There's nothing quite like the anticipation of a multi-mega-million-dollar movie making
its theatrical debut… and nothing like the agony of watching it go down in flames.
Not every big-budget Hollywood blockbuster makes bank at the box office, and sometimes,
studios guess wrong about what will and will not perform.
Here are some of the films that have been surprising disappointments.
47 Ronin
With a large budget, a reliable kung fu fighter as its star, and a plot that included both
samurais and dragons, 47 Ronin was supposed to be the kind of action-packed blockbuster
that makes for a reliable end-of-year hit.
Unfortunately, the behemoth of a movie turned out to be too unwieldy for its first-time
director, Carl Rinsch.
Plagued by problems and requiring extensive reshoots, it was delayed by more than a year—and
despite the biggest, best Christmas push the studio could muster, 47 Ronin only made $38
million in the US, far short of its $175 million budget.
John Carter
The insanely high expectations for this tragic bomb of a movie may just be one of Hollywood's
great mysteries—because in hindsight, its belly-flop at the box office should've been
a foregone conclusion.
Taylor Kitsch was a popular cast member on Friday Night Lights prior to being cast as
John Carter's main character, but he was hardly a bankable star for a $250 million dollar
space opera.
But that's exactly what Disney did—and the problems were compounded by one of the most
grossly mishandled marketing campaigns in the history of cinema.
Ultimately, John Carter was an earth-shattering disappointment that left the studio with a
whopping $177 million dollar loss in the US before turning a small profit internationally.
Still, it wasn't enough to keep the too-hopeful franchise afloat.
Battleship
The "you sunk my Battleship" jokes write themselves when it comes to this $300 million albatross.
Battleship had all the makings of a big summer blockbuster, with a cast of well-muscled dudes
steering the ship, and high hopes of leveraging the same '80s-kid nostalgia that made the
Transformers franchise such a giant moneymaker.
"Missiles good to go, let's light 'em up."
But at the box office, Battleship suffered from stiff competition from The Avengers,
bad press, and a bad reputation for leading man Taylor Kitsch, who you might remember
from his mention 55 seconds ago.
Although the movie made back its production budget once it hit international waters, it
still left Universal taking an $83 million dollar bath.
"Negative sir, it's a miss."
The Lone Ranger
Before Johnny Depp's personal reputation started to sour, his professional presence was supposed
to be a reliable predictor of a film's success.
So, with him sharing the lead, Disney pegged The Lone Ranger movie as a big moneymaker
at the outset, pumping north of $215 million into the production.
But even once it became clear that The Lone Ranger wasn't going to break any box office
records, its ultimate losses were wildly unexpected.
The film ultimately didn't even make back half of its budget in the US due to dismal
audience interest.
"Okay, don't come see if I care."
The cast and crew blamed unfair reviews for quashing ticket sales, but others pointed
to the whitewashing and stereotyping of its Native American character Tonto as troublesome.
"Perhaps you want to make it look like Comanche violated treaty."
Ender's Game
Based on a classic science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card, set in outer space, and
with a cast that included up-and-comer Asa Butterfield and everyone's favorite star warrior
Harrison Ford, Ender's Game was a movie with seriously high hopes.
But despite the box-office promise of a big-budget movie about teen soldiers battling hostile
aliens while the fate of the earth hangs in the balance, Ender's Game was plagued by issues,
including the effects of a boycott from groups who were angered by the author's stance on
same-sex marriage.
Between the bad press stemming from that and mixed reviews from critics, it ended up barely
recouping its $115 million budget.
Fantastic Four
After a slightly cheesy but successful pair of Fantastic Four films rocked the box office
in the early 2000s, a fresh round of films featuring Marvel's first family seemed like
just the thing for an up-and-coming director.
Josh Trank, who'd done great things with the found-footage thriller Chronicle, was tapped
to helm the pic, with a promising young cast in tow.
Producers were counting on the foursome to become the next big thing in superhero ensembles,
alongside the X-Men and the Avengers.
What they weren't counting on, unfortunately, was for Trank to clash with the studio and
behave so erratically on set that Fox felt compelled to reshoot huge portions of the
movie after the fact.
The finished product was ghastly by all accounts… which makes it unsurprising that the film
took in only $26.2 million on its opening weekend and $168 million worldwide, against
an estimated $200 million production and marketing budget.
Jupiter Ascending
After The Matrix, everyone was on pins and needles to find out what wild new world the
Wachowskis had cooked up with Jupiter Ascending.
The film had all the ingredients of success, including two of the coolest kids in Hollywood,
Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum, in the lead.
This story of a cleaning lady who learns she's the heir apparent to an intergalactic empire
had the full force and faith of big money behind it, to the tune of a $176 million production
budget.
"And you begged me to do it."
But the Wachowskis reportedly overspent on the film, test audiences were unimpressed,
and the critical reception was extremely chilly—all adding up to a worldwide take of $184 million
that didn't compensate for the massive budget and marketing costs of the picture.
Mars Needs Moms
If you've never heard of Mars Needs Moms... lucky you!
The name is a pun of "Mars Needs Women" a 60's Sci-Fi b-movie that was just as bad as
this one.
On paper, it had all the makings of a hit, including fresh visuals thanks to advanced
motion-capture technology, and a family-bonding plotline with a cool alien twist.".
But nobody could've anticipated what an unmitigated disaster the release would be.
Not counting the cost of marketing, Mars Needs Moms cost $150 million to make —and even
with international ticket sales, its total revenue was just shy of $39 million, making
this film a planet-sized flop for Disney.
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