Box office bomb
Encyclopedia
The phrase box office bomb (also referred to as a flop) refers to a film
for which the production and marketing
costs greatly exceeded the revenue
regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting
when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.
A film's financial success is often measured by its gross revenue. Studios expect that a film's "domestic" box office gross revenue
, which the American film industry
defines as the United States
and Canada
, and other film industries define as their home country, will exceed production costs. This does not make the film profitable - typically the exhibiting theater keeps 45% of the gross, with the remainder paid to the studio as the rental fee.
, and home video
releases often mean some films that are considered flops in North America eventually make a profit for their studios. Waterworld
is an example of a movie that does not appear on lists of box office bombs, despite enormous budget overruns, because of a significant gross. Head
, a 1968 film
featuring The Monkees
was a flop that became profitable for its studio
years later when its cult film
status led to its sale to Rhino Entertainment
and its re-release in various video formats. The popularity and profitability of DVD
sales has added further opportunities for films to recoup losses and eventually become profitable, leading to doubts over the significance of US domestic grosses as a predictor of a film's overall success.
The Golden Compass, based on the first novel
in Philip Pullman
's His Dark Materials
series, is considered a flop in North America due to its $180 million budget coupled with New Line Cinema's decision to sell all of the international distribution rights, but the unique circumstances of its international success have made the film's overall success a point of contention; it was the first film ever to make more than $300 million internationally but less than $100 million in the United States. New Line studio co-head Michael Lynne
(who has since resigned) said "The jury is still very much out on the movie..."
. Typically, the most notorious flops are summer blockbusters, which often incur enormous production costs in a highly competitive market. The 2004 film Catwoman
was released in July of that year to poor reviews, and went on to gross $40,202,379 domestically against a budget of $100,000,000. Advertising costs are not included in a movie's production costs, and can make a bomb even more harmful to the studio.
or equivalent financial ruin, as happened with RKO
(The Conqueror
), United Artists
(Heaven's Gate
), Carolco Pictures
(Cutthroat Island
, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest box office flop of all time), Fox Animation Studios
(Titan A.E.
), The Ladd Company
(Twice Upon a Time and The Right Stuff), Fleischer Studios
(Mr. Bug Goes to Town), and ITC Entertainment
(Raise the Titanic
). The Golden Compass was seen as a significant factor in influencing Warner Bros.
' decision to take direct control of New Line Cinema
.
When a failed attempt to revive a genre is particularly costly, all studios baulk at producing similar films, as was the case with Gold Circle Films
' horror-comedy Slither, which made less than a quarter of its $29.5 million budget. Some failures have changed a company's agenda, such as Walt Disney Pictures
' decision to make only CG animation, which stemmed from several disappointments, including Atlantis: The Lost Empire
, and the disaster of Treasure Planet
. However, this decision was reversed a few years later. Similarly, Warner Bros. Animation
which went nearly bankrupt in December 2003 due to the disasters of Cats Don't Dance
, Quest for Camelot
, Osmosis Jones
and Looney Tunes: Back in Action
, but it continued to operate after reorganizing from theatrical films to television shows, however recently three Looney Tunes cartoons have been released theatrically.
In 2001, Square Pictures released its first film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
, an animated motion picture inspired by the world-famous Final Fantasy
series of video games. However, despite relatively positive reviews from critics, it lost over $45 million. In 2011, Mars Needs Moms was released to poor reviews and disastrous box-office returns; as of its second week of release, the film was on track to lose $100 million of its $150 million budget, and its failure led to the closing of ImageMovers Digital
.
to spread rapidly.
