Worst Film Week – Biggest Box Office Bombs: 2012 Edition

Every time we kick into Worst Film Week, we usually pull out the latest list of the biggest box office bombs of all time – thanks to Wikipedia. So, here in the 2012 edition of the current Top 20 Box Office Bombs of All Time.

Every time we kick into Worst Film Week, we usually pull out the latest list of the biggest box office bombs of all time – thanks to Wikipedia. So, here in the 2012 edition of the current Top 20 Box Office Bombs of All Time.

Of course, everyone’s favorite punching bag, Cutthroat Island remains the King of the Bombs, with adjusted losses of nearly $150m in today’s money, or some 84% of money spent was never recouped. Ouch. Recent entries may surprise – 2011’s Mars Need’s Moms makes the list in at 5, losing some $137m at the box office. Also from last year, Green Lantern, a film I felt was judged a little harshly by audiences, makes a landing in at 11. Poor Martin Campbell. You relaunch James Bond (twice) successfully and you still make a list like this. That’s gotta hurt.

Old faithful, Battlefield Earth, which remains high on the “all time shittiest” list of every critic alive today, has been shunted down a few places since we last looked at this list, but it’s nice to see it’s still here. And I don’t know about you, but I actually liked Treasure Planet – just not enough to keep it from being considered a financial disaster. ….Still, just think – Eddie Murphy will go to his grave knowing he was at least partially responsible for Pluto Nash – the highest percentage loser of the lot.

***

All Time Box Office Disasters

 

Film Year Total cost (production + marketing) (USD) Worldwide theater gross (USD) Net losses (USD) Net loss as a percentage of total cost Net losses inflation adjusted (2012 USD)
Cutthroat Island 1995 115,000,000[1] 18,517,322[2] 96,482,678 83.90 147,157,681
The Alamo 2004 145,000,000[3][1] 25,820,000[3] 119,180,000 82.19 146,644,313
The Adventures of Pluto Nash 2002 120,000,000[1] 7,103,973[1] 112,896,027 94.08 145,877,124
Sahara 2005 241,000,000[4][1] 119,269,486 121,730,514 50.51 144,857,030
Mars Needs Moms 2011 175,000,000[5][6] 38,992,758 136,007,242 77.72 140,513,991
The 13th Warrior 1999 160,000,000[1] 61,698,899 98,301,101 61.44 137,142,407
Town & Country 2001 105,000,000[7][1] 10,372,291 94,627,709 90.12 124,202,203
Speed Racer 2008 200,000,000[8][1] 93,945,766 106,054,254 53.03 114,479,584
Heaven’s Gate 1980 44,000,000*[1] 3,484,331 40,515,669 92.08 114,281,677
Stealth 2005 170,800,000[9] 76,932,872 93,867,128 54.96 111,700,123
Green Lantern 2011 325,000,000[10][6] 219,851,172 105,148,828 32.35 108,633,050
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within 2001 167,000,000[1] 85,131,830 81,868,170 49.02 107,454,858
The Fall of the Roman Empire 1964 19,000,000* 4,750,000[11] 14,250,000 75.00 106,783,262
Supernova 2000 90,000,000* 14,828,081 75,171,919 83.52 101,449,407
Battlefield Earth 2000 103,000,000 29,725,663 73,274,337 71.14 98,888,497
Inchon 1982 46,000,000*[12][1] 5,200,000[12] 40,800,000 88.70 98,257,655
Treasure Planet 2002 180,000,000[1] 109,578,115 70,421,885 39.12 90,994,717
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever 2002 90,000,000 19,924,033 70,075,967 77.86 90,547,743
The Postman 1997 80,000,000*[1] 17,626,234 62,373,766 77.97 90,302,318
Red Planet 2000 100,000,000[1] 33,463,969 66,536,031 66.54 89,794,713

 

Who wrote this?

Rodney Twelftree

“Some people say I like films. Those people are wrong. I *love* films.” – Me. I said this.

Rodney has been writing about films for well over two decades, appreciates a good wine, the love of his wife and kids, and the affection of his dog and cats. He has a fondness of cheesy 90’s action and classic Hollywood, hates that physical media is disappearing, and wishes somebody would make a high-budget series of The Neverending Story.

See author's posts

9 thoughts on “Worst Film Week – Biggest Box Office Bombs: 2012 Edition”

    1. I think you'll find a lot of the films budget was used to "enhance" Ryan Reynold's CGI genital region.

      Sorry, I've been over at The Bar None too much. xD

  3. Surprisingly, I enjoyed Sahara too, so I was at a loss to explain its inclusion here. I do rememeber that it was pretty highly hyped when it came out, but nobody went, although I was unaware of just how much they spent on making it. Still, it's a pretty impressive feat to climb in at number four considering the other Hall Of Fame-ers, as it were.

  4. Ah, the box office bomb. The classic case of "wrong place, wrong time", or "bad idea, even worse timing".

    Sahara at Number 4? Wow. I actually enjoyed that film. Wonder where the money went… possibly on suntan lotion for Mr McConaughey.

Comments are closed.