Biggest Box Office Flops

[chaseter]

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/coll...ie-disasters-historic-box-office-bombs#photo1

14. BATTLEFIELD EARTH (2000)
Budget: $73 million, US Box Office: $21 million

13. THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH (2002)
Budget: $100 million, US Box Office: $4.4 million

12. HEAVEN'S GATE (1980)
Budget: $40 million, US Box Office: $3.5 million

11. TOWN AND COUNTRY (2001)
Budget: $90 million, US Box Office: $6.7 million

10. CLEOPATRA (1963)
Budget: $44 million, US Box Office: $26 million

9. HUDSON HAWK (1991)
Budget: $65 million, US Box Office: $17 million

8. CUTTHROAT ISLAND (1995)
Budget: $98 million, US Box Office: $10 million

7. ISHTAR (1987)
Budget: $55 million, US Box Office: $14 million

6. THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1988)
Budget: $47 million, US Box Office: $8 million

5. HOWARD THE DUCK (1986)
Budget: $38 million, US Box Office: $16 million

4. THE POSTMAN (1997)
Budget: $80 million, US Box Office $17.6 million

3. ZYZZYX RD. (2005)
Budget: $2 million, US Box Office: $30 (Yes, you read that right.)

2. MEET DAVE (2008)
Budget: $60 million, US Box Office: $11.6 million

1. SPEED RACER (2008)
Budget: $120 million, US Box Office: $44 million


Now I agree with most of those but Speed Racer has yet to be released on DVD and may be a take home hit.

 

[BeserkerHilf]

double post

 

[BeserkerHilf]

seems to me like someone can't do basic math.

 

[chaseter]

seems to me like someone can't do basic math.

They counted and went off of marketing and hype around films if you go to that page and read their reasoning. Some of those films even bankrupted a studio. Plus they didn't add in worldwide if you read.

 

[Spider-Vader]

I don't see SR doing good on DVD. The horrible word mouth will turn many people off like it did in theaters.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Speed Racer was good eye candy summer blockbuster fun. Was it spectacularly fantastic and the best movie of the summer? No, but I got what I wanted out of it. A fun time at the movies.

 

[chaseter]

HAHA I like how #3 only made $30. That is hilarious.

The meager box-office draw landed the film in the "Guinness Book of Records" as the lowest grossing film of all time. To make matters worse, Penney had to return 1/3 of the gross, as two of the six paying ticket-goers were also crew members.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Wow. I didn't even notice it only made 30 dollars. Ha. The premise sounds pretty vague and cliche. Even if they did the twist of...''SURPRISE! The woman's the killer!" it'd still be pretty cliche.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

AHAHAHAHAHAH Number 3!

 

[BizarroAids]

Water World isn't on this list??

I agree with Battlefield Earth, that was so hyped, Travolta loved the novel so much, he gave it his all. That movie, was horrid. Some movies just aren't meant to be made John.

You kinda knew "The Postman" was going to be a flop. Kevin Costner doing another movie with a big budget and it was just boring and long. They can't all be "Dances with Wolves." After Water World, you'd think studios would give more thought when Costner comes in saying "I have the next Blockbuster"

 

[xwolverine2]

its a shame movies like speed racer and Grindhouse bomb... yet crap like meet the spartans and epic movie are number 1 at the boxoffice

=[, justice is not served

 

[AndThePickles]

I just read the article on Yahoo, coincidentally. I'm proud to say that out of all of those, I've only seen Cutthroat Island. Funny, I LOVED that movie when I was a kid, but it was On Demand recently and I watched it again...while cringing the entire time

 

[BizarroAids]

I just read the article on Yahoo, coincidentally. I'm proud to say that out of all of those, I've only seen Cutthroat Island. Funny, I LOVED that movie when I was a kid, but it was On Demand recently and I watched it again...while cringing the entire time

If it makes you feel better, I never saw it during it's theatrical release. But saw it at Best Buy on dvd and figured Renny Harlin directed it, so it could be somewhat enjoyable. Yeah I was wrong, and now I'm stuck with it. No store will take it for a trade-in, nobody wants to borrow it from me and never bring it back. It failed to sell at my garage sale.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I hated it even as a kid. I don't know why. Just could never get into it.

I've only seen it and Speed Racer on the list.

 

[AndThePickles]

If it makes you feel better, I never saw it during it's theatrical release. But saw it at Best Buy on dvd and figured Renny Harlin directed it, so it could be somewhat enjoyable. Yeah I was wrong, and now I'm stuck with it. No store will take it for a trade-in, nobody wants to borrow it from me and never bring it back. It failed to sell at my garage sale.

Haha damn, that sucks. The concept was decent, but the movie was doomed from the time Geena Davis was casted as a feminist pirate Just isn't the right role for her at ALL.

 

[Cmill216]

http://the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.php

Scroll down to "biggest money losers".