20th Century Fox
and Warner Bros.
released many animated films but did little or no promotion for them. As a result of the failures from the films produced by both studios feature animation departments, the WBFA studio shut down after producing Looney Tunes: Back in Action
while Fox did so after Titan A.E. Warner's later animated releases, such as The Polar Express
and Happy Feet
, along with Fox's Ice Age series
and The Simpsons Movie
fared better. The earlier films, however, garnered later praise and cult followings, such as Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
and The Iron Giant
. Another example of a wide release production failing to see any significant promotion was the animated film Delgo
, which despite opening on over 2000 screens, only grossed $694,782 (against a $40 million budget). In certain cases the lack of promotion is due to business circumstances; Cats Don't Dance
, a 1997 animated film, made barely a tenth of its budget largely because its production company, Turner Entertainment, was in the middle of a business merger with Time Warner
.
The 2006 Mike Judge
comedy Idiocracy
had its release date changed repeatedly and eventually opened in only 125 theaters in 7 cities, with no trailers, premieres, TV commercials or press kits, and the film was not screened for critics. This led to speculation that 20th Century Fox was not promoting the film due to its subject matter and its mocking of numerous corporations, including Fox and Fox News Channel
themselves; the film later gained a cult following after its DVD release.
and John Carpenter's The Thing were released in theaters at the same time as mega-blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
. Both films performed very poorly in their theatrical runs as a result, though they became financially successful in later years with the advent of home video release. Further, both films are listed by many critics as among the best science fiction genre films ever made.
. Due to production delays, the film was not released until late 1916, by which time the widespread anti-war sentiment it reflected had started to shift in favor of U.S. entry into World War I
. While the film would later be considered groundbreaking, its failure drove D. W. Griffith
's production company, Triangle Studio, out of business.
General economic malaise may cause less disposable income
for potential filmgoers, resulting in fewer ticket sales. Also, many movies that opened during times of national crisis such as the attack on Pearl Harbor
, the September 11 attacks
and events during the Iraq War, may underperform at the box office. However, movies about these particular events have been known to be box office successes.
cost over $241 million to make, due in part to exorbitant production costs. It took in $122 million, usually enough to be successful. However, in this case, this accounted for barely over half of its expenses.
made just $30 at the domestic box office. The film, with a budget of $1.2 million and starring Tom Sizemore
and Katherine Heigl
, may owe its tiny revenue to its limited box office release—just six days in a single theater in Dallas, Texas
, for the purpose of meeting SAG
requirements, rather than to attract viewers. According to director Leo Grillo, it sold six tickets, two of which were to cast members.
Previously, a British film (Offending Angels
) became notorious because it took £89 or £79 at the box office. It had a £70,000 budget but was panned by critics including the BBC
, who called it a "truly awful pile of garbage", and Total Film
, who called it "Irredeemable".
In 2011, the film The Worst Movie Ever!
opened to just $11 at the domestic box office, playing in a single theater.
(1999) took in about C$1,000 at the box office due to an extremely limited release in the year 2001. The movie was exhibited in only one theater in Toronto for exactly one week. Costing C$2 million, Law won three Genie Award
nominations, including nods to its stars Sarah Polley
and Brendan Fletcher
(Fletcher won). The film was publicly financed due to Canadian legislation mandating the production of Canadian-content
films to compete with product imported from the United States, which dominates the Canadian box office. Despite the praise and the participation of the Oscar-nominated Polley, a major movie star in Canada, the film was a flop at the box office, and was not released on DVD.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
for which the production and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
costs greatly exceeded the revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting
Hollywood accounting
Hollywood accounting refers to the opaque accounting methods used by the film, video and television industry to budget and record profits for film projects...
when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.
A film's financial success is often measured by its gross revenue. Studios expect that a film's "domestic" box office gross revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
, which the American film industry
Film industry
The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
defines as the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and other film industries define as their home country, will exceed production costs. This does not make the film profitable - typically the exhibiting theater keeps 45% of the gross, with the remainder paid to the studio as the rental fee.
