Biggest box-office bombs of all time

Warner Bros. Making an expensive Hollywood movie is kind of like steering a gigantic cargo ship through a thunderstorm. Onboard are hundreds of crew members, each performing a specific function. At the vessel’s main helm are a handful of leaders, including the captain (the director), who may still be beholden to the powers that be. Tensions run high and opinions can clash over the best course of action. It can seem like a miracle when the vessel arrives at its destination intact. Stacker is honoring the occasions when big-budget vehicles fail to deliver the goods by ranking the biggest box-office bombs of all time using data from The Numbers. Rankings were compiled based on worldwide box office earnings only and do not incorporate video or other retail sales. Only the first 1,000 movies with the highest reported budgets were considered for this story. Sometimes it’s easy to pinpoint where it all went wrong. Perhaps the storyline was difficult to follow or there were unexpected bumps that required a major change, such as bringing in a new director or having to recast the lead. Even a top-notch director and stellar cast aren’t always enough to prevent disaster at the box office. Keep reading to discover the biggest box-office bombs of all time and determine how many you’ve seen. You may also like: 25 iconic closing shots from film history #50. Around the World in 80 Days Walt Disney Pictures – Estimated loss: $38 million – Production budget: $110 million – Worldwide box office gross: $72 million – Release date: June 16, 2004 A remake of the 1956 film based on Jules Verne’s classic novel, this action-adventure romp about an eccentric inventor who tries to travel the globe in 80 days stars Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, and Cécile de France. It took plenty of liberties with its source material and deviated wildly from the plot of its predecessors, facts that likely led to it being a commercial failure. #49. Titan A.E. Fox Animation Studio – Estimated loss: $38.2 million – Production budget: $75 million – Worldwide box office gross: $36.8 million – Release date: June 16, 2000 Combining traditional animation with CGI, “Titan A.E.” takes place in a distant future where Earth has been destroyed. A young man named Cale (voiced by Matt Damon) is threatened by killer aliens, so he must help locate an important spaceship, the Titan, before mankind perishes for good. The movie has a fairly strong fanbase to this day, but not enough to save it from tanking. #48. Oliver Twist R.P. Productions – Estimated loss: $38.3 million – Production budget: $65 million – Worldwide box office gross: $26.7 million – Release date: Sept. 23, 2005 Roman Polanski directed this adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens story about a London orphan who joins a group of pickpockets to survive. Rotten Tomatoes perfectly summarizes why the movie was a commercial failure: Its visual style and character perspectives make it “a very impersonal experience.” #47. The Invasion Warner Bros. – Estimated loss: $39.9 million – Production budget: $80 million – Worldwide box office gross: $40.1 million – Release date: Aug. 17, 2007 “The Invasion,” a sci-fi film about a psychiatrist who suspects an alien invasion is altering humans’ emotional capacity, likely struggled to find an audience for two reasons. First, it was originally pitched and advertised as a remake of the 1956 hit “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” but the final product ended up being something else entirely: a fact that the average moviegoer likely wasn’t aware of before buying their ticket. Second, the fact that the film had two directors and two writing teams inevitably led to an awkwardly disjointed final product. #46. Son of the Mask New Line Cinema – Estimated loss: $40.1 million – Production budget: $100 million – Worldwide box office gross: $59.9 million – Release date: Feb. 18, 2005 A stand-alone sequel to “The Mask,” “Son of the Mask” follows Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) as he becomes a first-time father. This iteration had an entirely new cast, director, and writing team and, as a result, possessed none of the original film’s magic. Audiences and critics were wildly disappointed with the finished product. You may also like: Most widely watched but universally hated movies of all time #45. Meet Joe Black Universal Pictures – Estimated loss: $40.3 million – Production budget: $85 million – Worldwide box office gross: $44.7 million – Release date: Nov. 13, 1998 Director Martin Brest was coming off the success of “Scent of a Woman” when he helmed this 1998 melodrama, in which a personified Death walks among the living in the form of a man named Joe Black (Brad Pitt). With a rich media magnate (Anthony Hopkins) as his guide, Death learns about life and even falls in love with a woman. A remake of 1934’s “Death Takes a Holiday,” the film used a large percentage of its budget to depict the extravagant lifestyle of its wealthy characters. If Brest thought things would pick up for him with his next project, he was dead wrong: His next project was “Gigli,” which took the word “turkey” to another level. #44. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle CJ Entertainment – Estimated loss: $40.9 million – Production budget: $76 million – Worldwide box office gross: $35.1 million – Release date: June 30, 2000 Turning a beloved children’s cartoon into a feature film might have seemed like a great idea to Hollywood executives, including Robert De Niro, who also starred, but this flop from 2000 proved to be an adaptation that few people were requesting. Like a low-budget follow-up to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” this embarrassingly bad film mixes animation and live-action for an effect that was campy at best. #43. Flight of the Phoenix 20th Century Fox – Estimated loss: $41 million – Production budget: $75 million – Worldwide box office gross: $34 million – Release date: Dec. 17, 2004 After a plane crashes in the Mongolian desert, survivors work on building a new plane from the wreckage in the 2004 remake of “Flight of the Phoenix.” Originally slated for release on a crowded Christmas lineup, the film was bumped up to Dec. 17–which did nothing to help its chances at the box office. Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Giovanni Ribisi, and Hugh Laurie star. #42. The Last Legion Dino De Laurentiis Company – Estimated loss: $41.6 million – Production budget: $67 million – Worldwide box office gross: $25.4 million – Release date: Aug. 17, 2007 Part historical drama, part fantasy epic, “The Last Legion” blends the true story of the fall of the Roman Empire with legends like that of King Arthur. Based on a novel of the same name by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, the film lacked the sparkling writing and well-thought-out pacing of its source material. #41. Live by Night Appian Way – Estimated loss: $43.2 million – Production budget: $65 million – Worldwide box office gross: $21.8 million – Release date: Dec. 25, 2016 Ben Affleck wrote, directed, produced, and starred in this historical crime drama about a Florida bootlegger-turned-mobster. It seems the studio knew the film might be a flop from the start, seeing as the release date was changed no fewer than six times. In the end, nearly everyone agreed that while pieces of the film were good, it just lacked that certain something that would take it from derivative to memorable. You may also like: Classic movie quotes that have broken into our daily vocabulary #40. 3000 Miles to Graceland Franchise Pictures – Estimated loss: $43.3 million – Production budget: $62 million – Worldwide box office gross: $18.7 million – Release date: Feb. 23, 2001 When it comes to this 2001 clunker, the shocking news isn’t that it bombed–it’s that it cost so much to make in the first place. “3000 Miles to Graceland” follows a group of criminals who rob a casino and then turn on one another during an Elvis impersonation week. Its cast includes Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Courteney Cox, and Christian Slater, among numerous others. As it turns out, more than $12 million of the movie’s supposed budget went straight into an executive’s pocket, prompting one of the financiers to sue. #39. Rollerball Atlas Entertainment – Estimated loss: $44.1 million – Production budget: $70 million – Worldwide box office gross: $25.9 million – Release date: Feb. 8, 2002 1975’s “Rollerball” is a dystopian film that takes swipes at an omnipresent corporate culture; its 2002 remake has the hallmarks of Hollywood money-grab. Drained of any social commentary, the plodding film takes place in the present day and centers on a violent, imaginary sport. And this time around, its critics were taking the harshest swipes. #38. Virus Archive Photos // Getty Images – Estimated loss: $44.4 million – Production budget: $75 million – Worldwide box office gross: $30.6 million – Release date: Jan. 15, 1999 After boarding a Russian space vessel, members of an American crew come face to face with a deadly alien in this box-office fiasco from 1999. Most of the production budget presumably went toward special effects, and critics were accordingly impressed with the movie’s visual aesthetic. There was just one problem: The filmmakers forgot to include an original or compelling story. #37. Red Planet Warner Bros. – Estimated loss: $46.5 million – Production budget: $80 million – Worldwide box office gross: $33.5 million – Release date: Nov. 10, 2000 While a movie about terraforming Mars might seem prescient in retrospect, “Red Planet” is mostly just a failed sci-fi thriller. In the film, Robby Gallagher (Val Kilmer) partakes in the first manned expedition to Mars, where he and his fellow astronauts encounter a range of deadly obstacles. After tanking on the domestic and international front, the movie earned itself the nickname “Dead Planet.” #36. Hudson Hawk TriStar Pictures – Estimated loss: $47.8 million – Production budget: $65 million – Worldwide box office gross: $17.2 million – Release date: May 24, 1991 Every decade seems to have its signature flop; for the 1990s, it was “Hudson Hawk.” In the film, a cat burglar is blackmailed into stealing a precious work of art while eluding the wrath of various cartoonlike characters. Bruce Willis didn’t just play the lead role; he helped come up with the initial story. You may also like: 100 best international movies of all time #35. Last Man Standing New Line Cinema – Estimated loss: $48.9 million – Production budget: $67 million – Worldwide box office gross: $18.1 million – Release date: Sept. 20, 1996 Gritty director Walter Hill and occasionally gritty actor Bruce Willis teamed up for this remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo,” a movie that reportedly also inspired 1964’s “A Fistful of Dollars.” Willis plays a drifter who’s caught in the middle of a war between Irish and Italian gangsters; violence and sarcastic remarks ensue. However, it wasn’t enough to draw audience numbers–it tanked disastrously. #34. Father’s Day