 

[Timstuff]

Good lord did Cutthroat Island suck... It had a pretty good script, but it was so incompetently directed and the lead actress was horribly miscast... And ontop of that, it had absolutely awful color processing that made the whole movie look gray. It was a big expensive mess.

Speed Racer though... I really liked that movie, and I was so disappointed when I saw how poorly it did in theaters. I hope it has a good afterlife on DVD.

 

[JaD]

Holy crap, Speed Racer only made 44 million in the states? I had nooo idea. That's pretty bad.

 

[Untilteld]

Speed Racer's going to be a hit on DVD. Mark my words!

 

[chaseter]

Speed Racer's going to be a hit on DVD. Mark my words!

Mark your words with poo

 

[matrix_ghost]

They counted and went off of marketing and hype around films if you go to that page and read their reasoning. Some of those films even bankrupted a studio. Plus they didn't add in worldwide if you read.

Even so i still think that a title like Speed Racer couldn't be no. 1 based on marketing and hype alone.
Yes in todays world with internet , tv promos etc we can see just how much a movie is hyped.
But i think that back in the good old days of Cleopatra , movies were getting the same type of hype .
And really if i can remember correctly Battle Field Earth was heavily promoted in 2000. Almost on the same level as Speed Racer.

Now if someone would actually come with numbers , then i'd be talking different.
The link that Cmill216 gave says :

Biggest Money Losers, Based on Absolute Loss on Worldwide Gross Release Date Movie Distributor Budget Worldwide Gross Loss
1 4/27/2001 Town & Country New Line $105,000,000 $10,364,769 -$99,817,616
2 7/29/2005 Stealth Sony $138,000,000 $76,416,746 -$99,791,627
3 8/16/2002 The Adventures of Pluto Nash Warner Bros. $100,000,000 $7,094,995 -$96,452,503
4 7/11/2001 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Sony $137,000,000 $85,131,830 -$94,434,085
5 8/27/1999 The 13th Warrior Buena Vista $125,000,000 $61,698,899 -$94,150,551
6 6/22/2007 Evan Almighty Universal $175,000,000 $173,219,280 -$88,390,360
7 4/8/2005 Sahara Paramount Pictures $145,000,000 $121,671,925 -$84,164,038
8 4/9/2004 The Alamo Buena Vista $92,000,000 $23,911,362 -$80,044,319
9 9/2/2005 A Sound of Thunder Warner Bros. $80,000,000 $6,300,451 -$76,849,775
10 6/14/2002 Windtalkers MGM/UA $115,000,000 $77,628,265 -$76,185,868
11 6/16/2004 Around the World in 80 Days Buena Vista $110,000,000 $72,004,159 -$73,997,921
12 5/9/2008 Speed Racer Warner Bros. $120,000,000 $92,387,402 -$73,806,299
13 4/2/2004 Home on the Range Buena Vista $110,000,000 $76,482,461 -$71,758,770
14 11/24/2004 Alexander Warner Bros. $155,000,000 $167,297,191 -$71,351,405
15 2/18/2005 Son of the Mask New Line $100,000,000 $59,918,422 -$70,040,789
16 5/12/2006 Poseidon $160,000,000 $181,674,817 -$69,162,592
17 5/9/1997 Father's Day Warner Bros. $85,000,000 $35,681,080 -$67,159,460
18 7/19/2002 K-19: The Widowmaker Paramount Pictures $100,000,000 $65,716,126 -$67,141,937
19 8/8/2007 Daddy Day Camp Sony $76,000,000 $18,197,398 -$66,901,301
20 11/26/2003 Timeline Paramount Pictures $80,000,000 $26,703,184 -$66,648,408


Note: The profit and loss figures are very rough estimates based on the assumption that 50% of box office receipts were returned to the studio. They don't include ancillary (video, TV etc.) earnings, and serve only as a guide.

 

[chaseter]

Speed Racer was hyped as the next big thing from the Wachowski's and it tanked miserably. They had new cameras and it was promo'ed to death. So yes, it was an epic disaster and I can see where Yahoo was coming from in picking that. But I do agree it shouldn't be #1. Big blockbusters that take millions to make and then only make less than 1/3 than budgest is a humongous failure compared to a 50 million dollar film that makes 10 million.

 

[Franklin Richards]

How bout critical flops?


How much did Ishtar make?

EDIT-- And 13th Warrior was a good flick.

 

[matrix_ghost]

Speed Racer was hyped as the next big thing from the Wachowski's and it tanked miserably. .

Won't argue with that.

But I do agree it shouldn't be #1.

Which is why i posted those things . I don't agree with the Yahoo article.

 

[Dr. Manhatten]

I'm surprised they didn't include Final Fantasy. That lost something like 100 millions and bankrupted the studio formed to finance it. That's a worse hit than a lot of the ones on the list