2018 Box Office Busts

[Emperor-of-Dragons]

Annihilation made my skin crawl....in a good way. Didn't like the fact it wont explore more of that word, since the source material was a trio of books.

[ChrisIII]

I think it's mainly sort of a trend of thinking or more 'deep' original sci-fi not being huge box office successes. Despite being critically successful, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 weren't really big hits either.

[Hiromi]

I couldn't believe the way Pacific Rim 2 fell the way it did, and I loved the movie. Audiences weren't kind to the first one either as they favored Despicable Me 2 and Grown Ups 2 more of all movies which is an insult. Seems audiences were way into looking forward to the Marvel movies instead. Sad.

Pacific Rim 2 is your classic case of new film makers come on to replace the genius who made the first one and promptly prove they had no clue what made the first one as good as it was

Wheel of Time is being adapted into a show, though, not a film, so it has a chance. There's far too much mythology for a film, but you could do it with a show.

There's been some company "working on it" for over a decade, much like Dark Tower. And I'm terrified it'll end up like Dark Tower, even as a series it has a scope big enough to require an HBO dedicated budget or a serious stripping down in scope and scale(at which point why bother)

I really did enjoy Annihilation, but original sci fi titles rarely do better than modest success followed by being quickly forgotten, Tom Cruise's Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow jump to mind

[SUPERECWFAN1]

You just talk about things in terms of box office, and I couldn't find anything less interesting.

Given that its a "Box Office thread" and all what did you expect ?

I've only heard about Annihilation talked about in terms of art. You are the first person I've seen talk about it in regards to box office.

Well given that the film didn't earn its budget back and its due to Paramount not believing in it , you can blame them here because they didn't think the "art" of it would do well overseas. They are at fault with it.

I couldn't believe the way Pacific Rim 2 fell the way it did, and I loved the movie. Audiences weren't kind to the first one either as they favored Despicable Me 2 and Grown Ups 2 more of all movies which is an insult. Seems audiences were way into looking forward to the Marvel movies instead. Sad.

The 1st one was slow to get that sequel. Universal wanted the film to hit a certain number worldwide and it was a couple months before they were able to give the go ahead. And the 1st one was pretty solid I felt.

[AnakinFlair]

Well I should have explained better. Marvel should have done better writing for Portman clearly as she's a great actress and did awesome in Black Swan. I still have no idea why she'd do this film given how badly its done. She choose wisely moving to Black Swan. Its more Marvel's fault they wrote badly for Portman.

Natalie Portman is a tricky actress for me. I remember liking her in The Professional and Heat. Then she did the Prequels. In the first one, it is a documented fact that she was pissed that she couldn't have her freinds around her during the shoot, so she decided not to act. After the prequels, it felt like she didn't want to do any more big budget franchise movies.

I was shocked when she was cast in Thor, and the only reason I could think of why she chose to do it was to work with Kenneth Brannagh. And she seemed happy to do Thor 2- until Patty Jenkins was fired, at which point Marvel had to threaten to sue her for breach of contract if she didn't do the movie.

So I don't think the writing was the problem. She took Thor to work with a specific director more than likely. And unlike Hugo Weaving, they didn't give her a choice of not coming back.

As for Black Swan, I meant to see that film, but then I saw Noah and now I refuse to see any film that Arnonofsky makes or has made. I can't stand that director.

Wrinkle in Time isn't an original property, it's adapted from the book, which is fairly difficult to adapt

Anyway from what I've read it's chief problems seem to be spotty looking CGI, mediocre to outright bad and unlikable child acting, aiming the movie at a young audience instead of a wide audience, and some backlash over completely stripping the Christian elements from the book. Oh and going up against Black Panther while it was still dominating theaters

To be fair to Disney, they had no way of knowing how huge Black Panther was going to be when they put Wrinkle in Time on the schedule. As a matter of fact, I'd bet that they thought Wrinkle would make up for Black Panther under-performing.

I saw the trailer several times and I had to wonder if the protagonist had Aspergers because she came across as so wooden and lifeless. It's not like Daphne Keen in Logan, where even when she was silent for the first half of the film, she communicated so much with her body and eyes.

Some kids got it, some don't.

Wheel of Time is being adapted into a show, though, not a film, so it has a chance. There's far too much mythology for a film, but you could do it with a show.

Isn't that the books series where the author has died and it's not finished?

[Hiromi]

Isn't that the books series where the author has died and it's not finished?

The author, Robert Jordan, did die before finishing the series but another author named Brandon Sanderson used his notes and outline to finish the final three books with help from Jordan's Wife/long time editor

[numberthirty]

You just talk about things in terms of box office, and I couldn't find anything less interesting.

I've only heard about Annihilation talked about in terms of art. You are the first person I've seen talk about it in regards to box office.

I tend not to think of Annihilation as a bust because IMO it's a mid-tier movie with not a big budget and without big hype or big stars(although people can argue about Portman's status). Busts to me are movies with big budgets, high expectations, or huge stars that fall flat.

FWIW I thought Annihilation was a decent movie.

Yep.

Someone who looks at that whole scenario and thinks anyone involved expected to make out like Scrooge McDuck is probably incorrect.

