20 big-budget films that totally flopped

It’s hard to imagine a Matt Damon film flopping, but such was the case with Green Zone. The action film starring the two-time Oscar winner lost money with its theatrical release, missing its production budget by over $2 million. 

The budget estimations for Cutthroat Island vary, though most hover around $100 million. What is agreed on, though, is that it made less than $20 million worldwide. You can do that math: a major box office flop. 

You’ve almost certainly heard of the 1959 film Ben-Hur . It won a whopping 11 Oscars and is widely considered one of the best films of all time. Its 2016 remake, however, was a major flop, failing to reach its nearly $100 million budget despite featuring Morgan Freeman. 

People love to play Battleship, but apparently, not all of them wanted to see a screen adaptation of the board game. The 2012 film lost around $100 million. Maybe there’s a reason there aren’t many movies made after board games. 

The Stepford Wives is one of the most frequently used pop culture references thanks to the 1975 film adaptation of the book of the same name. But the 2004 screen adaptation, starring Nicole Kidman, wasn’t nearly as influential, losing money and garnering poor reviews. 

Audiences didn’t care about the reasons. They were upset that the live-action Mulan remake didn’t include the music from the original film, and therefore, they didn’t see it. It didn’t help that Mulan was released during COVID, either. All in all, the film lost $130 million.  

A big-budget superhero film may seem like an automatic slam dunk, but there are plenty of examples that prove otherwise. Take Catwoman . The Halle Berry film lost nearly $18 million. 

Speaking of bad feline movies, the long-awaited screen adaptation of the famed Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical Cats missed its budget by almost $25 million. It had an all-star cast — Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, and Jennifer Hudson, among others — but not even an EGOT and a dame were enough to save Cats. 

Again, Catwoman is far from the only superhero film to have bombed. The Marvels was a disaster, especially by MCU standards. Disney reportedly lost around $237 million on the project. 

You’d think that a dinosaur film with box office legend Will Ferrell leading the cast would perform well, but it can be difficult to predict the whims of audiences. Apparently, audiences didn’t want to see Land of the Lost, because it lost over $30 million. 

2018’s A Wrinkle in Time had everything going for it - a great cast, an outstanding director, and fantastic source material. But it bombed at the box office, losing well over $100 million. Audiences much preferred the 2003 made-for-TV version. 

Maybe by 2004, too many people were unfamiliar with the Jules Verne novel, or maybe audiences didn’t want to see another adaptation of the book. Whatever the case was, Around the World in 80 Days lost $38 million. 

Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer pre-cannibalist accusations probably seem like a winning combination. The box office begs to differ, though. 2013’s The Lone Ranger performed way under budget, reportedly losing Disney almost $200 million. 

Sequels are always risky, but they’re especially risky when they come a decade later and don’t feature the same star as the first film. Son of the Mask is proof of that. The sequel to the Jim Carrey classic lost over $40 million. 

People love visiting Tomorrowland at Disney theme parks, but they apparently didn’t share the same enthusiasm for it on the big screen. Tomorrowland lost the old mouse ears at least $120 million, maybe even more. 

Seriously, Hollywood has yet to learn its lesson about reusing ideas from the past. The Alamo from 1960 was a smash hit and garnered Oscar nominations. The Alamo from 2004 lost over $68 million. 

The first Joker film made over $1 billion. Joker: Folie à Deux lost the studio around $150 million. That loss had to hurt Warner Bros. 

Remember when all of Hollywood forced 3D movies on its audiences? Thankfully, they’ve retired from that practice, but not without some stinkers. The Nutcracker in 3D lost nearly $70 million. 

Plenty of big-budget animated movies have flopped, too. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas  had Brad Pitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Catherine Zeta-Jones as voices, but  it still had a dismal showing. It reportedly nearly bankrupted DreamWorks. 

It is a little surprising that King Arthur: Legend of the Sword didn’t do better at the box office, considering the story’s enduring appeal. The film lost about $30 million, proving that there are no guarantees in show business.