Possible success of flops
If a studio recoups the production and marketing costs of a film, then it can be considered a success. Otherwise, if it does not do so by a significant margin, it is referred to as a box office bomb, even though international distribution, sales to television syndicationTelevision syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
, and home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
releases often mean some films that are considered flops in North America eventually make a profit for their studios. Waterworld
Waterworld
Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The film was directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It is based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it. It was distributed by Universal Pictures...
is an example of a movie that does not appear on lists of box office bombs, despite enormous budget overruns, because of a significant gross. Head
Head (film)
Head is a 1968 psychedelic comedy-adventure major motion picture, starring TV group The Monkees , and distributed by Columbia Pictures...
, a 1968 film
1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...
featuring The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
was a flop that became profitable for its studio
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
years later when its cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
status led to its sale to Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...
and its re-release in various video formats. The popularity and profitability of DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
sales has added further opportunities for films to recoup losses and eventually become profitable, leading to doubts over the significance of US domestic grosses as a predictor of a film's overall success.
The Golden Compass, based on the first novel
Northern Lights (novel)
Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass in North America, is the first novel in English novelist Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy...
in Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer from Norwich. He is the best-selling author of several books, most notably his trilogy of fantasy novels, His Dark Materials, and his fictionalised biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ...
's His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
series, is considered a flop in North America due to its $180 million budget coupled with New Line Cinema's decision to sell all of the international distribution rights, but the unique circumstances of its international success have made the film's overall success a point of contention; it was the first film ever to make more than $300 million internationally but less than $100 million in the United States. New Line studio co-head Michael Lynne
Michael Lynne
Michael Lynne is an American film executive.-Biography:With Robert Shaye, Lynne co-founded New Line Cinema. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College and holds a JD from Columbia University. In June 2008, Shaye and Lynne announced the formation of Unique Features, a new production company...
(who has since resigned) said "The jury is still very much out on the movie..."
Different standards of success
Different genres of film are subject to different standards of success. Action movies typically have higher production costs and promotion budgets than love storiesRomance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
. Typically, the most notorious flops are summer blockbusters, which often incur enormous production costs in a highly competitive market. The 2004 film Catwoman
Catwoman (film)
Catwoman is a 2004 American superhero film and quasi-spinoff of the Batman film series directed by Pitof and released by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures on July 23, 2004....
was released in July of that year to poor reviews, and went on to gross $40,202,379 domestically against a budget of $100,000,000. Advertising costs are not included in a movie's production costs, and can make a bomb even more harmful to the studio.
Studios pushed into financial ruin
In extreme cases, a single film's poor performance can push a studio into bankruptcyBankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
or equivalent financial ruin, as happened with RKO
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
(The Conqueror
The Conqueror (film)
The Conqueror is a 1956 CinemaScope epic film produced by Howard Hughes and starring John Wayne as the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. Other performers included Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, and Pedro Armendáriz. Directed by actor/director Dick Powell, the film was principally shot near St...
), United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
(Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate (film)
Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
), Carolco Pictures
Carolco Pictures
Carolco Pictures, Inc., Carolco International N.V., or Anabasis Investments was an American independent film production company that, within a decade, went from producing such blockbuster successes as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the first three movies of the Rambo series to being bankrupted by...
(Cutthroat Island
Cutthroat Island
Cutthroat Island is a 1995 action adventure film directed by Renny Harlin. The film stars Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, and Frank Langella. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a major box office bomb: listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest box office flop of...
, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest box office flop of all time), Fox Animation Studios
Fox Animation Studios
Fox Animation Studios is an American animation production company located in Phoenix, Arizona and is a division of 20th Century Fox. After the bankruptcy of Sullivan Bluth Studios in Ireland in 1994, animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman returned to the United States and were hired by 20th Century...
(Titan A.E.
Titan A.E.
Titan A.E. is an American animated post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman released in 2000. The title refers to the spacecraft that is central to the plot, with A.E. meaning "After Earth."...
), The Ladd Company
The Ladd Company
The Ladd Company is a film production and distribution company founded by Alan Ladd, Jr. in 1979, after ending his job as President of 20th Century Fox. Under Warner Bros...
