Top 10 Most Expensive Movies That Flopped
As profitable as the film industry looks, not all Hollywood movies
rake in millions. A movie is labelled a flop when the total cost of
making the movie surpasses the revenues that the movie generates once it
is released. Forget about the huge budgets movies. Our focus in this
article will be on movies that have made the biggest losses. If a movie
fails to cover all its costs, it is an automatic flop. It doesn’t matter
how big the budget was.
Given the fact that movies cost millions
to make, movie flops result in very painful losses. This explains why
Hollywood executives are extremely careful when choosing directors,
producers and cast members. It is however important to note that movie
losses can be caused by many other factors apart from the cast,
directors or actors. Budget imbalances also top the list of main causes
of movie flops. For instance, many movies have flopped because of having
low marketing budgets.
For a movie to attract a big audience, the
marketing budget has to be big enough. A movie also needs to have an
extremely engaging storyline otherwise the movie will be deemed boring.
This in turn attracts negative reviews which result in low revenues when
people become discouraged to pay and watch the movie.
If you are
interested in finding out some of the most expensive movie flops of all
times, you are in the right place. Below is a list of top 10 most
expensive movie flops of all time starting with the movie that lost the
least amount of money. Please note that the figures have been adjusted
to cater for inflation.
10. Stealth 2005 (Estimated loss: $112 million)
Number 10 in this list is Stealth which was released back in 2005.
The movie is about 3 pilots struggling to contain a military artificial
intelligence program. Such a storyline normally attracts a huge audience
however this wasn’t the case with Stealth. Critics claim the movie
wasn’t real and interesting which is why it flopped. These claims can’t
however be substantiating because many movies which have been deemed
boring by many have somewhat managed to make millions.
Stealth
makes it to this list because of making huge losses despite having a
good storyline and a big budget. The movie was also highly hyped. The
movie cost $170.8 million to make however it generated only $77 million
in revenues. That translates to a $112 million loss which is one of the
biggest in box office history for a movie with an impressive cast i.e.
(Jamie Foxx and Jessica Biel).
9. Heavens Gate 1980 (Estimated loss: $114 million)
Heaven’s gate is a 1980’s movie about a fictional dispute between European immigrants in Wyoming and land barons in the 1980’s. The movie makes it to this list because of making a $114 million inflation adjusted loss on a $44 million budget. Considering this was in the 1980’s this loss is huge. Heaven’s gate only made $3.5 million in revenues which is an insignificant amount of revenue for a movie that cost $44 million in the 1980’s. No wonder the movie makes it to this list.
8. Speed Racer 2008 (Estimated loss $115 million)
Speed Racer is an American action film based on the Japanese anime &
manga series Speed Racer. The movie is by Tatsunoko productions.
Considering the movie was made by the usually brilliant producers (the
Wachowski brothers), it is surprising that Speed racer made losses. The
cast was also equally impressive with Emile Hirsch and Susan Sarandon
taking lead roles. How Speed Racer made a net loss of $106 million
despite having an excellent cast, producers and a 200 million budget is
anyone’s guess. Most critics say the storyline wasn’t what people
expected. Others say the budget was overstretched given the fact that
the movie was based on a cartoon. Whichever way you look at it, $94
million in revenues is a huge flop on a $200 million movie budget.
7. Town and Country 2001 ( Estimated loss $124 million)
Town and Country is a 2001 romantic comedy film starring Goldie Hawn,
Diane Keaton, Warren Beatty and Garry Shandling. Warren Beatty plays an
architect with Diane as his wife and Shandling and Hawn as the couple’s
best friends. Considering the film cost $105 million to make and only
generated $10.4 million in revenues, Town and country surely deserves to
be in this list. Romantic comedies rarely flop. How Town and Country
made a net loss of $94.6 million still remains a mystery to the few
romantic comedy fans who enjoyed the film. The movie’s 13% review on
movie review sites like rotten tomatoes says it all.
6. The 13th Warrior 1999 (Estimated loss: 137 million)
Although Antionio Banderas is considered to be one of the best male
actors in Hollywood, he has also had his fair share of disappointments.
