While this year had some hits, in the form of Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Inside Out, it also had some massive flops. Let’s break these down in detail and see who the winners and losers were of this summer. As a side note these movies are considered unsuccessful on their box office returns completely independent of their critical feedback (although most movies on this list also came out with less than stellar reviews) .
5. Aloha
Aloha, directed and written by Cameron Crowe, was by no means the worst romantic comedy ever made but it’s certainly bad. The cast walked their way through forgettable dialogue and there was no chemistry between any of the actors, add to that a slow and meaningless plot, and it’s easy to see how this film is projected to be a loss. A real shame when you consider the potential of the actors involved (Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams).
Production Cost: $37 million
Total Box Office Gross: $26.3 million
Expected Loss: $65 million
4. The Man From U.N.C.L.E
It’s a bit of a mystery as to why The Man from U.N.C.L.E finds itself on this list. It wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the movies on this countdown and it came out in cinemas at a time when little else of note was on. Even casting Superman in the lead role however could not save U.N.C.L.E from making only $13 million domestically in the US on its opening weekend. Things didn’t go much better from there as, while the film has not yet released in Chinese markets*, the film will reportedly struggle to make back its budget. You can take a look at our review for The Man from U.N.C.L.E here where we gave it a respectable 6.0/10.
Production Cost: $75 million
Total Box Office Gross: $86.4million*
Expected Loss: $80 million
3. Pixels
I wish Adam Sandler would just stop producing movies like this. With the box office disappointment that Pixels represents, I think we can say its looking more likely that studios will shy away from the actor/director in the future. On paper this movie had a lot of potential, a great premise, awesome visuals on the screen and Peter Dinklage. What went wrong? Well it just wasn’t funny. While the video game action looks fantastic at the end of the day the dialogue wasn’t amusing and the film felt like a drag. Let’s see if Sandler has better luck with Netflix, I doubt it though.
Production Cost: $88 million
Total Box Office Gross: $194 million
Expected Loss: + $75 million
2. Fant4stic
This film needs no introduction to this list. We know why it’s here. We know it should be here. Through all the trouble on set and with the studio it’s a wonder that Fox aren’t desperate to throw away the rights to this franchise. It would take an article much longer than this to tell you about all the drama surrounding this film so head on over here if you are interesting in seeing that. The basic fact is Marvel’s first family seem doomed to failure on the big screen. Check out our review of Fant4stic here where we awarded it 1.2/10 (mainly because we didn’t actually fall asleep during the movie).
Production Cost: $125 million
Total Box Office Gross: $146.7 million
Expected Loss: $100 million – $80 million
1. Tommorrowland
It’s rather unfortunate to see a movie directed by Brad Bird top this list. Hopefully the filmmaker will have more luck with the Incredibles sequel than he has had with Disney’s attempt at a new theme park based franchise. Looking one would assume to capitalise on the Pirates of the Caribbean formula, Disney lavished money on the movie but it doesn’t look like they will be getting any of it back. Perhaps George Clooney can’t draw in the crowds any more or maybe word of mouth was this film’s downfall, but it’s doubtful we’ll see a sequel after this much money has been lost.
Production Cost: $190 million
Total Box Office Gross: $208 million
Expected Loss: $150 million – $120 million
So that’s it! Which of these movies did you go and see? Are you disappointed that a movie you liked didn’t succeed this summer? Let us know in the comments below and for more movie, TV and gaming news stick right here with TiCGN!
