10 of the Biggest Movie Flops of All Time

Nobody can truly explain Eddie Murphy’s career in recent decades. While he’s brought us hits like ‘The Nutty Professor,’ he’s also behind outright cinematic atrocities like ‘Norbit’ and the recent ‘A Thousand Words.’ But it’s this 2002 sci-fi comedy that holds the title of his biggest flop, recouping only $7 million of its reported $100 million budget. Eddie’s lucky that ’Pluto Nash’ didn’t come out during the ’80s as it was originally intended, because the young star’s career probably wouldn’t have recovered.

One of the most reviled films of all time, ‘Battlefield Earth’ lost $73 million and almost killed John Travolta’s career for a second time following his ‘Pulp Fiction’ comeback. So what went wrong? Pretty much everything. A pet project of vocal Scientologist Travolta, this adaptation of the sci-fi novel by the religion’s controversial founder L. Ron Hubbard wanted to be the next ‘Star Wars.’ Instead, it was lambasted for its hokey dialogue, hammy acting, terrible special effects and copious dreadlocked characters. Oh, and Travolta’s creepy lizard tongue. There are some things you can’t un-see.

This 1997 film took place in a post-apocalyptic 2013. But it only brought in $18 million on an $80 million investment. And director and star Kevin Costner, who had previously starred in the equally costly sci-fi dud ‘Waterworld,’ was held responsible for the flop. Vanity Fair wrote: ”Audiences were in no mood to watch a movie which begins with Costner reciting ‘MacBeth’ to his donkey before once more martyring himself for three hours.” Costner did a lot of on-screen martyring during the ’90s.

You have to give her credit — Halle Berry took this flop in stride. This campy superhero epic brought in just $40 million domestically on a $100 million budget and was considered one of the worst movies of 2004. Berry even won a Razzie for her performance, which she accepted in person. But Berry didn’t back down. She was quoted as saying, ”I had a wonderful experience on ‘Catwoman,’ a wonderful experience.” At least somebody had a good time.

Remember when Geena Davis was in every movie? And remember when action maestro Renny Harlin (‘Die Hard 2′) was the Michael Bay of his day? Well, this infamous pirate movie put the kibosh on both their careers. Its epic failure (only grossing $10 million after accruing a $90 million budget) is also responsible for the folding of Carolco Pictures, the one-time motion picture biggie behind the ‘Terminator’ movies. And when you factor in inflation, ‘Cutthroat Island’ is considered to be the biggest box office bomb of all time losing over $147 million. It would be years before Johnny Depp and Disney resurrected the pirate genre on the big screen.

An early career misfire for Antonio Banderas, this $160 million movie only earned back around $60 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest bombs ever. Part of the problem was the massive reedits the film, which originally went by the far more memorable title ‘Eaters of the Dead,’ underwent after test audiences rejected it. Costar Omar Sharif was so embarrassed by the film, he actually retired from acting until 2003.

Who’s to blame for Oliver Stone’s massive historical epic flopping at the box office? The culture wars in America, naturally. That’s the case some made after ‘Alexander’ fell flat in 2004 despite a $150 million budget. Ever the provocateur, Stone presented Colin Farrell’s Alexander as bisexual, which upset some Red staters. “We go into his bisexuality,” Stone told Playboy. ”It may offend some people, but sexuality in those days was a different thing.” Most surprised by the movie’s failure was Farrell, who thought that he’d be up for awards and instead wound up rethinking his career.

A cautionary tale for other summer blockbusters, 2008′s ‘Speed Racer’ failed to ever hit the gas. Which was surprising, considering that the kid-friendly action movie came from The Wachowski Bros., whose ‘Matrix’ franchise was a license to print money. But their adaptation of a somewhat forgotten cartoon cost $120 million to make and recouped only $44 million domestically. While bad marketing and lukewarm reviews were also to blame for ‘Speed’s’ box office failure, the hyper-stylized movie has found a second life on DVD where it has developed a healthy cult following.

This vehicle for former couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez gained notoriety in 2003 for its callousness and general atrociousness. To make matters worse, the two leads broke off their real-life relationship shortly after the movie failed to win over viewers. It cost $54 million to make and brought in only a small fraction of that at the box office. As Manohla Dargis said in her LA Times review, ”The pair should reconsider working with anyone who thought well of a movie hinged on jokes about the disabled, switch-hitting lesbians and the sight of a dead man’s brain splattered across an aquarium.”

It cost a whopping $241 million to make this 2005 adventure film, which earned a respectable but disappointing $120 million at the box office. Big-name draws Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz starred, but production costs just kept on piling up. (One cost reportedly included bribes to the local government in Morocco.) Clive Cussler, writer of the original work, battled for years with the production company over the film’s massive losses.