The creation of films is a risky business, especially from a financial point of view. Even experienced Hollywood analysts can not always predict what the audience will go to cinemas and what they ignore. Therefore, the studios often invest tremendous money in the production and promotion of films literally at random and as a result they get … Yes, they get nothing – well, if they are not ruined. Examples of this are darkness, but today we decided to recall the damn dozen relative to fresh dog losers. Each picture has a budget in the list from one hundred million dollars, and the fees are not just bad, but humiliating.
Wolf man
In the presence of a skilled team, a quality horror film can be shot for a penny; Then even modest fees more than pay for production. But on the remake of its own classics, the Universal studio decided not to save-the “wolf man” received a record for the genre of $ 150 million. The studio was invited to the main roles of Benisio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weewing, the script was written by the author of Burtonovskaya "Sleepy hollow" Andrew Kevin Walker, and the music is Danny Elfman. Add to this filming in nature, high-quality graphics, complex makeup … In general, the scope was a truly blockbuster.
However, already at a closed show, Universal President Ron Meyer realized that the studio really created a monster. Only not at all in the sense in which I planned. Meyer's fears were confirmed by critics who accused the horror of mortal sin: he was not a bit terrible and also terribly pulled. The audience did not show much interest in the old -fashioned horror story were of a werewolf: the picture collected less than 140 million, and in order to go out to zero, the project should cover the cost of production at least twice. Since then, no one risks allocating the horror so large budget.
Ben-Gur
Peplum "Ben-Gur" 1959 – one of the most beloved paintings in the West. The film won eleven (!) Oscars, while eleven times covered his budget and gained a cult status from the audience of all faiths. Taking a remake of such a work is not just a risk, but pure suicide. However, the bosses Paramount Pictures and MGM apparently considered that the young generation did not look at the classics, and therefore one can turn the near -biblical story into action "Gladiator" And "300 Spartans". Naturally, with the PG-13 rating-so as not to scare away the audience with children.
Timur Bekmambetov, who had already become confused in Hollywood thanks to a successful film comic book, was invited to commit this blasphemy "Particularly dangerous". He claims that at first he refused, but believed in the project after reading the script. It would be better to stand on his.
Of course, the remake was mixed with mud, and not only because of an encroachment on the holy. The film simply turned out to be weak, and the contrast with the great predecessor only exacerbated the impression. The result is 94 million in the global box office with a budget of 100 million. On this, the Hollywood career of Bekmambetova as a director ended.
Who knows ..
In 1997, the godfather "Simpsons" James L. Brooks wrote and put an enthusiastic comedy "It doesn't happen better" , Which brought Jack Nicholson the third Oscar, received a nomination for the main figurine and collected a good box office. Thirteen years later, the director tried to repeat success, but this time the result was completely opposite.
By the standards of the 1990s "who know …"-pure gold. The cute conversational drama with the star acting, which included Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Radd and all the same Jack Nicholson. But in the 2010s, Casta alone was no longer enough, and a hackneyed story about a girl who could not choose between two guys, somehow not beckoned to the cinemas. As a result, the tape hardly scrape 48 and a half million dollars with a budget of 120. Where there are so many? So it took fifty fees for only fees, and the production was very tight.
It is likely that "who knows …" is the last work of Jack Nicholson. Now the 82-year-old actor has rested and does not plan to return to the cinema. It's a shame that the final of an outstanding career turned out to be so lubricated.
The mystery of the Red Planet
Back at the beginning of the zero, Robert Zemeckis became interested in Motion Capture technology. And if his first experiment in this area, "Polar express" , Critics greeted favorably, then on "Beowulf" And "Christmas history" They looked with caution – painted blanks with human facial expressions looked painful painfully terrible. And the technology itself in cartoons was given much more attention than the plot or characters.
But in the "The Secret of the Red Planet", which Simon Wells put under the supervision of Zemeckis, all these problems have reached simply a tremendous scale. Someone in the studio decided that it was a good idea to take a good boy in the role of a little boy of a forty-year-old set Green. Just like drawing Marsianca Budera Jennifer Lopez. And in general, all the heroes turned out to be extremely repulsive, annoying and simply terrible – the effect of the “sinister valley” in the “secret of the Red Planet” works on the full.
It is not surprising that the audience did not want to look at the resulting circus of freaks, and the cartoon raised the miserable $ 39 million with a budget of 150.
Ghostly patrol
Secondaryness is not a crime, especially in Hollywood. In the same cinema sow Marvel, the formula of the first "Iron Man" used in several origins in a row. Ah, let's say, "Avatar" almost entirely copied plots "Demakhontas" And "Dancing with wolves" , which did not prevent him from earn two billion and the love of the audience. The main thing is to skillfully adapt someone else's material for yourself.
