As you may have heard, Ben-Hur has crashed and burned in the worst possible way. I mean who would ever have thought that having the guy who made Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter remake one of the most Oscar-decorated movies of all time and which also starred one of the most beloved actors off all time was a bad idea? Well, lots of people actually. But not MGM and Paramount though, who reportedly may now be looking at a $100 million loss on the film for their bad judgement. Ouch.
That’s a huge chunk of change to lose, and unless the Biblical tale gets some divine intervention on the international box office as well as the home release front, it is probably going to go down as one of the biggest flops of the year, if not the biggest. Of course, it has stiff (or should that be flaccid?) competition though, as 2016 has actually not been a good year for blockbusters. Sure, some movies like Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War and Jungle Book (all Disney movies, by the way) made money hand over fist, and there were even others, like Suicide Squad, who everybody expected to tank but which just kept on bringing in the dough.
But there were also several others where no amount of catchy trailers, press campaigns, flashy posters, etc. could rescue them from faceplanting at the 2016 box office. Here are the 10 biggest flops of the year thus far.
[Just a few notes: I’m looking at worldwide gross here, not just domestic earnings as most US publications erroneously love to do. Also, I’ve excluded any movies that had limited theatrical runs or are still be released in international markets. Finally, working out a movie’s actual price tag is a bit of a guessing game as studios almost never give out the amounts they spend on a movie’s marketing. However the unofficial rule of thumb is to double the production budget to get the actual total cost of the movies, which means that some of these below really, really bombed hard. ]- 10. The Young Messiah
Production budget: $18 million
Estimated total cost: $36 million
Box office: $7.2 million
- 09. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Production budget: $20 million
Estimated total cost: $40 million
Box office: $9.4 million
- 08. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Production budget: $28 million
Estimated total cost: $56 million
Box office: $16.3 million
- 07. Zoolander 2
Production budget: $50 million
Estimated total cost: $100 million
Box office: $55.1 million
- 06. The Brothers Grimsby
Production budget: $35 million
Estimated total cost: $70 million
Box office: $25.1 million
- 05. Jane Got a Gun
Production budget: $25 million
Estimated total cost: $50 million
Box office: $3 million
- 04. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Production budget: $35 million
Estimated total cost: $70 million
Box office: $23 million
- 03. A Hologram For the King
Production budget: $30 million
Estimated total cost: $60 million
Box office: $7.7 million
- 02. The Finest Hours
Production budget: $80 million
Estimated total cost: $160 million
Box office: $52 million
- 01. Gods of Egypt
Production budget: $140 million
Estimated total cost: $280 million
Box office: $145 million
Last Updated: September 1, 2016
RinceThis
September 1, 2016 at 13:50
Ben Nur. I could have told you a year ago it was a bit, stupid idea.
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 1, 2016 at 14:49
Oh please. No one predicted Sandals & Chariots: Jerusalem Drift would tank. ;P
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 1, 2016 at 14:49
I haven’t watched any of those. Still want to watch PPZ sometime though, it looked like silly fun.