[Dr. Skeleton]

Pacific Rim 2 is your classic case of new film makers come on to replace the genius who made the first one and promptly prove they had no clue what made the first one as good as it was

Your belief of course, but I thought it delivered the goods though not the way the first did. It was hyped up enough and the trailers didn't disappoint. Movie audiences are unpredictable these days and I'm surprised this franchise didn't woo them from the start as they go for the films you wouldn't think would do so good.

[Gray Lensman]

Natalie Portman is a tricky actress for me. I remember liking her in The Professional and Heat. Then she did the Prequels. In the first one, it is a documented fact that she was pissed that she couldn't have her freinds around her during the shoot, so she decided not to act. After the prequels, it felt like she didn't want to do any more big budget franchise movies.

I was shocked when she was cast in Thor, and the only reason I could think of why she chose to do it was to work with Kenneth Brannagh. And she seemed happy to do Thor 2- until Patty Jenkins was fired, at which point Marvel had to threaten to sue her for breach of contract if she didn't do the movie.

So I don't think the writing was the problem. She took Thor to work with a specific director more than likely. And unlike Hugo Weaving, they didn't give her a choice of not coming back.

As for Black Swan, I meant to see that film, but then I saw Noah and now I refuse to see any film that Arnonofsky makes or has made. I can't stand that director.

Watch the anime Perfect Blue. Aronofsky was shown it by a friend before doing anything with the Black Swan, and people who have seen both pretty much say that Black Swan is closer to Perfect Blue than many films which actually claim to be based on a book. He even bought up the distribution rights for the anime to prevent any lawsuits because it's that close.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Its been awhile since we had a Box Office bomb make the list. But well since it seems after a couple weeks Paramount actually had another one. This one they allowed a release in theaters and it bombed quick.




ACTION POINT

Total Box Office : $5.5+ million domestically (Nothing worldwide)

Total Budget : $19 million

This is just an insane thing to see and as shown it stars Johnny Knoxville. This film has been something he's been working on since 2014 and is based on an actual theme park that is now closed. But the film landed a couple weeks ago and bombed quick. It appears it was pulled from theaters pretty fast as well.

[Scott Taylor]

I saw the trailer for Action Point before one of the showings of Solo. It seemed like a fun summer film, but it also had sort of an awkward humor vibe to it. Not surprised it didn't go anywhere at the Box Office. Also Johnny Knoxville isn't a draw, hasn't been for years.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I saw the trailer for Action Point before one of the showings of Solo. It seemed like a fun summer film, but it also had sort of an awkward humor vibe to it. Not surprised it didn't go anywhere at the Box Office. Also Johnny Knoxville isn't a draw, hasn't been for years.

His last big starring film actually is from 2013 and was Bad Grandpa....which was made for $15 million and did over $!00+ million domestically. Paramount thought the same deal would happen here.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

As the summer enters its final dog days at the theater , a couple films have bombed since. One that will bomb domestically here and can only be saved if it does better internationally. Anyhow lets run down a few of the BOMBS.





ADRIFT

Total Box Office $49 Million total Worldwide Box Office.

Total Budget : $35 Million

Adrift arrived and was a clunker at box office. It only did $31 million domestically. The film outside the country didn't do as well either. It was based on a story where a couple get stranded in a boat after a storm and have to survive.





HOTEL ARTEMIS

TOTAL BOX OFFICE : $10.8 Million (worldwide)

Total Budget : $15 million

This film opened pretty quietly in 2400 theaters and opening weekend came in 8th with just $3 million. Who would imagine a film cast that included Jodie Foster , Charlie Day , Jeff Goldblum and Zachery Quinto would do only $6 million domestically ? WOW...





GOTTI

Total Box Office : $4.5 million

Total Budget : $10 million

This film originally was supposed to come out last December but Lionsgate saw the final product and refused to release it. Which should have been a sign this film would be terrible. They sold it back to the producers who took the film to Vertical Entertainment. This film starred John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston as John & Victoria Gotti. The famous crime boss. The film currently hold a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

[titanfan]

The Darkest Minds:

Production Budget: 34M
Opening Weekend: 6M

One of the worst wide-release openings of all time.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

SKYSCRAPER

Total Box Office : $292+ million worldwide

Total Budget : $125+ million


Maybe it was the case of too much Dwayne Johnson in one year. In fact that likely could be the key reason that Skyscraper from Johnson that opened in early July was a quick box office bomb. Johnson had just came off 2 films that did 1.3 billion at box office within months (Jumanji 2 , Rampage) and suddenly he was in yet another big budget action film. It was 3 big budget action films within 8 months and it likely played a big factor in this one bombing.

The film has only done $66.3 million domestically and $225+ Internationally.





Total Box Office : $22 million worldwide

Total Budget : $35 million


As mentioned above this was not a very good release. Based on the book "The Darkest Minds" this film arrived from the producers of Stranger Things & Arrival. The big question is why Fox would do a film that basically seems like an X-Men film that was done with a cheaper budget. To the shock of no one the film was an utter disaster at launch with $6 million opening and only doing as of this post $11 million domestically.

I usually wait til a film has opened nearly worldwide before posting but The Darkest Minds has opened in nearly every major territory and has only done $11 million outside that in those markets. It has like 5-6 minor markets left to open in and its doubtful it gets saved by the international market. One thing Disney will make sure of as a company , films like this won't be approved ...not when you already have a more popular franchise called X-Men that makes hundreds of millions of dollars.