The creators of the Ghost Patrol did not cope with this task. Although formally the picture is based on the comic book of the same name (though not very popular), the ears of the first are climbing out of the place "People in black". Only now to reproduce the magic of the film Barry Sonnenfeld, director Robert Schwentke did not succeed – in the Ghost Patrol there are only irritation of Jeff Bridges and the confusion of Ryan Reynolds.
The studio probably understood that the tape could not withstand criticism, because the film did not even have a press order. However, this did not particularly help. Immediately after the premiere, the picture received a nasty sundress and earned 78 million with a budget of 130.
47 Ronins
Today, the career Keanu Reeves is experiencing a real Renaissance thanks to the trilogy John Wick , but five years ago she was at the very bottom. Largely because of the "47 Ronins". Initially, the project was declared as a hybrid of the "gladiator" and "Lord of the Rings" in Japanese entourage – sounds extremely ambitious and no less risky.
For the implementation of the idea, Universal allocated tremendous 175 million, but for some reason she entrusted such a colossus as the director of the Department of Karl Rinsha. If you hear this name for the first time, do not be surprised – after the "47 Ronins" he did not shoot anything else. However, the director could not even finish his first film: as soon as the studio realized that the project was going wrong, the rinsha was removed.
Due to large-scale crossing, the budget grew to 225 million, and the premiere had to transfer several times. In the end, the picture was released on Christmas 2013, in fact sending it to slaughter: fantasy lovers could still go to the second "Hobbit" , And those who bought on loud names attracted much more "Wolf with Wall Street" With DiCaprio. In the unequal struggle, "47 Ronins" managed to recapture only $ 151 million.
Monster tracks
"Alien" Stephen Spielberg came out thirty -seven years ago, but still breeds imitators. Sometimes they come out no less magnificent, such as, for example, "Steel giant" , Sometimes just worthy, like "Bumblebee" … and sometimes "monster tracks" are obtained.
It all started with the fact that Paramount Animation, not a particularly successful daughter of a large Paramount, wanted a full -fledged franchise as a type "Transformers" , only focused on an even more young audience. Chris Wadej, director called her to launch her "Ice Age" And "Robots" , And 125 million dollars were given to production – very solid money for the project according to the original scenario.
True, the original he is rather formally-in fact, the “monster traffic” turned out to be almost the most clicked children's film, which can be represented. Characters, situations, even jokes – everything is written off under a carbon copy from more successful colleagues in the genre. But this even calms down, because it would be very offensive if such a failure had comprehended a good picture. In the dead season, after the holidays, with the almost complete absence of competitors, the Monster Treaks scolded only $ 64.5 million.
Peng: Travel to Netlandia
The prequel “Peter Pan” back in 2013 fell into the so-called “black list”-an annual selection of the best uninhabited scenarios, which is the most influential Hollywood producers. Ready to argue, Warner Bros. More than once regretted that they decided to resurrect the project, and did not leave it where they found it.
Problems sprinkled on the film as soon as the cast was announced: the role of the Indian girl of the tiger lily took white as the snow of Rooney Maru. In 2015, such whitening was already unforgivable, but Pan is unlikely to be ruined by racism and cultural appropriation-it was more likely to be guilty "Martian" Ridley Scott, released a week earlier. Even the shaved capes of Jackman could not save the picture, and the “Journey to Netland” collected 128 million with a 150 millionth budget. So the remake of Peter Pan from Disney in the near future you can not wait.
Robin Hood
What made Lionsgate Studio take up the story of Robin Hood – a big riddle. If the film of Ridley Scott himself with Srydel Crowe did not manage to go out into the plus what chances the version with Teron Edrton had? Or the leadership really hoped that after success "Kingsman" The young actor is able to get anything?
There are no answers to these questions, but there are three nominations for the Golden Raspberry, monstrous 15% on tomatoes and 85 million according to the results of the world rental with a budget of 100 million. It is amazing that no one, except perhaps the studio, was particularly affected by such a failure: Edgerton starred in criticism "Rocketman" , And the director Otto Batkhirst returned to the series, which he, judging by "Sharp visors" , It turns out much better. He has already set the smelled "Dark Bart" , And now it takes off the film adaptation Halo For the ShowTime channel.
Chronicles of predatory cities
Steampanka is not globally lucky on the big screen. Films in this style come out once or twice in a decade to invariably fail: take for example "Wild, Wild West" or "League of outstanding gentlemen". But the "Chronicles of Predatory Cities" can dump the producers from the steampunk for fifteen years.