One notable disappointment is in the movie 13
th Warrior where
he plays a lead role. The historical fiction action movie is based on
Michael Crichton’s novel; Eaters of the dead. Despite having a storyline
and cast boost, the movie still made $137.1 million in losses ($61.7
million in revenues on a $160 million budget). This was after the movie
underwent several re-edits after a test audience failed to react
favourably to the initial cut. We can therefore conclude that the flop
was foreseen. How the director (John McTiernan) failed to turn the movie
around even after being sensitized way before the release remains a
mystery. Judging from the re-edits, it is safe to say the movie scenes
aren’t to blame here.
5. Mars Needs Moms 2011 (Estimated loss $141 million)
This movie is one of the latest box office animation flops. With a
budget of $175 million, you would be tempted to think Mars Needs Moms
would be immune to loses given the fact that there are better animation
films which cost less. Well, think again. Mars Needs Moms only managed
to generate $39 million in revenues making the film one of the biggest
box office animation flops of all time. The movie has attracted all
sorts of negative reviews the most notable being the poor motion capture
technology used to make the film. We can therefore conclude that Mars
Needs Moms failed because of experimenting on new technology.
4. Sahara 2005 (Estimated loss $145 million)
Number 4 on this list is the 2005 comedy adventure film Sahara.
Considering the movie was based on a bestselling book, Sahara 2005
failed miserably by incurring huge losses ($144.9 million) on a $241
million budget. The movie only managed to generate $119.3 million in
revenues despite opening in the number 1 slot in the U.S. box office
with revenues amounting to $18 million in the first weekend. According
to movie analysts, the huge overall losses can be attributed to
overspending in production and distribution costs which amounted to $160
and $81 million respectively.
3. Adventures of Pluto Nash 2002 (Estimated loss: $145.9 million)
Adventures of Pluto Nash makes it to top 3 in this list because of
generating the least revenue in this list after heaven’s gate. The 2002
science fiction comedy film starring Eddy Murphy only generated $7.1
million in revenues on a $120 million budget. This is an unimaginable
flop considering the film was adequately financed and featured a movie
star. Many movie critics attribute the flop to a bad script, bad
special effects, bad acting and bad humour. When you combine all these
factors together, you can see clearly that success was impossible.
Revenues amounting to $7.1 million can’t cater for any significant movie
costs on a $120 million movie budget.
2. The Alamo 2004 (Estimated loss $147 million)
The Alamo is an American war film based on the Alamo battle during the
Texas revolution. This 2004 film is set in the 1860’s Mexico. It is a
remake of a popular 1960’s film on the Alamo battle but offers an
updated version which represents both the Mexican and Texan sides of the
argument. Judging from this short description of the movie, it is
obvious the movie is based on an interesting storyline. These sentiments
are however inaccurate according to many reviews about the movie.
According to most critics, the director and cast didn’t do a good job to
make the movie as interesting as it should have been. Also, there was a
high level of inaccuracy i.e. sword length, props e.t.c. These among
many other factors made The Alamo a huge flop. With only $25.8 million
generated in revenues on a $145 million budget, The Alamo truly deserves
a top spot in this list.
1. Cutthroat Island 1995 (Estimated loss: $148 million)
Cutthroat Island tops this list with an estimated loss of $148 million
on a $115 million budget. This 1995 pirate action film tops the list of
the most expensive movie flops of all time simply because the film
failed to capitalise on a highly successful movie niche. Despite the
success of pirate movies in the 1990’s, Cutthroat Island failed
miserably considering the movie has one of the most original plotlines
in the history of pirate action films. The movie marked the end of star
actors’ careers as bankable stars. It also forced producers (Carolco
Pictures) into bankruptcy. It took 8 years and actors like Johnny Depp
to bring back pirate action films to our screens. It doesn’t get worse
than this for a movie ($18.5 million in revenues on a $115 million
budget) not to mention bankruptcy and the end of lucrative acting
careers.