Budget: $90 million / Domestic total: $27 million
In an amazing bit of coincidence, the last four movies on this list were all released widely on the same weekend, and The Last Witch Hunter did the best out of them all. However, that does not mean the film was any sort of success. It would appear as though Vin Diesel does not have any box office appeal when he’s away from his Fast & Furious friends, and The Last Witch Hunter would open to $10 million behind Bridge of Spies and Goosebumps in their second week and The Martian in its fourth. The films takings dropped by 50% in its second week of release, and any chance of it recuperating any of its $90 million budget were lost. Diesel had said on his Facebook page that plans for a sequel were in place with a potential growth into a franchise, but the dismal box office showings have now put all of that into question.
Budget: $150 million / Domestic total: $34.9 million
Since Disney started doing live-action versions of their classic animated movies, they’ve found many of them to be successes. Cinderella was one of the highest grossing movies of 2015 and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland made a staggering $1 billion back in 2010. However, the same can not be said for Warner Bros.’ big screen version of Peter Pan’s origins in Pan. Made for a reported $150 million, Pan opened to just $15 million behind Hotel Transylvania 2 and The Martian. It’s second week saw the film drop to a paltry $5 million, and it would fall out of the Top 10 by its third week where it made around $2.6 million. According to Box Office Mojo, Pan is one of the worst performing movies of 2015. Some outlets reported that the film needed to make around $400-$500 million worldwide just to break even, so a domestic total of $34.9 million really isn’t going to bring many smiles to executive’s faces.
Budget: $176 million / Domestic total: $47 million
A film that was so bad, the PR team behind Eddie Redmayne tried to have his name removed from the marketing material for fear it would ruin his chances of winning Best Actor at the Oscars. A script that was so terrible, it was compared to Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Super Mario Bros. And, perhaps worst of all, a box office performance so lousy that The Wachowskis think they may never direct a big budget movie ever again. The duo have not found much success following The Matrix trilogy, and Jupiter Ascending did not change that. Although the film has done better than both Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending opened to just $18 million behind American Sniper and – of all things – The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. In total, Jupiter Ascending made $47 million against a whopping $176 million budget. There was never any talk of a sequel, but one would think that any chance would be out the window now.
Budget: $88 million / Domestic total: $78 million
It’s not been a good year for Adam Sandler. His first film with Netflix, The Ridiculous 6, has been panned by many outlets and came under fire for racism when several extras left the set in protest following depictions of Native Americans. Pixles, when released in July, may have felt the effects of Sandler’s downturn when it opened to just $24 million behind Marvel’s Ant-Man in its second week – itself thought to be a disappointment as it was the studio’s second lowest opening of all-time. The movie, based on a very creative short by Patrick Jean, was panned by critics upon release and its bad word-of-mouth meant the film managed a total of $78 million. The film actually saved money from its $110 million budget following some rebates, but the film’s box office total means it was still a flop. With its marketing costs, Pixels lost around $67 million overall. I wrote a defense of the movie back in December, but the numbers don’t lie.
Budget: $190 million / Domestic total: $93 million
Unlike a lot of the movies on our list, Tomorrowland actually opened to number one at the box office when it was released back in May, knocking off previous holder Pitch Perfect 2 and fending off the remake of Poltergeist. But with a staggering budget of $190 million, its $35 million opening was not a good sign for Disney’s adventure based on a theme park attraction. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tomorrowland would have cost Disney anywhere up to $330 million to make and produce, so a final tally of $93 million cost the studio a lot of cash. Luckily they had big winners in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out, Cinderella and, of course, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but the biggest blow came from experts saying its failings could convince studios that audiences don’t want to see original ideas and would rather spend money on sequels, remakes and reboots. “Tomorrowland is an original movie and that’s more of a challenge in this marketplace,” Walt Disney’s distribution chief, Dave Hollis commented. “We feel it’s incredibly important for us as a company and as an industry to keep telling original stories.” We’ll see about that Dave, we’ll see about that.
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and a contributor on The Flickering Myth Movie Show. You can follow him on Twitter @ThisisLukeOwen.
Originally published December 31, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
