Andrew Robinson
Some movies begin with massive expectations and just-as-massive budgets. Some – such as the Avengers series, Star Wars, etc. – are smash hits. Others, like the ones that will follow, did not do quite as hot.
What movies are the biggest box office failures and why did they fail? Let’s take a look.
Information courtesy of Digital Spy.
3. John Carter (2012)
Production Budget: $263 million
Estimated Loss: $122 million
One of Disney’s highest budgets of all-time comes from John Carter. Following a Civil War veteran who finds himself prisoner to giants on a foreign planet, he soon finds a princess in need of saving.
Despite being directed by Oscar-winner Andrew Stanton, John Carter fails to be the success that Disney envisioned. Critics conclude that the action thriller lacks any noteworthy and unique action scenes – it is all something audiences have seen many times before. This is likely why the film failed: it is simply nothing to write home about. It offers nothing new; nothing unique. The story is one that all moviegoers have seen time and time again.
2. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Production Budget: $60 million
Projected Loss: $125 million
Starring Brad Pitt, Sinbad is actually fairly well-received. In the film, a sailor is framed by a goddess of the theft of the Book of Peace, and thus must travel to her realm in order to retrieve it and save his childhood friend. Audiences didn’t hate the movie, which has a respectable 6.7/10 on IMDb.
Where Sinbad has trouble is the fact that it was released just months after Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Unlike Finding Nemo, Sinbad is an old-fashioned cartoon. Audiences were largely uninterested in that form of animation after Pixar changed the game.
Thus, Sinbad is more a tale of unfortunate happenstance.
1. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Production Budget: $175 million
Projected Loss: $150 million
When Arthur is forced to acknowledge his true legacy after pulling the sword from the stone, he isn’t given a choice: he must accept. Produced as an alternative version to the King Arthur legend, King Arthur fails to resonate with audiences. With a horrific $15 million opening weekend, the fact that the film only resulted in a projected loss of $150 million is surprising.
Critics claim that the movie fails to impact viewers on an emotional level, instead opting for flashiness. They also complain that the camerawork and editing skills result in a choppy feel.
Regardless, it is clear that King Arthur was destined to fail all along. A $15 million opening weekend for a supposed-to-be blockbuster is telling enough. Warner Bros. simply missed the mark with King Arthur, misreading the public’s interest.
Notably, all three films here are fairly recent, particularly John Carter and King Arthur. Clearly, viewers are getting pickier with their movie-spending habits and, with the plethora of non-traditional entertainment-viewing options, production companies must produce quality, marketable films to turn a profit. Massive budgets are becoming more and more difficult to back up (unless you happen to be a superhero film or Star Wars).
Name recognition – as seen by the inclusion of Andrew Stanton and Brad Pitt in this list – is not enough anymore. The stories must be good, and the movie-going experiences must be enjoyable in order to gain budgetary successes.
