A box-office bomb, box-office flop, box-office failure, or box-office disaster is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production budget, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after release has technically "bombed", the term is more frequently used for major studio releases that were highly anticipated, extensively marketed, and expensive to produce, and ultimately failed commercially. [1] [2] Originally a "bomb" had the opposite meaning and referred to a successful film i.e. a bomb "explodes" at the box office and is successful, and continued to be used in that way in the United Kingdom into the 1970s. [3]
With the advent of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in the 2000s, word of mouth regarding new films is easily spread and has had a marked effect on box office performance. A film's ability or failure to attract positive or negative commentary can strongly impact its performance at the box office, especially on the opening weekend. [4]
Occasionally, films may underperform because of issues largely unrelated to the content of the film, such as the timing of the film's release. This was one of the reasons given for the commercial failure of Intolerance , D. W. Griffith's follow-up to The Birth of a Nation . Owing to production delays, the film was not released until late 1916, when the widespread antiwar sentiment it reflected had started to shift in favor of American entry into World War I. [5] Another example is the 2015 docudrama about FIFA entitled United Passions . A glowing portrayal of FIFA, which had mostly funded the film, United Passions was released in theaters in the United States at the same time FIFA's leaders were under investigation for fraud and corruption. The film grossed only $918 at the US box office in its opening weekend. [6]
Sometimes, a film's performance may be adversely affected by national crisis or a disaster, such as the September 11 attacks in 2001, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2021. [7] [8] [9]
In evaluating box-office gross numbers, it is important to keep in mind that not all money is returned to the film studio. Some of the gross is kept by the film exhibitors and the film distributor. The scratch formula for making a rough estimate of a studio's portion of the gross is that the studio usually gets half. [10]
A large budget can cause a film to fail financially, even when it performs reasonably well at the box office; 1980's Heaven's Gate , for example, exceeded its planned production schedule by three months, [11] causing its budget to inflate from $12 million to $44 million. [12] The film only earned $3.5 million at the box office. [13]
For the 2005 film Sahara , its budget ballooned to $281.2 million for production, distribution, and other expenses. [14] The film earned $119 million in theaters and $202.9 million overall with television and other subsidies included, resulting in a net loss of $78.3 million. [14] [15] In 2012, Disney reported losses of $200 million on John Carter. The film had made a considerable $234 million worldwide, but this was short of its $250 million budget plus worldwide advertising. [16]
The 2007 film The Golden Compass had a production budget of $200 million. To be able to fund the film, New Line Cinema had to sell all of the film's international distribution rights to various film distributors around the world. The film underperformed domestically, but was an international success; New Line did not have a cut of the international box office. These events were major factors in New Line becoming a division of Warner Bros. Pictures. [17]
Films initially thought of as "flops" may recover income elsewhere. Several films have underperformed in their countries of origin, but have been sufficiently successful internationally to recoup losses or even become financial successes. [18] Films may also recover money through international distribution, sales to television syndication, distribution outside of cinemas, and releases on home media. [19] The 1995 post-apocalyptic action film Waterworld was the most expensive film ever made at the time after undergoing significant production difficulties. While it performed relatively well in the US box office, it did not initially turn a profit and became known as a box-office flop. International box-office takings and video sales led it to turn a profit. [20] In 2023, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One , which underperformed at the box office, was given a COVID-19 insurance payout, which amounted to £57 million ($71 million). [21] [22]
Other films have succeeded long after cinema release by becoming cult films or being re-evaluated over time. High-profile films fitting this description include Vertigo , [23] Blade Runner , The Wizard of Oz , It's a Wonderful Life , Citizen Kane , [24] The Shawshank Redemption , [25] Showgirls , [26] Fight Club , [27] The Thing , [28] and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World , [29] each of which initially lost money at the box office but has since become popular.
It is common for a single film's lackluster performance to push its studio into the red, in the sense of recording a net loss on its income statement. In extreme cases, a bomb may push its studio into bankruptcy or closure. Examples of this include United Artists (Heaven's Gate) [30] and Carolco Pictures ( Cutthroat Island ). [31] [32] The Golden Compass was a success at the international box office and grossed $372 million worldwide; nonetheless, its underperformance at the box office in North America was seen as a significant factor in influencing the decision by Warner Bros. Pictures to take direct control of New Line Cinema. [33]
In 2001, Square Pictures, a division of Square, released its only film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within . It received mixed reviews from critics and failed to recover its $145 million cost. Following the film's struggles, Square Pictures did not make any more films [34] and is now a consolidated subsidiary of Square Enix as Visual Works. [35] In 2011, Mars Needs Moms was the last film released by ImageMovers Digital before Disney's stake got absorbed by ImageMovers to a loss of nearly $140 million – the largest box-office bomb of all time in nominal dollar terms. Regardless of this loss, the decision to close the production company had been made a year prior to the film's release. [36]
The 2006 independent movie Zyzzyx Road made just $30 at the US box office. With a budget of $1.2 million and starring Tom Sizemore and Katherine Heigl, its tiny revenue is due to its limited box-office release – just six days in a single theater in Dallas for the purpose of meeting Screen Actors Guild requirements – rather than its ability to attract viewers. [37] [38] According to co-star Leo Grillo, it sold six tickets, two of which were to cast members. [39]
Previously, the 2000 British film Offending Angels had become notorious for taking in less than £100 (~$150 [40] ) at the box office. [41] It had a £70,000 (~$105,000 [40] ) budget but was panned by critics, including the BBC, who called it a "truly awful pile of garbage", [42] and Total Film , who called it "irredeemable". [43]
In 2011, the film The Worst Movie Ever! opened to just $11 at the US box office. It played in only one theater. [44]
The 13th Warrior is a 1999 American historical fiction action film based on Michael Crichton's 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead, which is a loose adaptation of the tale of Beowulf combined with Ahmad ibn Fadlan's historical account of the Volga Vikings.
Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film written and directed by Michael Cimino, starring Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, and Joseph Cotten, and loosely based on the Johnson County War. It revolves around a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s.
Gigli is a 2003 American romantic crime comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan.
Waterworld is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Charles Gordon and John Davis. It was distributed by Universal Pictures.
Cutthroat Island is a 1995 adventure swashbuckler film directed by Renny Harlin and written by Robert King and Marc Norman from a story by Michael Frost Beckner, James Gorman, Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon. It stars Geena Davis, Matthew Modine and Frank Langella. It is a co-production among the United States, France, Germany and Italy.
Hollywood Pictures Company was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1989, by Disney CEO Michael Eisner and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, Hollywood Pictures was founded to increase the film output of the Walt Disney Studios, and release films similar to those of Touchstone Pictures. These films, featuring more mature themes, were targeted at adult audiences unlike the family-oriented productions of the studio's flagship Walt Disney Pictures division. After years of hiatus, the label was closed in 2007. The studio's most commercially successful film was M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, which grossed over $670 million worldwide upon its release in 1999.
John Carter is a 2012 American science fiction action-adventure film directed by Andrew Stanton, written by Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon, and based on A Princess of Mars, the first book in the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Produced by Jim Morris, Colin Wilson and Lindsey Collins, it stars Taylor Kitsch in the title role, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy and Willem Dafoe. It chronicles the first interplanetary adventure of John Carter and his attempts to mediate civil unrest amongst the warring kingdoms of Barsoom.
Nickelodeon Movies Inc. is an American film production company based in Los Angeles, California and owned by Paramount Global. Originally founded in 1995, it serves as both the film production arm of the American children's network Nickelodeon and the family film distribution label of Paramount Pictures, operating under its Paramount Players division.
Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios is the film and television production arm of the MTV Entertainment Group, itself a subsidiary of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. It primarily produces content aimed at adolescent and adult audiences, including original productions for the namesake cable channel and its siblings, or theatrical films released through Paramount Pictures.
Gary Douglas Kurtz was an American film producer whose list of credits includes American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Dark Crystal (1982) and Return to Oz (1985). Kurtz also co-produced the 1989 science fiction adventure film Slipstream, which reunited him with Star Wars star Mark Hamill.
Hollywood accounting is the opaque or creative set of accounting methods used by the film, video, television and music industry to budget and record profits for creative projects. Expenditures can be inflated to reduce or eliminate the reported profit of the project, thereby reducing the amount which the corporation must pay in taxes and royalties or other profit-sharing agreements, as these are based on net profit.
Town & Country is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Chelsom, written by Buck Henry and Michael Laughlin, and starring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Garry Shandling, Andie MacDowell, Jenna Elfman, Nastassja Kinski, Charlton Heston, and Josh Hartnett. Beatty plays an architect, with Keaton as his wife, and Hawn and Shandling as their best friends. It was Beatty's and Keaton's first film together since 1981's Reds, and Beatty's third film with Hawn, after 1971's $ and 1975's Shampoo.
Warner Bros. Family Entertainment was the family division label of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It released numerous theatrical and direct-to-video family-oriented films and television shows.
Summit Entertainment, LLC is an American film production label of Lionsgate Films, owned by Lionsgate Studios and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.
Andreas "Andy" Albeck was an American movie executive, who was president and chief executive of United Artists, during a time when it released two films by Woody Allen, along with two films in both the James Bond and Rocky film series. He also oversaw production of Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, a movie frequently mentioned as one of the films considered the greatest ever, as well as Heaven's Gate, the box office bomb that led to the studio's demise as an independent studio.
Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's own Rango and the end of their distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation in 2012.
Gaturro: The Movie (Gaturro) is a 2010 animated comedy film based on the popular Argentine comic book of the same name created by Cristian Dzwonik. The film is produced by Illusion Studios, Toonz Animation, and co-produced by Mexico's Ánima Estudios. This film is the first Indian-Latin American animated co-production.
Balaji Motion Pictures is a subsidiary company of Balaji Telefilms Limited which is an Indian film production and distribution company established by Shobha Kapoor and her daughter Ekta Kapoor. Located in Mumbai, and it produces and distributes Hindi films. The chairman of the company is former Bollywood actor, Jeetendra Kapoor.
Gods of Egypt is a 2016 fantasy action film directed by Alex Proyas based on a fantastical version of ancient Egyptian deities. It stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Chadwick Boseman, Élodie Yung, Courtney Eaton, Rufus Sewell, Gerard Butler, and Geoffrey Rush. The film follows the Egyptian god Horus, who partners with a mortal Egyptian thief, on a quest to rescue his love and to save the world from Set.
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