Hollywood is famous for its glitz and glamour, but it’s also a place where one flop movie can cause huge problems. Some films make a lot of money and become beloved hits; however, others fail so badly that they lose millions of dollars and ruin the careers of those involved.
These box office flops often happen due to poor casting choices, bad scripts, and huge budgets. When a movie fails, it costs the studio tons of money and can sometimes lead to their closure.
Let’s look at some of these major failures that cost Hollywood outrageous financial disappointments.
1. How Do You Know (2010)
Most box office flops and downfalls happen because of the film’s overreaching ambition; however, How Do You Know, directed by James L. Brooks, is an exception. This cliched romantic comedy cost a whopping $120 million to produce, mainly due to the high salary of the main cast, including Jack Nicholson ($12 million), Owen Wilson ($10 million) and Reese Witherspoon ($15 million).
The film followed Witherspoon’s character as she was torn between Paul Rudd’s white-collar criminal and Wilson’s baseball player. The viewers thought this film was mediocre, resulting in a $140 million loss.
2. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Atlas Entertainment.
Wonder Woman 1984 was released in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when strict no-contact regulations existed. This definitely impacted the movie’s box-office performance, as theaters were closed, making it difficult to determine if the movie would have had a fair shot if it had been released after the restrictions were lifted.
Nonetheless, the only available measure of its success is its performance. This movie grossed around $166 million worldwide, leading to an estimated loss of around $100 million. Even though it belonged to one of the DCU’s most successful franchises, the horrible reception of this film led to the cancellation of Wonder Woman 3.
3. Dark Phoenix (2019)
Dark Phoenix was made to be a star vehicle for Sophie Turner, who starred in Games of Thrones. She portrayed the unruly, tragic anti-villain Phoenix in the 10th X-Men film. Unfortunately, the film’s misjudged and messy story sidelined most of the franchise’s characters and failed to give Turner the spotlight and attention she deserved.
A convoluted plot, hasty reshoots, and an overstuffed cast failed the film. Even though it earned $252 million worldwide, the studio’s $200 million budget and advertisement costs resulted in an estimated $100 million loss. Ultimately, it served as a lackluster conclusion to the Fox X-Men universe.
4. The Adventure of Pluto Nash (2002)
At many points in his career, Eddie Murphy seemed unstoppable. In the 80s, he became an A-list actor through his roles in 48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop, and Coming to America, although several flop movies did aid in damaging his reputation. In the 90s, he reinvented himself as a family movie star by being cast in The Nutty Professor and Dr.Dolitte.
However, this streak suddenly ended with The Adventure of Pluto Nash. The movie lost a staggering $96 million. The film was also a critical disaster, and the negative word of mouth very likely contributed to its downfall in the box office performance.
5. Tomorrowland (2015)
Brad Bird directed Tomorrowland, which starred George Clooney as a disillusioned inventor who, along with a teenage master scientist, is transported to a futuristic alternate reality. Bird previously faced box office disappointment with The Iron Giant in 1999 and then encountered even greater failure with Tomorrowland.
Even though the movie had a grand budget of $190 million, it earned less than $210 million, resulting in a $185 million loss. This unfortunate financial setback has since discouraged Bird from returning to live-action filmmaking.
6. Turning Red (2022)
In 2022, Pixar took a creative challenge and risk with producing the tween comedy Turning Red by targeting an older demographic. Turning Red had a mature and older protagonist humor that appealed to more preteens than Pixar’s previous films, which focused primarily on young children. This turned out to be a costly misstep on their end.
One could say that COVID-19 influenced its performance; however, the decision to release Turning Red in theatres in countries that did not have Disney+ further affected the earnings. Even though the film had a huge budget, it was released directly on Disney+ in most markets, making it challenging to estimate the exact loss.
7. Strange World (2023)
Turning Red wasn’t the only setback for Disney’s animation division in 2022. Even though Strange World received solid reviews, it became a major box office flop. Starring Jaboukie Young-White, Dennis Quaid, and Jake Gyllenhaal, this film is about a family of mismatched adventurers on a wild journey to find a mysterious plant.
The film lost approximately $100 million at the box office and became the first Disney animated movie in over a decade to not receive an Oscar nomination.
8. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Warner Bros.
Director Guy Ritchie’s career has seen several ups and downs in box office performances. After achieving major financial successes with his earlier films, he faced huge setbacks with flops like Swept Away. He made a strong comeback with the famous Sherlock Holmes movies; however, his success was short-lived.
Ritchie released King Arthur: Legend of the Sword in 2017, which was a critical and financial disaster. With a budget of $175 million, the film grossed less than $150 million at the box office, resulting in a loss of around $183 million.
9. Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Partisan Productions.
Heaven’s Gate, directed by Michael Cimino, is often seen as the film that ended Hollywood’s auteur-driven era. This ambitious epic Western cost $44 million; however, it only earned less than $4 million, resulting in a major financial disaster. Like Richard Kelly’s underrated sci-fi flop, Southland Tales, and Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, Heaven Gate exemplifies a visionary director’s ambitious project that led to financial downfall.
Even though the film was initially claimed to be a flop, it has generated a loyal following. The film is praised for its immersive atmosphere, emotional depth, and lush visuals, though it remains as meandering and overlong as the critics initially claimed. If you adjust the loss for inflation, it rounds up to around $145 million.
