50 Box Office Bombs, From 47 Ronin to John Carter

Hollywood isn’t taking many chances these days.

In an era of reboots and remakes, original movies like Columbia Pictures’ Pixels, Walt Disney Pictures’ Tomorrowland and Warner Bros. Pictures’ Jupiter Ascending both underwhelmed critics and underperformed at the box office. Revamped properties aren’t sure bets either, as Universal Pictures’ R.I.P.D. and New Line Cinema’s Jack the Giant Slayer proved. Millions were spent making those blockbusters. Add in marketing costs, and the losses increase exponentially.

On paper, films like 47 Ronin and John Carter seemed like good ideas. And every executive dreams of being the one to green-light the next billion-dollar franchise, à la Pirates of the Caribbean. Not that long ago, studios could also rely on star power to bring people to the movie theater. The theory was, if they cast someone like Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts or Will Smith, fans will show up, regardless of quality. “That smoke and mirrors in marketing is over. People are going to know really quickly and globally whether a product keeps its promises,” Smith recently said. “Back in the ’80s and ’90s you had a piece of crap movie you put a trailer with a lot of explosions and it was Wednesday before people knew your movie was s–t…But now what happens is 10 minutes into the movie, people are tweeting, ‘This is s–t. Go see Vin Diesel.'”

To see 50 of the biggest box office bombs in history, check out the gallery.