Big budget letdowns, indie flicks that didn't hit their mark,
and self-indulgent passion projects. There are plenty of reasons why movies
bomb at the box office, and here are a few of the biggest duds this year.
Robert Eggers is an eclectic filmmaker best known for having a unique, surreal style, having written
and directed some truly visually-striking horror films in the past, such as 2015's "The Witch" led
by Anya-Taylor Joy and 2019's "The Lighthouse" starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson.
2022's "The Northman" positions itself as an epic historical action film. Set
in the 10th century during the reign of the Vikings, "The Northman" itself
follows Viking warrior and disgraced prince Amleth, who seeks revenge on his evil uncle,
Fjölnir the Brotherless for killing his father King Aurvandill. Years later,
Amleth returns to his homeland as an adult to avenge his family's honor. The film also
gets great performances from the likes of Nicole Kidman, Bjork, as well as Dafoe and Taylor-Joy.
Based on the original legend that inspired "Hamlet," it's a stunning visual treat to
witness on screen, especially the climatic fight between Amleth and Fjölnir in the
middle of an erupting volcano. Alexander Skarsgård, as always, is also a compelling
screen presence and leads the film with very few words or expressions. Unfortunately,
following a sad history of movies starring Skarsgård that bombed, such as 2012's "Battleship"
and 2016's "The Legend of Tarzan," the film was sent to Valhalla in shame at the box office. In
the end, it ended up making just over $69 million on an almost $100 million budget.
"Bros" is admittedly not the first mainstream studio LGBTQ+ romantic comedy, with films like
1996's "The Birdcage" starring Robin Williams, as well as 1999's "But I'm a Cheerleader" with
Natasha Lyonne preceding it. However, "Bros" was nonetheless still the first released in a while,
especially at this scale and budget, costing approximately $25 million. However,
it is the first major film to star an entirely LGBTQ+ cast.
"Bros" is directed by Nick Stoller, and is written by and starring comedian Billy Eichner,
best known for his Funny or Die show, "Billy on the Street." The plot follows Eichner as an
abrasively neurotic and opinionated art curator named Bobby Lieber, who is helping to put
together an LGBTQ+ themed art exhibit in New York City. He also loves or at least says he loves,
being single, and using Grindr for quick hook-ups while living a solitary and independent life.
That is until he meets Aaron Shepard, who seems like Bobby's complete opposite. Can
they make their relationship work? Watch the film to find out, which we recommend!
Despite great critical reception, the film made less than half of its budget back at the
box office, which is a shame. Beyond its historical importance as an LGBTQ+ film,
it is also just a very funny, heartwarming, and achingly human romantic comedy. Hopefully,
it'll get a renewed evaluation soon.
The Disney CG-animated "Lightyear" is a spin-off film based on the heroic spaceman toy
character Buzz Lightyear from the iconic "Toy Story" franchise. In the original 1995 film,
Buzz Lightyear is introduced as the newest, hottest toy of the season, with lights,
projectiles, and the ability to do karate chops. It's clear that in the universe of
the Pixar Animation Studios films, Buzz is the main character of a fictional,
hugely successful sci-fi adventure franchise that spans movies, cartoons, and comics.
"To infinity and beyond!"
Disney then decided to produce "Lightyear," an adaptation of the fictional character that
the Buzz Lightyear toy is based on in the "Toy Story" universe. Instead of Tim Allen,
Buzz is voiced by "Captain America" star Chris Evans. The concept of "Lightyear"
is not that complicated, but it did cause some confusion with some fans,
especially after Evans' now-infamous tweet describing the film:
"And just to be clear, this isn’t Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is
the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on."
There was the 2001 TV series, "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command," where
Buzz was voiced by Patrick Warburton. It only ran for just one season. Sadly,
the show doesn't seem to share much, if any, continuity with the film.
"Lightyear" didn't go into infinity or beyond at the box office, making under
$120 million domestically, compared to its $200+ million price tag. Even the worldwide gross,
$220 million, doesn't take into account the exorbitant advertising budget.
