THIRTEEN OF HOLLYWOOD'S
LEAST SUCCESSFUL MOVIES
LEAST SUCCESSFUL MOVIES
If you’re thinking of investing money somewhere safer than the stock market, forget the movie business. While there is always a lot of publicity about the movies that break records for making money (Titanic, The Dark Knight), there are even more movies that lose a staggering, embarrassing amount of money.
Here are some of the bigger bombs in recent film history. What makes this list interesting is that many have big stars and rather sound premises. With so many Oscar nominees/Oscar winners on this list, I bet on paper many of these projects looked like solid bets. Yet as a moviegoer, you may not have heard of some of these films, because they were so unsuccessful they didn’t play very long at the local cineplex.
Who keeps track of the industry’s big losers? That would be Tim Dirks of Filmsite.org.
1. Sahara (2003) Starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz searching for treasure. Budget: $145 to $160 million. Total gross: $103.2 million.
2. Catwoman (2004) Starring Halle Berry and Benjamin Bratt as the feline supermenace and the cop on her tail. Budget: $85 million. Total gross: $82 million.
3. Around the World in 80 Days (2004) This remake starred Jackie Chan, with appearances by Luke and Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates and Rob Schneider. Budget: $110 million. Total gross: $72.2 million.
4. The Alamo (2004) Remake starring Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett and Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston. Budget: $95 million. Total gross: $22.4 million.
5. Gods and Generals (2003) Civil War saga starring Jeff Daniels and Robert Duval. Budget: $56 to $70 million. Total gross: $12.9 million.
6. Gigli (2003) Remember Bennifer? This is the movie that starred Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Budget: $54 million. Total gross: $6.1 million.
7. From Justin to Kelly (2003) Starring American Idols Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini. Budget: $12 million. Total gross: $4.9 million.
8. Windtalkers (2002) Starring Nicholas Cage as a WWII general who guards the Native Americans who coded transmissions. Budget: $115 million. Total gross: $77.6 million.
9. Disney’s Treasure Planet (2002) Animated and futuristic treatment of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Budget: $140 million. Total gross: $91.8
10. Swept Away (2002) Madonna as a rich-bitch socialite who finds herself shipwrecked with only an employee she’s treated very badly for help and company. Budget: $10 million. Total gross: $599,000
11. Glitter (2001) Mariah Carey plays a rising pop star. Budget: $22 million. Total gross: $4.3 million.
12. Town & Country (2001) Starring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Gary Shandling and Goldie Hawn as a pair of married couples with fidelity issues. I actually saw this one! I’m sorry I did. Budget: $90 to $105 million. Total gross: $10.4 million.
13. The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) A sci-fi comedy starring Eddie Murphy as the title character. Budget: $100 million. Total gross: $7.1 million.
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so forgive me if I don't visit your TT as quickly as I normally would.
so forgive me if I don't visit your TT as quickly as I normally would.
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You are not alone! I saw Town And Country too, and was very disappointed. There are 2 in your list that I rented from Netflix and abandoned after about 20 minutes: the new version of Around The World… which actually starred, and totally wasted, Steve Coogan. The other was Gods & Generals which seemed to consist of men wearing ridiculous false beards and looking as though they had fallen victim to someone who had just inserted a broom handle up somewhere very private, as they made portentous statements, to the accompaniment of swelling trumpets, like “I can but fight fo’ the honuh of the state of Virginyuh!” and similar drivel. That DVD went back into the red envelope pretty quickly!
ReplyDeleteSomehow my comment went through without a link. And my name isn't n!
ReplyDeleteI've been disappointed at the box office so many times...
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, we thought Catgirl was terrible, too! Almost embarrassing it was so bad.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the others on your list. Of my own, I'd add the recent Transformers. I like Shia LeBoeuf, but the movie was terrible.
i hate that gigli movies,they didn't say anything at all but cursing each other!
ReplyDeleteI liked Sahara.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've seen any of these at the movies, but where I live going to the movies is torture.
SJR
The Pink Flamingo
http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/10/15/3932491.html
I watch alot of movies and I can honestly say I dont think I've seen any of them. If so, they must not have been very memorable.lol
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
Happy TT!
I seen 1 and 2...the rest, nope..not even on video. Happy TT my friend. Good list.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I KNEW pluto nash was going to be on that list.
ReplyDeleteHappy TT and yes Glitter sucked...try not to work too hard tomorrow and here's the link to my TT:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.apooobooks.com/thursday-thirteen-scariest-time-life/
Ouch! Some of those losses look painful. Great list. Happy T13!
ReplyDeleteI guess it was a good thing I didn't waste my money on any of these films.
ReplyDeleteHugs and blessings,
I can honestly say that I have not seen any of these, but apparently neither has most of America.
ReplyDeleteThe American Idol movie shows that you get what you pay for. $12mil is pocket change in Hollywood. Nicholas Cage alone will cost you more than that.
Great list.
Happy TT
well we LOVE Sahara:)
ReplyDeleteIt's a sad state of affairs when a movie grosses over a $100 million and still loses money. I'm going to bookmark Tim Dirks' site to see if he goes into detail regarding box-office failures. When someone gives a film a bad review, it sometimes makes me want to see it more. After reading your comments about "Town and Country", I'm hoping it comes on TV soon.
ReplyDeleteI think the only movie I saw on that list was Catwoman. I was hoping a lot for it, but it didn't live up to that hope. Somewhere Isthar should be close to that list, with Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman.
ReplyDeleteHappy TT.
Gods and Generals was so bloody awful!
ReplyDeleteCatWoman was awful, but I'll say this--Halle Berry took all the pans and was a really good sport about it.
I have only seen #8 & #9, but I will take your word on how hideous the others are! This was a fun list....Happy TT!
ReplyDeleteWell, I haven't seen any of them. now I know I won't be missing much ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have not seen any of them...thus why they are failures? Happy TT.
ReplyDeleteThe only one I've seen, thankfully, is Sahara and that was on an airplane where anything seems like a decent movie!
ReplyDeleteGreat list.
I haven't seen any of these, but I've actually heard "Gods and Generals" was quite good! I love movie-related lists.
ReplyDeleteStop by my TT when you get a moment!