10. Mulan (2020)
Another movie whose box office performance was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic was Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan, which was released in theaters in September 2020. This film was quite awaited by Disney fans worldwide, but it received mediocre reviews and a lot of criticism from non-Western viewers.
Mulan 2020’s production cost was $200 million, but unfortunately, it only earned $70 million, resulting in a loss of around $159 million. The original Mulan from 1998 generated $304 million with a budget of $90 million. It’s safe to say the remark was a complete letdown, both financially and for the fans.
11. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
In the early 2000s, the concept of making video game adaptations seemed like a great moneymaking opportunity for Hollywood studios. Even though there were huge flops with Mortal Kombat in 1995 and Super Mario in 1993, still the potential profits from adapting popular video games were too tempting to ignore.
This led to the star-studded adaption of the beloved Final Fantasy franchise with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, made in 2001. The photo-realistic animation lost $155 million, which was a huge factor in the demise of the studio responsible for it.
12. Titan A.E (2000)
With “Anastasia,” made in 1997, Don Bluth, the director, proved that he could challenge Disney’s successes. However, with the making of Titan A.E in 2000, the legendary animator showed that this included undergoing huge financial losses. The film follows a young hero who is tasked with saving the human race after an alien species destroys Earth, combining 3D CGI and 2D animation for innovative effects.
Even though it had amazing artistry and a star-studded cast that included Drew Barrymore, Matt Damon, and Nathan Lane, Titan A.E couldn’t avoid a loss of $170 million, making a notable setback in Bluth’s otherwise illustrious career.
13. Pan (2015)
The Retelling of the original Peter Pan appears regularly in cinema, but success isn’t always guaranteed. Despite 2015’s Pan, featuring a singing Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, this film was critically criticized upon release. This version of the classic story serves as an example, like King Authur of the studios failing to get the viewers’ attention and leave a positive impact.
Pan had a budget of $150 million but only grossed $130 million, leading to a huge loss of about $185 million. Despite the vast popularity of Peter Pan, this film highlighted the risk of reviving well-known properties without doing proper market research.
14. Cutthroat Island (1995)
Beckner/Gorman Productions.
Cutthroat Island by Renny Harlin became a pop culture punchline in the 90s; though it earned a lot of laughter from the viewers, it wasn’t so successful in earning money. The budget of this film was around $90 to $100 million but grossed only $10 million upon release. If you adjust it to inflation, it comes up to a staggering $202 million loss.
While the main stars, Matthew Mod and Geena Davis, did recover, their careers sometime later, the same can’t be said about the production company Carolco Pictures as it closed down.
15. A Wrinkle In Time (2018)
Legend3D.
Ava DuVernay, the director of A Winkle in Time, made the movie an adaptation of a famous young adult novel by the same name. It featured a splendid cast, including Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling. Despite having such a powerful cast, the 2018 release faced a horrible box office performance.
With a production budget of $130 million, this film only managed to earn slightly less than the initial budget at the box office, and when you factor in the promotional and marketing costs, the film resulted in a loss of around $152 million.
16. Sinbad: Legend of The Seven Seas (2003)
Sinbad: Legend of The Seven Seas, directed by Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson, is an animated adventure starring the charming Brad Pitt as the Titular sailor. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer play supporting roles. Even though the animated film had an amazing cast, it failed to get the desired response from the box office.
It had a production cost of $60 million and only grossed $80 million. When adjusted for inflation, the film lost around $200 million. This unfortunate outcome almost bankrupted DreamWorks, prompting the studio to shift its focus away from traditional animation and invest in 3D CGI productions instead.
17. The Lone Ranger (2013)
The Lone Ranger in 2013 led to the reunion of Johnny Depp, who starred in Pirates of the Caribbean, with Gore Verbinski, the original director of those acclaimed blockbusters. Though the film was initially considered a light-hearted Western pastiche, it seemed destined to be a huge summer hit.
However, the storyline took a stranger and darker turn, including themes like cannibalism and the massacre of indigenous people. By the time The Loner Ranger came to cinemas, the hype that the film initially had turned into skepticism and faced a heavy loss of $240 million.
18. John Carter (2012)
John Carter, like The Lone Ranger, aimed to revisit the famous serials of the ‘30s. Stuck in development for decades, this adaption of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s character was supposed to be the first in an ambitious sci-fi adventure movie trilogy.
John Carter was among the most expensive movies ever made, with a production budget of $263 million and a marketing budget that reached almost $100 million. Despite these investments, the film only earned $284 million upon release, resulting in an enormous loss of $255 million, making this movie amongst the greatest box office flops.
19. The 13th Warrior (1999)
The director of Die Hard, John McTiernan, took a turn to the past with his 1999 action epic The 13th Warrior, starring Antonio Banderas. An adaptation of Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead that loosely retells the Beowulf legend, the film’s complexity was quite challenging for viewers. With a production cost of $160 million, it earned less than $62 million, resulting in a loss of $227 million.
20. Mortal Engines (2018)
Mortal Engines by Philips Reeves is a very famous young adult sci-fi novel that received many positive reviews and sold exceptionally when it was released in 2001. It took nearly two decades for the book to be adapted into a movie.
By the time the film came to cinemas in 2018, the once craze and excitement had faded. With a budget of $100 to $150 million, this film only earned $84 million at the box office, resulting in a loss of approximately $125 million.
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