John Carter, with the highest Rotten Tomato rating for a flop, expected audiences to leap into his world because…well, they never really gave us a reason. Waterworld had it’s own budget problems, but it’s failure came at the cost of identity - it didn’t know whether to be silly or serious. Sahara was a fun adventure film which made $119,000,000 at the box office, but poor budget management lead to costs spiraling out of control during the $241,000,000 production. Instead, they fell apart thanks to their inconsistent parts.
Ever.” – Eddie Murphyīut if filmmaking was as simple as a great idea, John Carter, Sahara and Waterworld would have been hits. It’s iconic because it had a new idea, and it worked. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon took the cinematic experience we had grown accustomed to through films like Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, and modernized it for a more visually demanding generation. What mattered was experiencing something we’d never seen before. In this case, the plot and subtitles didn’t matter to America audiences. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was expected to fail, but it succeeded thanks to it’s strong, simple idea - evolved kung fu. This leads to budget allocations to special effects, reshoots and marketing campaigns prioritized over something as simple as an idea that will work.īut you can have a great idea without a digestible plot.
There is no line-item for plot quality or clever dialogue, so it’s put on the back burner as an indistinguishable asset. You see, “creative effort” isn’t quantifiable. Apparently apathy is the source of a Green Lantern’s power. They had the franchise, they had the star (Ryan Reynolds), and they had the budget, but what they lacked was anything close to a decent idea/story.
The Green Lantern, for example, landed in the middle of Hollywood’s golden age for superhero movies. Perfect riflemen posture.īy all rights, each of these films should have been a success. Instead, they lost a combined $300 million. Green Lantern had a popular superhero, and Conan and The Alamo were remakes of beloved classics. Green Lantern, Conan the Barbarian, and The Alamo should have worked. People like special effects, famous actors and a plot that’s easy to digest, right? “Make it a remake or an established franchise, and they’ll practically beg us to take their money!” But the truth is, to the chagrin of movie executives everywhere, a little more complicated. With these trends in mind, the risk seems minimal. Hell, the Star Wars prequels are generic abominations, and they’re three of highest grossing movies ever made. Millions of people will hand over buckets of money to watch Transformers 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and Fast Five, so studios start believing people are sheep to be herded, sheered and left blinking, naked after experiencing the same cinematic experience over and over. You know, beyond the fact that most of these movies just suck.īox office flops are an anomaly. To commemorate millions and millions lost on filmed mediocrity, I’ve set about deciphering the art of the box office flop. “You take a classic franchise, team the world’s most successful producer, an award-winning director and the biggest movie star in the world and you think your chances of success are pretty good. “The frustrating part for us is that we had all the ingredients here,” said Dave Hollis, Disney’s head of distribution. We may have been able to warn Disney that their hyper-excessive marketing strategy, obscure lead actor and their producer’s pension for Michael Bay levels of unnecessary spectacle may have hurt their chances, but they had no idea. Since the July 4th weekend, The Lone Ranger has made around $49 million, and since most films face diminishing returns the longer they stay in theaters, it looks as good a time as any to call John Carter 2.0 The Lone Ranger a box office flop. Johnny Depp realizing he’s made a huge mistake. But after opening night, The Lone Ranger only raked in $9.7 million. Directed by Gore Verbinski, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring newcomer Armie Hammer with supporting roles from Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, Disney was positive its investment into the once established franchise would yield a lucrative return. The Lone Ranger cost $215 million to make.