Number 5 – Whiteout

This uninspiring thriller unsurprising flopped massively when it hit our screens earlier this year.

Starring Kate Beckinsale (Underworld) as U.S Deputy Marshall Carrie Stetko who after being moved to a base in Antarctica finds a dead body frozen in a block of ice and must unravel the mystery before the oncoming snow storm arrives at the base.

Based off a little comic book of the same name, Whiteout didn’t prove a hit with audiences here, and despite Beckinsale’s name being attached to it, it only proved semi-popular in the U.S and Russia. Funny that Russia likes a snow based mystery…

With absolutely no publicity and a trailer that promised nothing new, original or in particularly thrilling, the figures of a total gross of just over $12m shocking nobody, not even making back half of the $35m it cost to make.

Number 6 – Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li

This was a film that proved so unsuccessful that it hasn’t even been released in this country yet; The Legend of Chun Li was both universally panned by critics and shunned by audiences.

Based of the classic fighting game, it sees Chun Li, played by Kristin Kreuk (TV’s Smallville) learning the ways of martial arts in order to get back at the evil M. Bison, who killed her family when she was young girl.

Gathering a phenomenally bad set of reviews, with web site Rotton Tomatoes claiming that only 4% of all it’s reviews had anything positive to say.

Although still managing to rake in $12.7m from the legions of Street Fighter fans in America, Spain, Japan and Malaysia, the faintly ridiculous budget of $50m, more than both District 9 and Hurt Locker cost combined, might has well just been thrown down the drain by those behind the failed project.

We could go on with the flops, but that’s perhaps enough embarresment handed out for one day. It’s clear to see though that it’s not only bad films that flounder at the ticket office, even creative movies like Doctor Parnassus can get dragged into it as well.

In an era of multiplexes and the increadible strong 2010 line up, we're sure to get many more extreme examples of money monetary maladies.

FemaleFirst  Cameron Smith

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