A movie's success at the box office is no indication of quality.
Mediocre movies make hundreds of millions of dollars all the time.
These movies may have drawn crowds on opening weekend, only to be almost completely forgotten
in the months and years that followed.
Here are the least memorable number one movies of all time.
The Karate Kid
2010's The Karate Kid is less a remake of the '80s high school movie classic and more
a reimagining, borrowing the core concepts of the original film.
It accentuates the fish-out-of-water element of the source material by having Jaden Smith's
Dre Parker move from Detroit to China.
There, he meets the enigmatic Mr. Han, who teaches him the ways of kung fu to help deal
with some school bullies.
It seemed to have all the makings of a hit and the beginning of a new era for the franchise.
While the former proved to be true, the latter didn't.
After debuting at Number 1 and making bank during its box office run, the film never
caught on like the original.
It may come down to substituting simple charm with elaborate martial arts.
It also doesn't help that the film focuses on younger kids than the originals did, making
it far more cringe-inducing at times.
"I put my jacket on a thousand times.
I took it off A THOUSAND times.
OK?
This stupid!"
Now that the original franchise has been revived for TV, the film's long-gestating sequel seems
unlikely to leave development hell anytime soon.
Tron: Legacy
Hedging your bets on an expensive sequel to a long-dormant cult classic seems like a bold
decision, but Disney went for it with 2010's Tron: Legacy.
The film hit screens nearly 30 years after its predecessor, and made a solid impression.
Featuring some stunning special effects, bold sci-fi storytelling, and a great soundtrack
by Daft Punk, it seemed Tron was back, until it wasn't.
It seems that awesome special effects and weird sci-fi storytelling are useless if they
aren't anchored by compelling characters.
Sam Flynn, the protagonist played by Garrett Hedlund, is a bland lead whose every line
of dialogue seems to be ripped from a list of the most popular movie phrases of all time.
"You gotta be kidding me."
All the lightcycle sequences in the world couldn't get audiences interested in his story.
Plans for a sequel stalled, and aside from the short-lived animated series Tron: Uprising,
it looks like Tron: Legacy may be the last we see of the world of the Grid for some time
Hancock
The summer of 2008 featured the release of Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and The Incredible
Hulk.
Throw in a cinematic adaptation of Wanted, and it's safe to say it was a summer ruled
by comic book adaptations.
However, there was another superhero movie that dropped that summer.
We're talking, of course, about the Will Smith vehicle Hancock.
"What?"
The film hit number 1 its opening weekend and went on to become the fourth-highest grossing
movie of 2008.
However, its timing has been its disadvantage in the long run.
With recognizable name brand superhero movies coming out every other month these days, projects
like Hancock have an uphill battle to fight for attention.
A sequel has since been discussed, but a decade of Marvel and DC superhero movies dominating
the box office seems to have put the world of Hancock on ice.
Tomorrowland
Films based on Disney theme park attractions tend to be hit or miss.
On one hand, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is a huge success.
On the other, the less said about The Country Bears, the better.
In 2015, it looked like Disney would have a guaranteed hit with Tomorrowland.
Every facet of the production featured all-stars in their field, from director Brad Bird and
writer Damon Lindelof to the film's lead, George Clooney.
On its opening weekend, it managed to snag the number-one spot.
However, reception was middling at best, with reviews split almost perfectly down the middle
on Rotten Tomatoes.
Critics and audiences alike found it uneven, at times enthralling and exciting and at others
utterly incomprehensible.
Soon hopes of a new Disney franchise were halted and the film petered out at the box
office.
Despite the high expectations preceding its arrival, it's proven to be a summer blockbuster
most viewers forgot as soon as they left the theater.
Avatar
When Avatar hit theaters, it mowed down box office records like an industrial bulldozer.
"I got a native doing the funky chicken here.
He's blocking my blade."
"Well, keep going, he'll move."
It also garnered critical acclaim, even scoring a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.
It seemed like a movie we'd be talking about for a very long time.
In a genuinely shocking turn, we didn't.
Avatar has become perhaps the most notable instance of a massively popular film fading
into irrelevance.
Maybe it's the fact that viewers have since realized that the film's story is largely
derivative.
Or maybe the real draw was the film's stunning 3D which makes for a viewing experience that
can't really be replicated outside a movie theater.
Ultimately, it's a tough question to answer.
All we know is that people aren't nearly as excited about the sequels in development today
as they might have been in 2010.
The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk is a perfectly decent superhero movie with some great moments.
Edward Norton is a great choice for Bruce Banner, and Tim Roth's villainous Abomination
is, at times, genuinely frightening.
It also made good money at the box office, debuting at the top spot over its opening
weekend.
Unfortunately it's also a movie that audiences — and Marvel — have seemed eager to forget.
The film came out between Iron Man and The Dark Knight, two absolute game-changers in
superhero cinema, and it got lost in the shuffle.
Pair this with Norton and Marvel parting ways and Mark Ruffalo stepping in as Banner, and
The Incredible Hulk was left on the fringes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Incredible Hulk now feels like a sort of relic, the last Marvel film to drop before
the Cinematic Universe Era kicked into high gear.
As the MCU sped along, The Incredible Hulk was left in the dust, and nobody seemed to
notice.
The Amazing Spider-Man
From the first big-screen adaptation of everyone's favorite web-slinger to the character's first
MCU movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spidey movies have never been anything less than
box office successes.
Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were hugely successful,
well-received critically, and yet completely failed to make any sort of lasting impression.
The problem comes down to how transparent the films are about setting up a big superhero
franchise to compete with the MCU.
The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel may have been enjoyed by filmgoers at the time,
but the cold, calculating vibe they give off caused the audience to lose interest in the
long run.
When an opportunity presented itself, Sony struck a deal with Marvel and scrapped Webb's
planned sequels.
The Bourne Legacy
The Bourne franchise redefined action movies for a generation — and did so with Matt
Damon in the lead.
With the trilogy's story revolving around his character Jason Bourne, it would seem
ill-advised to make an installment of this series that doesn't feature him at all.
That didn't stop the studio from trying in 2012 with The Bourne Legacy.
The studio brought in Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross, a new black ops agent to anchor the
story.
It's about as good as a Bourne movie that doesn't actually feature its title character
could be, but that hasn't really proved to be enough in the long run.
Despite debuting in the top spot at the box office, Renner was such a dud as the series'
new lead that Damon returned for 2016's Jason Bourne.
Now that he's back, we doubt we'll be seeing a solo Aaron Cross film again any time soon.
Oz the Great and Powerful
In 2013, Sam Raimi offered a fresh take on the lore of Oz with Oz the Great and Powerful.
The movie boasts an all-star cast that includes James Franco as the man who would become the
Wizard of Oz and Mila Kunis as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Throw in some stunning special effects and Raimi's trademark quirk, and you've got a
charming reinvention.
The film made a decent critical and financial impression upon release.
However, the years haven't been particularly kind to its legacy.
Despite the stars being signed on for sequels, Raimi has stated he has no plans to return
to Oz any time soon.
And with so many fairytale and fantasy adaptations hitting screens in the years since, Oz the
Great and Powerful has become more of a footnote than a headline.