2017 hasn't been Hollywood's best year at the box office.
The rise of high-quality entertainment options outside of theaters, combined with sequel
fatigue and rising ticket prices, have helped contribute to a series of domestic flops—leaving
the film industry struggling to cope with increasingly disappointing returns on their
would-be blockbusters.
These hugely expensive, high-profile releases have one thing in common: they all failed
to deliver at the box office.
Transformers: The Last Knight
The Transformers franchise has been a cash cow for Paramount for years, but the long-running,
series stumbled with The Last Knight.
The movie, which brought Sir Anthony Hopkins into the fold alongside Mark Wahlberg to expose
the secret history of the Transformers, was made on a $217 million budget, but only grossed
slightly over $130 million at the domestic box office.
There are a few things that can be blamed for The Last Knight's disappointing domestic
performance, including a slow summer box office that was unkind to several sequels and long-running
franchises.
The film was also trashed by critics and faced tough competition from Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 2 and Wonder Woman, both of which had better reviews.
While The Last Knight failed to deliver in the States, it still did well overseas, pulling
in nearly $600 million.
This is still below the worldwide performances for previous Transformers installments Dark
of the Moon and Age of Extinction, but Paramount has shown no signs of slowing down with the
franchise.
The next release, an '80s-set spinoff focusing on the popular Bumblebee character, is due
out in December of 2018.
'Bumblebee!
Stop lubricating the man!'
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Luc Besson wowed sci-fi fans with The Fifth Element and Lucy, but he wasn't able to do
it again with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
The movie starred Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan as two intergalactic agents on a quest
to save the universe and was a massive flop at the box office, pulling in just under $40
million in the US on a nearly $180 million budget.
Valerian had a few things standing in its way.
For one thing, its young stars, while both up-and-comers, weren't very well known, nor
was the comic on which it's based.
Reviews were also just average, which wasn't enough to push through the movie's confusing
advertising.
Valerian also faced tough competition, opening the same weekend as Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk
and just shortly after Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Guy Ritchie tried to launch a franchise with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, a $175 million
epic that starred Charlie Hunnam as the title character.
However, the film suffered a massively disappointing box office run, bringing in just $39 million
domestic to kick off a stagnant summer.
King Arthur was plagued by bad omens from the start.
The movie came out after many, many years of attempts to make another film about the
character following 2004's King Arthur.
"You've got some heat on ya Arthur, you're name keeps coming up."
Reports say Ritchie's script was a messy mash-up that combined elements of all of the failed
projects that came before.
On top of that, the movie saw its release date delayed multiple times, which is rarely
a good sign.
King Arthur also suffered some pretty dismal reviews, amassing a 29 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
While the international box office did provide some relief, the movie is estimated to be
a $150 million loss for Warner Bros.
"You're giving me a headache."
The Great Wall
With Matt Damon in the lead and a bunch of weird monsters on the attack, it seemed reasonable
to expect that The Great Wall would be a hit.
However, a whitewashing controversy and bad reviews presaged its miserable box office
run, which brought in just $45 million domestic against a $150 million budget, plus marketing.
The Great Wall was set to pull together the power of Chinese and American audiences to
deliver what should have been a massive blockbuster, but it proved a domestic dud—perhaps in
part due to the controversy surrounding Damon's white savior narrative.
The movie also received the ire of critics, hitting just 35 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The movie is said to have lost more than $75 million, a monumental loss for the investors.
The Mummy
Universal's plans to launch a monster movie universe hit an early snag when their reboot
of The Mummy made just $80 million domestic on a $125 million budget.
The Mummy started to unravel early on when it faced dismal reviews from critics, and
a slow summer box office that was unfriendly towards reboots also didn't help.
Many people thought The Mummy was also bogged down by its efforts to try to launch a cinematic
universe right away.
Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it immediately went gung-ho toward setting up something bigger,
an effort that took precedence over simply making a good film.
"We're all gonna come up with a new plan."
While the international box office was enough to keep Universal from scuttling their Dark
Universe altogether, there are definitely many lessons to be unwrapped from The Mummy.
Monster Trucks
Paramount knew Monster Trucks, the CGI-heavy blockbuster about a monster who, well, lives
in a truck, would be a flop long before the movie hit theaters in January.
Viacom, Paramount's parent company, wrote already off $115 million for the expected
bad performance of the still-unreleased film.
When it finally arrived in theaters, it realized the studio's worst fears, grossing just $33.3
million domestic against a $125 million budget.
"Kids will love this movie because explosions, monsters and really fast trucks."
Except they didn't.
At first, the studio had high hopes for Monster Trucks, which they thought could launch a
Transformers-type franchise.
However, the film was pushed back multiple times, and it eventually came out to the derision
of critics and was a monster disappointment.
Blade Runner 2049
Sure, Blade Runner 2049 received rapturous reviews thanks to its stunning visuals and
ability to both update and honor the original film's classic story.
However, its vocal fans were not able to help the movie make a big splash at the box office,
with the film opening to less than $32 million at the domestic box office against a $150
million budget.
One of the biggest issues was the film's extremely long run time, coming in at a whopping 163
minutes, which may have dissuaded casual moviegoers and limited the number of showings a theater
could hold in a day.
The film aso relied heavily on fans of the original film to turn out, and while many
of them did, Blade Runner wasn't exactly a box office success during its first run, either.
In the end, the biggest thing standing in Blade Runner 2049's way was itself.
The film was a stunning visual feast and making something that beautiful clearly wasn't going
to come cheap.
Geostorm
The expensive disaster flick Geostorm faced a chilly reception during its opening weekend,
and it wasn't because of malfunctioning weather machines.
The movie, starring Gerard Butler as a scientist tasked with saving the planet after the satellites
keeping the dangerous effects of climate change at bay malfunction, cost upwards of $120 million
to make but brought in just $13.3 million in its opening weekend, suggesting an expensive
failure for the studio.
"It's worse than we thought."
Geostorm was a troubled production from the start; its release date was pushed back multiple
times as the studio brought on mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer to oversee costly reshoots
to fix a reportedly "unwatchable" first cut.
Its fate was sealed when it earned the ire of critics, who gave it an unlucky 13 percent
on Rotten Tomatoes.
On top of all of that, the movie hit theaters at an awful time, premiering just a few short
weeks after a trio of hurricanes devastated large parts of the United States and the Caribbean.
Talk about a disaster movie.
Thanks for watching!
Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!