15 Big Box-Office Failures In Recent Movie History
Sydney Sweeney’s boxing movie went down harder Sonny Liston after being clocked by Cassius Clay. After a bad opening weekend earning just $1.3 million, Christy made just $108,487 in its second weekend. That’s a drop of 91.7 percent, a new record in box office history.
Still, Christy was only made on a $15 million budget, which means, in the end, it’ll only be a modest loss compared to these recent box office turkeys. We've adjusted for inflation.
‘Titan A.E.’ (2000)
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Titan A.E. was a groundbreaking film that combined traditional 2-D animation with 3-D animation, but the spectacle that it provided wasn’t enough to make up for a story that many found lacking. The thinly-plotted sci-fi story about post-Earth humanity failed to be as innovative as its visuals, which is why it bombed big time, losing $100 million, which, if you adjust that for inflation, comes up to $183 million in 2025 dollars.
‘Turning Red’ (2022)
Turning Red isn’t a bad movie, but it’s a good example of Disney spending way too much money on a movie that, in the end, had limited appeal. The coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who transforms into a red panda and loves boy bands probably meant Disney executives turned red at its $186 million loss.
‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ (2017)
I’m gonna say it, King Arthur is boring. Nobody cares about his dumb sword stuck in some rock or what shape his tables were. It’s all boring and that’s why it lost $197 million.
‘Tomorrowland’ (2015)
Crowds might be healthy in the Tomorrowland section of Disney World, but they weren’t in the theaters for Disney’s 2015 movie of the same name. The movie Tomorrowland, which was about two science nerds going to another dimension, lost $150 million (or $199 million in 2025 dollars).
‘Pan’ (2015)
Sadly, people don’t really want to see Hugh Jackman play anyone but Wolverine, and Warner Brothers found out the hard way when Pan, which featured Jackman as Blackbeard the pirate, lost $150 million (or $199 million today).
‘Mars Needs Moms’ (2011)
Turns out that Mars didn’t need moms and that nobody needed Mars Needs Moms, which is why this sci-fi family movie lost $144 million back in 2011, which amounts to $201 million today.
‘Battleship’ (2012)
Despite the fact that Clue is a two-way classic, board games don’t really make for good movies, and Battleship is proof of that. The movie lost $150 million upon release, or $205 million in 2025, which basically means that people would rather be the guy on the operating table in Operation than sit in the theater to watch Battleship.
‘Strange World’ (2022)
Disney’s recent bomb Strange World fell victim, in part, due to America’s current culture wars. The movie featured Disney’s first openly gay character, which caused some to rally against it. Unfortunately, the movie wasn’t helped by the fact that pretty much everyone who saw the movie agreed that, overall, Strange World was a bit underbaked in terms of character, story and spectacle. In the end, it lost $212 million.
‘Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas’ (2003)
If Sinbad: Legends of the Seven Seas featured the beloved comedian Sinbad, I would have been there opening night and I’m sure many other 1990s kids would have, too. Unfortunately, Sinbad: Legends of the Seven Seas is about the mythic sailor, not the star of Houseguest, which I assume is the reason it lost $125 million at the box office (which would be $214 million today).
‘Cutthroat Island’ (1995)
Cutthroat Island was so not cutthroat on its opening weekend that even Mel Brooks’ worst movie performed better. Dracula, Dead and Loving It came out the same day as Cutthroat Island, and made $2.7 million versus Cutthroat’s $2.3 million. In the end, Cutthroat Island lost $105 million, translating to $217 million today — dead, and certainly not loving it.
‘Mortal Engines’ (2018)
According to Wikipedia, “Mortal Engines is a 2018 post-apocalyptic steampunk film,” which, I’ll stop you right there. Nothing is more annoying to non-steampunk people than the word “steampunk.” It’s a word we don’t even like to say, much less see a two-hour movie about, which is why Mortal Engines — with a $219 million loss — is the little engine that just couldn’t.
‘The 13th Warrior’ (1999)
The unlucky 1999 box office bomb The 13th Warrior was based on a Michael Crichton book, but not a good Crichton book like Jurassic Park or The Andromeda Strain. It was based on Eaters of the Dead, which sounds cool until you find out Eaters of the Dead is based on the ancient tale of Beowulf. So, The 13th Warrior is a boring movie based on a boring book based upon a more boring ancient book. No wonder it lost $129 million (or $243 million in 2025).
‘The Marvels’ (2023)
I kind of liked The Marvels, but I understand that I’m in the minority here, as it lost $245 million. While I think The Marvels was kind of a middle-of-the-road Marvel film, it did have one of the most surprising post-credits scenes in Marvel’s history featuring Kelsey Grammer’s Beast from the X-Men film. As an X-Men fan and Frasier fan, there’s just no way for me not to get excited about that.
‘The Lone Ranger’ (2013)
With a non-Native American (Johnny Depp) playing Tonto and an alleged cannibal (Armie Hammer) in the lead, it’s no wonder The Lone Ranger lost $190 million, or $256 million today. While I respect the fact that, as a character, the Lone Ranger helped pave the way for characters like Batman, there’s just no getting over the fact that he’s a dumb cowboy in a goofy-looking Halloween mask — there’s just no way to make that cool in the 21st century.
‘John Carter’ (2012)
It’s kind of weird that a movie that made $284 million worldwide could be a box office bomb, but that’s just evidence of how much money was spent on this sci-fi trash fire. The Mars-set epic John Carter lost about $200 million back in 2012, which comes to $274 million today. While I’m sure there was plenty wrong with the movie, the biggest problem had to be that it had the most boring movie title ever. I mean, everybody has known someone named John Carter at some point in their lives, and he’s always the most dull guy ever.