10 of the 21st Century’s Biggest Box-Office Bombs

Amid reports in August, The Oscars announced a new category of ‘Best Popular Film’ to its line-up of honors for the 91st Academy Awards. The response to the announcement was a loud uproar of negativity suggesting that the new category is pandering to mainstream demands and tarnishing the purpose of the ‘Best Picture’ Category itself. Earlier this month the Academy postponed the initiation of the ‘Popular Film’ category into the Oscar ceremony, and the future of this award remains indefinite.

With the scale of Hollywood’s supremacy throughout the evolution of the Western Film Industry, there is understandably a large supply and demand of ‘Blockbusters’ from cinema audiences, and Hollywood seems to now more than ever go by the motto ‘bigger is best.’ Now that the Academy has proposed a category for celebrating mainstream ‘popular’ cinema, Hollywood at present has an all or nothing attitude for the substantial scale of their future feature film productions. But expenditure on big star names, lavish theatricals, and costly special effects to popularise a film has not always been the smartest direction for Hollywood’s Giant producers.

Buried beneath the glory of Hollywood’s greatest triumphs, there lies countless big-budget sequels, reboots and other adaptations that had so much to live for but also a lot to lose. What Hollywood would like you to forget is this large backlog of previous big-budget attempts that failed to cash in a return on their expenditure. With boundless possibilities of special-effects technology and cinematographic capabilities, the 21st century in particular has seen the biggest Box-Office bombs. Bigger possibilities mean bigger budgets, unfortunately meaning some even bigger loses. Here is a list of some honorable mentions in the last couple of decades that all unfortunately failed to achieve the ‘star quality’ of Hollywood’s standard for success.

'The BFG' (2016)

On paper, Dreamwork’s adaption of The BFG had everything rooting for its success; a beloved Roald Dahl Story of a magical friendly giant envisioned through the eyes of Hollywood’s most sought-after director Steven Spielberg. However, critics panned its unaccomplished story-telling, and the huge budget of $140 million failed to impress audiences with its focus on extravagant special-effects rather than the adventurous charm that Dahl’s original stories entail. With a lack of heart and direction, the film only managed to earn $55 million in the USA.

'Basic Instinct 2' (2006)

The original Basic Instinct certainly caused a stir back in 1992, with leads Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone lighting up screens with an erotic thriller that gripped audiences with its unapologetic overt sexuality and cleverly twisting script. However, the sequel released a long 14 years later in 2006, was seemingly too late to compel audiences back into the story, failing to reimburse the $70 million budget by only earning $38 million worldwide. Perhaps the explicit raunchiness of the first, especially the infamous “skirt-shot” from Stone, was simply enough for audiences the first time around. That was until Fifty Shades of Grey came along at least.

'Tomorrowland' (2015)

By contextualising their futuristic themed land that features internationally across their Theme park resorts, Walt Disney Co. produced Tomorrowland as a big-budget spectacle of a family space adventure for Disney fans to enjoy. However, the huge budget of $190 million and the star booking of George Clooney as the main character failed to entice audiences into Tomorrowland’s telling of an ambitious time-travel. The film took just $90 million at the Box-Office, leaving Disney wondering whether a story around their themed land needed to be told at all. I guess that means a film version of ‘It’s a Small World’ isn’t going to happen any time soon…

'Ben Hur' (2016)

Paramount Pictures really were digging their own grave when Ben Hur (2016) was released. By spending $100 million on a new modernised interpretation of the 1959 religious classic, producers hoped the technology advances of cinematography would be a good enough excuse to give this story a new lease of life. However, reimagining a film highly regarded as one of the greatest films of all time is never an easy job. And despite the film’s impressive sets, costumes and action-sequences, Ben Hur (2016) ignored the spirit and significance of the original, instead standing as an example of when Hollywood stars to brag about the new possibilities of technical filming and special-effects. The film ultimately earned only $26 million at the Box-Office.

'Evan Almighty' (2007)

When looking at the comedic success of Steve Carrell's career since Evan Almighty, it is rather surprising that the sequel to Bruce Almighty (2005) failed to make an impression at the box office, earning just $31 million from its mammoth $175 million budget. Produced as a playful re-imagination of the biblical story of Noah’s Ark, Evan Almighty failed to conjure up any genuine laughs, with the entertaining but expensive special-effects being wasted on the lifeless script. Unfortunately, as his preceding News Anchor Bruce Nolan would say, “That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.”

'Alice Through the Looking Glass' (2016)

After the success of director Tim Burton’s adaption of Alice and Wonderland in 2014, audiences were invited to venture down the rabbit hole once again, with Disney spending $170 million on sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass. With Burton returning as producer, and with the fantastic display of genuine talent from the ensemble cast (Johnny Depp, Helen Bonham Carter), the film was expected to smash Box-Office figures once again. However, only $28 million was earned on opening weekend, with audiences feeling unsatisfied by the excessive special-effects, confused narrative, and distraction from the sentimentality of the original fairy-tale novels.

'Green Lantern' (2011)

Given the success of Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool, it’s a surprise that Reynold’s earlier starring in DC Universe’s Green Lantern didn’t excite audiences enough to reward its whopping $200 million budget. The film was panned by critics for its messy plot and bad supporting cast, earning only $116 million in return of its expensive budget. Despite the lavishness of the film’s CGI, Reynold’s charisma was not enough to earn the film success with action-hungry comic fans feeling unsatisfied.

'Ghostbusters' (2016)

Seemingly jumping on the hype of Hollywood’s recent trend for gender-swapping remakes (Oceans 8, League of Extraordinary Gentleman), this feminist reboot of 80s classic Ghostbusters failed to live up to the charming fun-filled adventure of the original. Despite the undeniable hilarity of its female-lead cast, Ghostbusters was criticised for its lazy script and dull action sequences resulting in an earning of just $46 million from a budget of $144 million.

'Power Rangers' (2017)

When a Hollywood film version for 90s TV franchise Power Rangers was announced, cinema-goers were excited with nostalgia for an upcoming re-imagination of such a beloved TV series. However, the massive budget of $105 million failed to recapture the hearts of audiences by earning just $40 million at the box-office. The film’s overt use of superhero tropes and its repetitive action sequences ignored the tongue-in-cheek likability of the original franchise, ultimately becoming a weak competitor in such a saturated market of Superhero action movies in 2017.

'The Good Dinosaur' (2015)

Critics applauded the artistic animation of 2015’s The Good Dinosaur, and rightly so with the beautiful scenic landscape and delightful characterisation being just as strikingly appealing as some of his Pixar’s previous hits (Finding Dory, Wall-E, Up). However, the Box-Office bombed with only $123 million earned from a budget of $200 million. In this case, Pixar became a victim of its own success with the charisma of new Dinosaur Arlo and the film’s narrative tale simply not meeting the entertaining standards of Pixar’s previous catalogue of animation hits.