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Movies & TV

08th Jul 2015

Putting the ‘bust’ in Blockbuster: 7 of the biggest flops in movie history

These movies haemorrhaged money

JOE

It’s summer and we all know what that means, don’t we?

The answer isn’t ‘ridiculous farmer tans’ and young lads beside the canal whipping off their shirts.

Well that is that answer, but it’s not the answer we were looking for.

Summer is the time for blockbusters and everybody loves blockbusters, right?

Wrong. These 7 fell to the floor like they had just been in a fight with Andy Lee.

The 13th Warrior

Estimated Loss: $100 million

So basically, this timid guy falls in love with a woman who is married to a very powerful man. The powerful man exiles the guy. The guy meets Vikings and isn’t timid any more… yeah, we were even bored writing that.

It’s easy to see why this one failed, even the trailer is dull.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nkTZKiOLzI

John Carter

Estimated Loss: $108.6 million 

This actually wasn’t that bad of a film, it’s just that audiences weren’t really excited about a movie with futuristic aliens and a guy who can jump really high.

It just didn’t float people’s boat.

The Lone Ranger

Estimated loss: Up to $190 million 

Johnny Depp reminds me of my aunt’s broken stove… because of his limited range. (I’m standing by that joke).

The past 20 years have seen him play quirky lad after quirky lad. Movie fans just got sick of it, so it’s no surprise this bombed.

Also, big budget westerns rarely work (see The Alamo and Jonah Hex for further examples).

47 Ronin

Estimated Loss: $149.5 million 

We like Keanu Reeves, so we don’t want to be too harsh, but this was awful. It had little or no direction and never really got going.

Cutthroat Island

Estimated loss: $137.3 million (adjusted for inflation)

Apparently eight A-listers turned down the main role after reading the script… we can see why. Some movies are unlucky and some are just awful.

This one was the latter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvzK7dz9qMI

Sahara

Estimated loss: $121.2 million (adjusted for inflation)

Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong.

It’s not that bad of a movie, but it is an incredibly unlucky one. Writers left, producers paid too much for locations and it all just kind of fell to crap.

You can now watch the full thing on Youtube… which is sad really.

The Postman

Estimated loss: $71.2 million (adjusted for inflation)

Many people think Waterworld was Kevin Costner’s big movie bust, but that film did eventually break even. The Postman on the other hand…

Post-apocalyptic Western’s are one of those things that sound a lot better than they actually are.

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