(Twice Upon a Time and The Right Stuff), Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
(Mr. Bug Goes to Town), and ITC Entertainment
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...
(Raise the Titanic
Raise The Titanic (film)
Raise the Titanic is a 1980 American big budget adventure film by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment, directed by Jerry Jameson and written by Eric Hughes and Adam Kennedy . The film stars Jason Robards, Richard Jordan, David Selby, Anne Archer, and Alec Guinness. The film's tagline was "Once they said...
). The Golden Compass was seen as a significant factor in influencing Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
' decision to take direct control of New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
.
When a failed attempt to revive a genre is particularly costly, all studios baulk at producing similar films, as was the case with Gold Circle Films
Gold Circle Films
Gold Circle Films is an American independent film production company, mainly focusing on horror and romance films, founded in 2000. Titles released by Gold Circle include White Noise, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Wedding Date, and The Man From Elysian Fields.-Films:*Double Whammy *The Man From...
' horror-comedy Slither, which made less than a quarter of its $29.5 million budget. Some failures have changed a company's agenda, such as Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
' decision to make only CG animation, which stemmed from several disappointments, including Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, it is the first science fiction film in the Disney animated features canon and the 41st overall. The film...
, and the disaster of Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet is a 2002 animated science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 27, 2002...
. However, this decision was reversed a few years later. Similarly, Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation is the animation division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner. The studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. The studio is the successor to Warner Bros...
which went nearly bankrupt in December 2003 due to the disasters of Cats Don't Dance
Cats Don't Dance
Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 animated musical comedy film, notable as the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Entertainment's feature animation unit . The film was distributed by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment...
, Quest for Camelot
Quest for Camelot
Quest for Camelot is a 1998 animated feature film from Warner Bros. Animation, based on the novel The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman, starring the voices of Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, Bronson Pinchot, Jaleel White, Gabriel Byrne,...
, Osmosis Jones
Osmosis Jones
Osmosis Jones is a 2001 live-action/animated comedy film directed by Tom Sito and Piet Kroon for the animated segments and the Farrelly brothers for the live-action segments...
and Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American live action/animated adventure comedy film directed by Joe Dante and starring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, and Steve Martin. The film is essentially a feature-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical...
, but it continued to operate after reorganizing from theatrical films to television shows, however recently three Looney Tunes cartoons have been released theatrically.
In 2001, Square Pictures released its first film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is a 2001 Japanese-American computer animated science fiction film directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series of role-playing video games. It was the first photorealistic computer animated feature film and also holds the record for the most...
, an animated motion picture inspired by the world-famous Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
series of video games. However, despite relatively positive reviews from critics, it lost over $45 million. In 2011, Mars Needs Moms was released to poor reviews and disastrous box-office returns; as of its second week of release, the film was on track to lose $100 million of its $150 million budget, and its failure led to the closing of ImageMovers Digital
ImageMovers Digital
ImageMovers Digital is a digital film studio run by director Robert Zemeckis and originally owned by The Walt Disney Company, later Universal Studios...
.
Negative word of mouth
Since the 1980s, cinemas began to drop movies that suffered a poor opening weekend. This made the performance of a film on its opening weekend much more crucial to its perception. With the growth of the Internet during the 1990s, chat rooms and websites enable negative word of mouthWord of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
to spread rapidly.
Lack of promotion
Promotion is one of the factors in a film's success; however studios sometimes fail to promote certain films. When a studio has the ability to promote a film and does not, it may be due to an earlier management team's having left the studio, leaving a new management team disinterested in the project. January is an infamous "dump" month, when films expected to bomb get premiered without fanfare. (January can also be a "counter-programming" month like the months of October and November, though, with lighter films released to compete with more serious films that are up for awards.)20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
released many animated films but did little or no promotion for them. As a result of the failures from the films produced by both studios feature animation departments, the WBFA studio shut down after producing Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American live action/animated adventure comedy film directed by Joe Dante and starring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, and Steve Martin. The film is essentially a feature-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical...
while Fox did so after Titan A.E. Warner's later animated releases, such as The Polar Express
The Polar Express (film)
The Polar Express is a 2004 motion capture computer-animated film based on the children's book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg. Written, produced, and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the human characters in the film were animated using live action performance capture technique, with the...
and Happy Feet
Happy Feet
Happy Feet is a 2006 American-Australian computer-animated family film with music, directed and co-written by George Miller. It was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures and Kingdom Feature Productions and was released...
