The film industry is still in a transitional period this summer. While many studios are eager to recoup their costs for projects made or put on hold during the pandemic, most are struggling to find a way to release films both effectively and safely, satisfying creators, audiences, and executives.
Despite theaters opening up and the expansion of streaming platforms, any economic ventures in film should be done cautiously. With summer blockbusters returning bit by bit, it's a good time to reflect on one of the season's biggest pastimes: box office flops.
10 Blade Runner 2049 Couldn't Foresee Its Future
Remakes, reboots, and sequels to movies older than their fans are a tough sell nowadays. While it's seemingly easy to capitalize on older, established franchises, many consumers have wised up to Hollywood's tricks and have become more scrutinizing to obvious cash grabs, especially when it comes to beloved franchises. Blade Runner 2049 was primed to be an exception.
In terms of resources and creativity, the film was set to appeal to both hardcore fans and critics, which happened to an extent. However, despite everything that was thrown at the film, its box office earnings didn't come anywhere close to what Warner Bros. needed to break even. As Ridley Scott put it, it was probably because the movie was about half an hour too long.
9 Cowboys & Aliens Weren't Enough For Theaters
Cowboys & Aliens sounds like the type of bad film that would become a cult classic purely based off of its absurdity. Much like Plan 9 From Outer Space, it would draw in fans who were just curious about how bad and surreal a film about cowboys fighting aliens could be. Unfortunately, this film had too much money and big names to have the appeal of a cult classic.
Instead of capitalizing on the inherent absurdity of people fighting alien invaders with six shooters, Cowboys & Aliens just came off as another generic action movie, devoid of the level of personality it needed to succeed. It felt like film executives lost all respect for audiences' tastes and just rolled a couple of dice until the words "cowboys" and "aliens" came up. In retaliation, audiences just didn't go to theaters at all.
8 Fantastic Four (2015) Was Another Fantastic Flop
During an age when anything related to superheroes and comics is bound to attract some market, the 2015 iteration of the Fantastic Four managed to scare most away. Fox's first two ventures into adapting the iconic Marvel family weren't exactly box office or critical delights, but they at least had some personality that people could look back on.
The latest reboot detracted from its predecessors and the rest of the superhero genre in the worst ways. It was an obvious cash-grab in the superhero market, it disappointed as a comic book adaptation, it adopted the dark tones that most superhero movies were moving away from, and it was plagued by plenty of studio interference. Against critics, audiences, and somehow its own director, this movie disappointed on all fronts.
7 Ben-Hur (2016) Didn't Live Up To The Classic's Legacy
The 1959 version of Ben-Hur came during a time when Hollywood films were becoming more ambitious, looking to still capture people's hearts while actualizing epics in a way that only the visual medium can. It was much more than a blockbuster success story - it was one of the calling cards for a new generation of movies. Ben-Hur (2016) was anything but what its predecessor was.
While the newer film had more resources and a larger budget than the 1959 version, which was still pretty costly for its day and age, its story, sense of action, and overuse of CGI was lost within modern Hollywood's sea of computer-generated historic epics, disappointing the original's legacy for technical ambition.
6 Event Horizon Fell Back To Earth
Event Horizon tried to be the type of sci-fi movie that was visually and technically ambitious yet still thought-provoking, much like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Alien. What appeared in theaters was the best first half of a movie in 1997, but a second half that was a poor imitation of sci-fi horror.
Often criticized for focusing on style over substance, Event Horizon never realized the dialogue that it wanted to and just became another Hollywood film that tried to buy its audience with special effects. While many can look back at some parts of Event Horizon fondly, it was far from being the event of its season.
5 Evan Almighty Was The Sequel No One Asked For
Besides Life of Brian, most movie fans don't look back at religious comedies with fondness. Despite this, Bruce Almighty managed to surprise audiences and its studio with wide box office success. The same can't be said for its sequel, Evan Almighty.
Evan Almighty doesn't even seem like a sequel to Bruce Almighty given that it doesn't capitalize on the same high-concept gags. It just seems like a poor imitation of The Santa Clause but with Steve Carell (of The Office acclaim) transforming into Noah. Ultimately, being a bad sequel to an already niche movie didn't reflect well in box office numbers.
4 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Should've Stayed A Fantasy
Much like Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was a technical marvel that updated CGI graphics for a new generation. Unfortunately, that was all it had to its name. Video game movies already have a bad reputation for not only being weaker imitations of their source material but also being poorly written movies overall.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within had some hope for it given that it was building from a franchise beloved for its storytelling. It even had the personal backing of Square Enix, who dedicated an entire film studio to making it. Despite the history and ambition going into it, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within ended up being yet another video game movie flop.
3 Super Mario Bros. Warped To New Lows
Super Mario Bros. doesn't just seem like a bad video game movie. Its writing and presentation feel like a parody of its source material as a whole.
Super Mario Bros. positioned the Mushroom Kingdom (or, in its world, Dinohattan) as a parallel universe dominated by horrifying dinosaur versions of the adorable Koopas that fans knew - yet its leader, the iconic Bowser, is somehow just a guy with a weird hairdo. Besides being a creative disaster, Super Mario Bros. is also infamous for nearly killing its marquee actor, Bob Hoskins, on two occasions.
2 The Adventures Of Pluto Nash Had Eddie Murphy Crash Landing
The Adventures of Pluto Nash has the dishonor of being one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time, as well as one of comedy legend Eddie Murphy's worst movies.
Despite its title, the movie doesn't capture the same highs and suspense that a good adventure should, and despite Eddie Murphy himself saying that he could carry the comedy, it doesn't deliver much in the way of humor besides the premise of a space nightclub owner being funny on paper. If anything, the film's best selling point is the fact that it has become so infamous and derided, even by its own director.
1 Battleship Sunk Itself
Battleship is a sincere action-movie based on a children's board game. As audiences let that concept sink in, the film was already sinking into notoriety. Besides its war-time premise, Battleship the game didn't offer its filmmakers a lot in terms of story, so the studio decided to dress it up with an alien invasion and a lot of CGI.
The film's main draw was that it featured Rihanna. In the end, Battleship proved that Hollywood can't sell everything or buy its audiences with big names and budgets. Battleship's only legacy is that it helped mark an era in Hollywood when people tried making movies out of literally anything.
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