Another Disney CG-animated film that turned out to be a failure at the box office is the
adventure story, "Strange World." It cost the studio approximately $200 million,
but only netted a quarter of that, earning under $55 million globally,
which is a shame, because it's a fun film that even got favorable reviews.
The story follows super-scientist Searcher Clade, whose famous adventurer father Jaeger
Clade went missing years ago on a dangerous expedition. However, in the present day,
the entire world is now in trouble due to an unexplained ecological disaster,
and Searcher is the only one who can save the day by traveling into the eponymous "strange
world" underneath the planet. Not only does Searcher find out that his estranged father
is still alive and has been living in this strange place for decades,
but that his son Ethan has snuck onto the mission as well. Luckily, Ethan finds a way
to bridge the gap between the two generations of Clades while saving the world in the process.
The film is worth watching for its unique visuals, both in the diesel-punk designs
of its ships and tech, but also in the strange creatures and environment of the
world itself. Not only that, but there's some great and unambiguous LGBTQ+ representation,
and a prescient and nuanced environmental message as well.
Director Roland Emmerich is best known for big-budget disaster movies,
such as "Independence Day," and "The Day After Tomorrow" where entire cities explode as all-star
casts trade quips amidst the destruction. While Emmerich has done other types of films, such as
the Shakespeare conspiracy film "Anonymous," disaster films are his bread-and-butter.
Meanwhile, his sci-fi disaster epic, "Moonfall" probably contains the most
devastating threat to the world so far, because it is literally about the moon
falling to Earth. The film follows disgraced astronaut Brian Harper,
who is recruited by his former colleague Jocinda "Jo" Fowler to go on a desperate
space mission along with a conspiracy theorist, K.C. Houseman, who first finds out about the
moonfall. Their goal is to discover the cause of it and if there's any way to stop it.
"We need to tell them that the moon is out of orbit!"
While the film's premise is of course ridiculous, that's not a problem for an Emmerich film. The
reason people flock to his disaster films is the over-the-top and explosive destruction scenes,
and "Moonfall" mostly delivers. This includes a scene where New York City gets entirely sucked up
by the moon's gravitational pull. Unfortunately, despite those aforementioned VFX sequences,
it crashed and burned harder than the moon in the film did, making a little over $67 million
on a nearly $150 million budget. Even worse, the film ends on a preposterously sequel-baiting note,
with Houseman and aliens that won't ever come to fruition.
The superhero action horror film "Morbius," is part of Sony's non-MCU "Spider-Man villains
without Spider-Man" universe, which also includes the two Tom Hardy-led
"Venom" films. Unfortunately, unlike those films, "Morbius" was a financial disaster, barely making
its budget back domestically, not accounting for the massive marketing push it was given.
However, if you were to listen to the internet,
Sony's big-budget comic book adaptation was a huge commercial success and a critical darling,
even getting "praise" from the anti-Marvel Martin Scorsese!
Obviously, none of that is true, but the memes that the film's box office failure generated,
which includes the infamous "It's Morbin' Time" line that didn't even actually appear in the
film itself, led Sony to somehow re-release the film back into theaters, with Leto embarrassingly
referencing the aforementioned meme in real life, That rerelease turned out to be even more of
a financial failure, making "Morbius" one of the rare movies with the distinction of bombing twice.
Though J.K. Rowling continues to court controversy around her political beliefs,
her "Harry Potter" franchise is still highly profitable. There's the continually-packed
"Wizarding World of Harry Potter" attraction at Universal Studios in Los Angeles and Florida,
an upcoming open-world adventure video game called "Hogwarts Legacy," and Warner
Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav confirming that "Harry Potter" will be a priority moving forward.
One of the only areas where the success hasn't fully translated is the latest
"Fantastic Beasts" spin-off film. The latest installment, "Fantastic Beasts:
The Secrets of Dumbledore," made just over $95 million domestically at the
box office on a $200 million budget. Even accounting for global takings, it still made
less than half of what 2016's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" pulled in.