, along with Fox's Ice Age series
Ice Age (film series)
Ice Age is a series of animated films produced by Blue Sky Studios, a division of 20th Century Fox, and featuring the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Chris Wedge. Three films have been released in the series thus far, Ice Age in 2002, Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, and Ice...
and The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
fared better. The earlier films, however, garnered later praise and cult followings, such as Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a 1993 animated superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, and is a spin-off of the Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series...
and The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated film produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Brad Bird directed the film, which stars a voice cast of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald and John Mahoney...
. Another example of a wide release production failing to see any significant promotion was the animated film Delgo
Delgo (film)
Delgo is a 2008 computer-animated fantasy film. The film was produced by Fathom Studios, a division of Macquarium Intelligent Communications, which began development of the project in 1999....
, which despite opening on over 2000 screens, only grossed $694,782 (against a $40 million budget). In certain cases the lack of promotion is due to business circumstances; Cats Don't Dance
Cats Don't Dance
Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 animated musical comedy film, notable as the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Entertainment's feature animation unit . The film was distributed by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment...
, a 1997 animated film, made barely a tenth of its budget largely because its production company, Turner Entertainment, was in the middle of a business merger with Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
.
The 2006 Mike Judge
Mike Judge
Michael Craig Judge is an American animator, film director, writer and voice actor, best known as the creator and star of the animated television series Beavis and Butt-head , King of the Hill , and The Goode Family .He also wrote, directed and in some instances produced the films Beavis and...
comedy Idiocracy
Idiocracy
Idiocracy is a 2006 American film, a satirical science fiction comedy, directed by Mike Judge and starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews....
had its release date changed repeatedly and eventually opened in only 125 theaters in 7 cities, with no trailers, premieres, TV commercials or press kits, and the film was not screened for critics. This led to speculation that 20th Century Fox was not promoting the film due to its subject matter and its mocking of numerous corporations, including Fox and Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
themselves; the film later gained a cult following after its DVD release.
Competition
Movies may attract low ticket sales if they are released against heavy competition from other movies also in theaters at the same time. For example, both Blade RunnerBlade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
and John Carpenter's The Thing were released in theaters at the same time as mega-blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
. Both films performed very poorly in their theatrical runs as a result, though they became financially successful in later years with the advent of home video release. Further, both films are listed by many critics as among the best science fiction genre films ever made.
External circumstances
While it is rare, films which might have otherwise fared well may fail due to issues unrelated to the film itself, with the timing of the film's release being perhaps the most common. This was one of several reasons for the commercial failure of one of Hollywood's first flops, IntoleranceIntolerance (film)
Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...
. Due to production delays, the film was not released until late 1916, by which time the widespread anti-war sentiment it reflected had started to shift in favor of U.S. entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. While the film would later be considered groundbreaking, its failure drove D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
's production company, Triangle Studio, out of business.
General economic malaise may cause less disposable income
Disposable income
Disposable income is total personal income minus personal current taxes. In national accounts definitions, personal income, minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income...
for potential filmgoers, resulting in fewer ticket sales. Also, many movies that opened during times of national crisis such as the attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, the September 11 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
and events during the Iraq War, may underperform at the box office. However, movies about these particular events have been known to be box office successes.
High production costs
Sometimes, a film may do reasonably well at the box office, but still be considered a failure due to a large budget. For example, SaharaSahara (2005 film)
Sahara is a 2005 action-comedy adventure film directed by Breck Eisner and based on the best-selling book of the same name by Clive Cussler...
cost over $241 million to make, due in part to exorbitant production costs. It took in $122 million, usually enough to be successful. However, in this case, this accounted for barely over half of its expenses.
