Box Office Bombs

30 December 2010

MacGruber

Here we have the biggest box office bombs of 2010. 2010 has been mostly successful year for films, Avatar broke many box office records at the beginning of this year/end of last year.

Alice In Wonderland and Toy Story 3 managed to break the billion dollar mark as well and Inception managed to stay at the top of the box office for 3 straight weekends despite being an original film in a sea of sequels and franchises.

Unfortunately, the studios haven't been so lucky all year, some of the box office behemoths had to make up for the losses brought by some truly dreadful films. The biggest and most hurtful thing though, is that some of the box office bombs weren't bad films, they just didn't hit the right notes for everyone.

It could be that they were released at an unfortunate time or they weren't marketed properly, all we know is that they just didn't do that well.

The box office bomb isn't about whether a film did well or not, it's about how much of their original budget they earned back. The worldwide gross has been used and it is worked out in dollars. Here are the eight films chosen from the least to most money lost:

MacGruber - Lost: $1 million

On a production budget of only $10 million, MacGruber still only managed to scrape in $9 million dollars at the box office worldwide and a measly $797,295 of that was from outside of the United States.

Based on a Saturday Night Live sketch and directed by Jorma Taccone, one third of The Lonely Island, the gang behind the songs Jizz In My Pants and I'm On A Boat. The film was generally ill-received critically and it showed in the box office takings.

Splice - Lost: $4 million

With a production budget of $30 million, Splice only managed to take back just over $25 million in box office takings.

Splice follows the story of two genetic scientists who experiment with mixing human DNA with animal DNA. The film did receive quite good reviews overall, but still didn't manage to ignite the box office.

Green Zone - Lost: $5 million

Green Zone had the unfortunate problem of being released only a week after Alice In Wonderland, Wonderland managed to bag the top spot for a second week and went on to become one of the highest grossing films of the year.

Green Zone on the other hand, didn't fair too well, although being praised by critics, the poor reception can easily be attributed to the close proximity to Wonderland. Also, the film was criticised for being too anti-American or anti-war for some in the US, which shows why the film performed twice as well internationally as it did in the US.

Overall, the film managed to bag nearly $95 million on a budget of $100 million. Michael Moore, however, said, "I can't believe this film got made. It's been stupidly marketed as an action film. It is the most HONEST film about Iraq War made by Hollywood."

The Wolfman - Lost: $10 million

The budget of $150 million wasn't enough to save this film from being a box office bomb, as it managed to scrape in $140 million in box office takings.

The release date probably didn't help as it was released around Valentine's weekend and came in third place behind the film Valentine's Day and the childrens' book adaptation Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief. The critics were mixed, saying it had good effects, good acting, but just no suspense.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Lost: $13 million

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World went down well with critics mostly, Empire Magazine gave it 5 stars and is currently at 81% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The film, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Michael Cera, is about a boy who after meeting a girl, finds he must defeat her seven evil exes so that he can be with her.

The film draws heavily on videogame style visuals, quick editing and videogame references, clearly aimed at a child of the 80s-90s. Pilgrim opened alongside The Expendables and Eat Pray Love and lost out on the battle, opening at number 5 and only receiving $47 million of its $60 million budget back.

Repo Men - Lost: $14 million

Repo Men was another film to fall victim to Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland as it debuted in fourth place and managed to lose $14 million in total.

Critically, the film didn't fair so well either, with most comments saying the two leads were decent enough but the screenplay was lacklustre and the gore was over the top.

Extraordinary Measures - Lost: $16 million

This film will have needed some extraordinary measures to really do anything big at the box office as it was released towards the end of January as Avatar was still sitting happily at the number one spot at the box office.

Critics seemed fairly mixed, but mostly positive in their praise for Brendan Fraser and for the way the true story of two parents who form a biotechnology company to save the lives of their children is portrayed.

However, Brendan Fraser isn't a massive draw for the box office these days and alongside the likes of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones and James Cameron's Avatar, it didn't stand much of a chance.

Jonah Hex - $37 million

Without a doubt, the biggest bomb of them all this year is Jonah Hex. It opened in the US on the same weekend as Toy Story 3 and with The Karate Kid and The A-Team in their second week of release.

The film, based on a DC comics character, has Josh Brolin in the lead role as a man whose family is killed and he is left for dead, only to be later resurrected by Native Americans.

The film was universally panned by critics and did terribly at the box office, causing the studio to hold out on a wide release internationally from the US. Creative differences caused Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor to jump ship, and for Jimmy Hayward to step in.

Josh Brolin will soon appear in The Coen Brothers' True Grit, so it seems it hasn't affected him too much. The same may not necessarily be said for co-star Megan Fox who hasn't had a hit since Transformers and even then, she was kicked off the latest entry into that franchise.

FemaleFirst James Butlin