The film adaptation of Romanov Philip Riva director Peter Jackson conceived in 2009. But as soon as the “hobbit” fell on him, the director handed the project to his friend and student Christian Rivers, who worked on special effects in the “Lord of the Rings”. And the scriptwriter team migrated straight from the trilogy.
In general, professionals of the Premier League gathered on the site, but they did not succeed in creating the magic of Middle -earth again. “Chronicles of predatory cities” did not impress either critics, bloggers, nor spectators. Everyone noted that the film looks good, but terribly tired of the pile of events and characters. General discontent affected the training camp – catastrophic 83 million with a budget of 150. This is the most nasty result among all steampunk paintings. But at least the author of the books filming was to the liking.
The sword of King Arthur
Marvel triumph forced more than one studio to get into an adventure with the construction of his own cinematic. Universal tried to resurrect her old monsters twice ( "Dracula" 2014 and "Mummy" 2017), and Legendary tries to reduce Godzilla and King Kong on the screen. But the most distinguished by Warner Bros. For some reason, the studio’s leadership decided to create the Camelot Universe-with a solo one about each of the knights of the round table and crossovers about their joint adventures. And this despite the fact that the last film about King Arthur was released already in 2004 and did not become a hit.
Guy Richi was put to the head of the project, who had previously successfully resurrected another hero of Britain – Sherlock Holmes. But the script was sewn on a live thread from the developments of several abolished film adaptations of Arturian at once – do not disappear good. And this just left its mark: many critics noted that the plot of the "king of the king of Arthur" literally falls apart into parts.
Based on the results of the press scraps, the film received devastating reviews, which undermined the already low chances of a successful start. The picture consistently failed in America Big Wins Casino, Europe, with us, and then in China. To the final of the rental "King Arthur's Sword" came with a result below $ 150 million with a budget of 175. It was the second consecutive failure of Guy Richie – “Agents a.N.TO.L." Two years earlier, also performed. So if not for a remake "Aladdin" , The career of a talented Briton could slop down.
Lonely ranger
Who could have thought that the film was already forgotten "Mask Zorro" It will lay the way to one of the most grandiose failures in the history of Disney? It was on the wake of the popularity of this picture in 2002 that Columbia Pictures began to develop a film adaptation of an old series about a ranger in a mask and his assistant-indoor.
As often happens in the industry, the project moved to the status of a long-term construction and somewhere in the area of 2007 fell under the wing of Disney, which has pickled it for another six years. But when it came directly to production, the corporation of good did not trifle. The director was appointed director "Pirates of the Caribbean" The Verbinski Mountains, the producer – Jerry Bruckheimer, and the role of Indian Tonto was assumed by the popular Johnny Depp.
The scale of production was just grandiose. For filming, a whole mining town was rebuilt, and several kilometers of the railway were laid next to it, along which the real steam locomotives collected from scratch. With all this splendor, the budget resulted in colossal 215 million, and about 150 more took marketing. At such costs, the Lonely Ranger needed to collect at least 650 million to just go to zero. He collected 260. It is unlikely that today someone, except for Disney media imperia, is able to survive such a fiasco.
John Carter
The most grandiose long -term and the most terrible failure is not only over the past decade, but also in the history of world cinema. Film “Princess of Mars” by Edgar Raise Burrose gathered during the author’s life-in the 1930s. Moreover, initially the tape was supposed to be one of the first full -length cartoons.
But, alas, it did not work out. For eighty years, the project passed through tens of hands and transformed beyond recognition. At different times, George Lucas, Robert Rodriguez, and John Favro looked closely at him. But in the end, “John Carter from Mars” (as the film was called in the 2000s) turned out to be the same Disney who entrusted it to the director "In search of Nemo" Andrew Stanton. Apparently, the corporation planned to make an Avatar out of the picture, and therefore allocated $ 250 million to the project – even Cameron had less.
But as soon as the film was completed, there was a problem – no one in the company knew how to promote it. The memories of the failure of the “Secrets of the Red Planet” (in the original “Mars Needs Moms”) were still fresh, and therefore the word “Mars” from the name decided to remove. Apparently, the company considered that dynamic trailers and bright posters would attract the audience. Did not work. According to the rental results, the picture raised $ 284 million. According to analysts, Disney lost 136 million, which makes John Carter the most unprofitable film in history.
It is not surprising that two months after the premiere, President of Rich Ross retired, saying that he no longer trusts his professional instinct.
2019 has already brought us worthy candidates to this list – at least "Gemini" And recent Terminator will cost their creators very expensive. But their rental has not yet been completed, and therefore the damn dozen looks that way. Let's see what box office bombs will be remembered 2020s.