The "Fantastic Beasts" films are set between 1926 and 1932 and are meant
to follow magizoologist Newt Scamander as he tries to capture and study magical creatures
who found themselves in the Muggle world. However, during this time, the dark wizard,
and precursor to the main series' villain Voldemort, Gellert Grindelwald is rising to
power. This, on top of the introduction of a young Albus Dumbledore, means that Newt's
adventures take a backseat to the point that he becomes a supporting character in the franchise.
"Bob's Burgers" is an animated sitcom on Fox that debuted in 2011. It stars H. Jon
Benjamin as Bob Belcher, the perpetually poor, but extremely talented, owner of the eponymous
"Bob's Burgers" restaurant, which is also run by the rest of the Belcher family who
all live in an apartment above the diner. This includes his lovable and anarchic wife Linda,
his awkward oldest teen daughter Tina, his creative and eccentric middle son Gene, and his
rambunctious troublemaker-with-a-heart-of-gold youngest daughter Louise. Throughout the show,
the refreshingly working-class family interacts with many memorable supporting cast members,
such as the cheerfully greedy eye-patched landlord Mr. Fischoeder.
After running for over a decade,
it was decided that The Belchers deserved the big-screen treatment, which makes sense,
as many animated series-turned-feature films have had great success, such as "South Park:
Bigger, Longer, Uncut," "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America," and "The Simpsons Movie," among others.
Unfortunately, "The Bob's Burgers Movie" wasn't able to catch on with audiences outside of the
television screen. Despite being well-received critically, the film made less than its budget
not accounting for marketing. At least it keeps in line with Bob's specialty burgers,
they're critically well-regarded, but fail to bring in the money they deserve.
"Bob. We have to sell some burgers today, right?"
"Yes." "We got four days to pay the bank?"
"That's true."
"Come on."
"Okay fine! But only cause we're desperate."
The explosive action spy thriller "The 355" boasts a can't-miss cast of amazing actresses,
including Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger, and Lupita Nyong'o,
all playing international agents trying to save the world from terrorists. Directed by Simon
Kinberg, "The 355" follows a pretty generic, albeit serviceable, plot about spies from
different countries struggling to trust and work together and stop a global threat. The direction
is surprisingly competent, with relatively fun action sequences. Whatever flaws the film has, it
at least seems clear that the stars put in a lot of work with the stunts and fight choreography.
However, despite the all-star cast and competent action scenes, the movie failed spectacularly at
the box office, making just over $25 million against a $75 million budget. Hopefully,
this doesn't deter Hollywood from making more female-led action films,
as tons of failed spy flicks starring men have existed over the years,
and the industry never seems to think audiences hate seeing male action heroes.
The Australian auteur George Miller has had an expansive and eclectic film career over
the years. For one, he is the mastermind behind the "Mad Max" franchise, which,
besides being awesome action films in their own right, pretty much dictated the aesthetic
of post-apocalyptic genre movies ever since. However, he is also responsible for writing and
directing other popular films that wouldn't necessarily seem to fit his oeuvre at first
glance such as "Babe: Pig in the City" and the CG-animated "Happy Feet" films.
"That'll do, pig. That'll do."
After Miller's decades-later "Mad Max" reboot "Mad Max: Fury Road" became a smash critical and
commercial success, he was given a blank check to do whatever passion project he wanted. So,
of course, Miller zagged-instead-of-zigged, and decided to write and direct the visually
stunning "Three Thousand Years of Longing." The film itself is a surreal fantasy romance
between a magical genie and a lonely woman named Alithea, to whom he regales tales from his past.
While the film got mixed-to-positive reviews, it unfortunately only made a third of its
$60 million budget back. Hopefully, Miller's wish for another success will come true soon,
as he revs up to write and direct the "Furiosa" prequel as his next project.