gross: Earned $37.9 million domestically.
International Box Office Gross: Added $35.6 million internationally.
Total Loss: The film grossed approximately $197 million in losses. It received good reviews but was unable to cover its budget with a large audience.
The film was critically praised, but was unsuccessful at the box office. The film was well received, but incurred losses amounting to more than $197 million. - Turning Red (2022)
Budget: Cost $175 million.
Box Office Gross: However, it only grossed US$20 million at the worldwide box office.
Distribution problems coupled with its adult appeal resulted in losses of approximately $167 million. She had a unique strategy but lost her money. Several factors contributed to the lack of success for Pixar’s Turning Red, which was created for an older audience, including the COVID-19 pandemic as well as limited streaming methods. At an estimated cost of $175 million, the film only managed to gross about $20 million worldwide, causing huge losses. - Mulan live action remake (2020)
Budget: $200 million
Box office gross: $70 million
Total loss: $159 million
Although Mulan was a huge success as a live-action film for Disney, it faced resistance from negative reviews due to issues related to cultural appropriation. The film was released in September 2020 with gross receipts of around seventy million dollars, well below its costs of two hundred million dollars. - Dark Phoenix (2019)
Total budget: $200 million
International box office total: $252 million
Estimated losses: $155 million
Dark Phoenix was the tenth installment in the series and had many ups and downs at the box office. However, due to her role as the unruly antagonist, Phoenix was unable to sustain the poor script, swarm of actors, as well as the unhealthy rush to reshoot the film. Although it grossed $252 million against production costs of $200 million, marketing problems contributed to a loss of about $155 million. This poor result led to the validity of the franchise being called into question in the coming days. - Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Domestic box office gross: $46 million
International box office gross: $123 million
Estimated losses: $155 million
The release of Wonder Woman 1984 (in December 2020) struggled to deal with this situation by taking it into account; That is, its effect of closing all theaters due to Covid-19. The film, despite high expectations, had a significant impact on its finances. It is estimated that the film cost at least $179 million and lost approximately $155 million due to domestic receipts of about $46 million and a foreign gross of over $123 million.This is undoubtedly one of the cinema’s biggest drawbacks, as the outcome of delays in results is completely uncertain. Failure is a box office hit that shows us the fickle and fickle nature of the film industry. Despite the good casting and exciting plots, several obstacles arose that hindered the films’ success. Some were changing audience tastes and unforeseen situations like the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The warnings indicate that studios are taking a big gamble by investing their money in projects like those in Hollywood, which are complex and unpredictable.
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