Independent films
The 2006 independent movie Zyzzyx RoadZyzzyx Road
Zyzzyx Road is a 2006 independent thriller film. It stars Leo Grillo, Katherine Heigl, and Tom Sizemore. The screenplay was written by John Penney, who also directed the film. The film has gained a degree of notoriety due to its extremely low U.S. box office gross .-Plot:Grant is an accountant...
made just $30 at the domestic box office. The film, with a budget of $1.2 million and starring Tom Sizemore
Tom Sizemore
Thomas Edward "Tom" Sizemore, Jr. is an American film and television actor and producer. He is known for his roles in films such as Saving Private Ryan, Strange Days, Pearl Harbor, Heat and Black Hawk Down....
and Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
, may owe its tiny revenue to its limited box office release—just six days in a single theater in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, for the purpose of meeting SAG
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
requirements, rather than to attract viewers. According to director Leo Grillo, it sold six tickets, two of which were to cast members.
Previously, a British film (Offending Angels
Offending Angels
Offending Angels is a 2002 British romantic comedy film directed by Andrew Rajan.-Plot:Sam and Baggy are two non-committal slackers who wile their time away with nonsensical affairs while dreaming of greater things in life. Paris and Zeke are two guardian angels who confront them with plans for...
) became notorious because it took £89 or £79 at the box office. It had a £70,000 budget but was panned by critics including the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, who called it a "truly awful pile of garbage", and Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
, who called it "Irredeemable".
In 2011, the film The Worst Movie Ever!
The Worst Movie Ever!
The Worst Movie Ever! is a 2011 action comedy musical film, written, produced, and directed by Glenn Berggoetz.-Filmmaker background:Berggoetz has previous written and directed several low budget films, including Guernica Still Burning , Bad Movies, Good Showers, and Civil Engineers , To Die Is...
opened to just $11 at the domestic box office, playing in a single theater.
Publicly financed films
The critically acclaimed Canadian film The Law of EnclosuresThe Law of Enclosures (film)
The Law of Enclosures is a Canadian drama film, released in 1999. The film was written and directed by John Greyson, and based on the novel The Law of Enclosures by Dale Peck....
(1999) took in about C$1,000 at the box office due to an extremely limited release in the year 2001. The movie was exhibited in only one theater in Toronto for exactly one week. Costing C$2 million, Law won three Genie Award
Genie Award
Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian cinema by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. From 1949-1979, the awards were named the Canadian Film Awards...
nominations, including nods to its stars Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...
and Brendan Fletcher
Brendan Fletcher
Brendan Fletcher is a Canadian actor.-Life and career:Fletcher was born in Comox Valley, British Columbia and went to junior high school at Lake Trail in Courtenay, British Columbia....
(Fletcher won). The film was publicly financed due to Canadian legislation mandating the production of Canadian-content
Canadian content
Canadian content refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requirements that radio and television broadcasters must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from...
films to compete with product imported from the United States, which dominates the Canadian box office. Despite the praise and the participation of the Oscar-nominated Polley, a major movie star in Canada, the film was a flop at the box office, and was not released on DVD.
See also
- List of biggest box office bombs
- List of films considered the worst
- Lists of box office number-one films
- List of highest-grossing films
External links
- The Numbers - Movie Budgets, movie budgets page from The Numbers. Contains charts of biggest money-making and money-losing movies.
- Movies that were box office bombs - Boston.com
- 7 Film Failures That Killed Studios
- Movie Disasters: Historic Box Office Bombs
- GetBack.com: Biggest Film Flops and Fiascoes
- Biggest Box-Office Bombs of All Time - Inside Movies Blog
- Top 10 movie flops of the decade (2000-2009)
- Movie History - Why Sahara and The Alamo Qualify as Two of Cinema's Seven Biggest Bombs