History Main / BoxOfficeBomb

* [[BoxOfficeBomb/EThroughH E–H]]

* [[BoxOfficeBomb/EThroughG E-G]]
* [[BoxOfficeBomb/HThroughJ H-J]]

** More recently, the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic forced many theaters to shut down all over the world (China closed their theaters in January, and most other countries followed suit through March and April); films such as ''Film/{{Bloodshot|2020}}'' and Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' suffered from it so badly that major studios temporarily halted reporting box office numbers. Several tentpole films even had [[ReleaseDateChange their release dates changed]] when the pandemic hit since almost nobody would be going to the theaters any time soon, and films that couldn't do so ended up getting early digital releases. ''Film/{{Tenet}}'' was the first high profile theatrical release to occur during the pandemic as theaters started reopening in limited capacity, and ended up a valiant failure. Another situation regarding box office during the pandemic is the enforcement of health passports requiring either vaccination or negative PCR tests to be allowed access to theaters in some countries -- even some highly advertised films like ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' outright tanked the very week that passport was enforced in July 2021 in France for instance, and box office in general has been slashed by about half in the country since health passports are required.

** More recently, the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic forced many theaters to shut down all over the world (China closed their theaters in January, and most other countries followed suit in March); films such as ''Film/{{Bloodshot|2020}}'' and Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' suffered from it so badly that major studios temporarily halted reporting box office numbers. Several tentpole films even had [[ReleaseDateChange their release dates changed]] when the pandemic hit since almost nobody would be going to the theaters any time soon, and films that couldn't do so ended up getting early digital releases. ''Film/{{Tenet}}'' was the first high profile theatrical release to occur during the pandemic as theaters started reopening in limited capacity, and ended up a valiant failure. Another situation regarding box office during the pandemic is the enforcement of health passports requiring either vaccination or negative PCR tests to be allowed access to theaters in some countries -- even some highly advertised films like ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' outright tanked the very week that passport was enforced in July 2021 in France for instance, and box office in general has been slashed by about half in the country since health passports are required.

** More recently, the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic forced many theaters to shut down all over the world (China closed their theaters in January, and most other countries followed suit in March); films such as ''Film/{{Bloodshot|2020}}'' and Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' suffered from it so badly that major studios temporarily halted reporting box office numbers. Several tentpole films even had [[ReleaseDateChange their release dates changed]] when the pandemic hit since almost nobody would be going to the theaters any time soon, and films that couldn't do so ended up getting early digital releases. ''Film/{{Tenet}}'' was the first high profile theatrical release to occur during the pandemic as theaters started reopening in limited capacity, and ended up a valiant failure. Another situation regarding box office during the pandemic is the enforcement of health passports requiring vaccination to be allowed access to theaters in some countries -- even some highly advertised films like ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' outright tanked the very week that passport was enforced in July 2021 in France.

* '''Other circumstances:''' Sometimes movies flop due to something that's not directly related to the movie itself or the movie industry as a whole. For example, the first film to lose over a million dollars, ''Film/{{Intolerance}}'', came out at a time when its anti-war sentiments (which were widely held just months earlier) were going against the popular pro-war wave of late 1916. Maybe the director or headlining actor made a derogatory comment that leads to a boycott of the film. {{Funny Aneurysm Moment}}s tend to hit {{disaster movie}}s' sales very hard when bad timing happens; the September 11th attacks and the Indian Ocean tsunami, for example, killed a lot of those even though they were obviously filmed prior to the catastrophes. The same effect involves comedies lampooning airports, airlines, and the security process, which all brought down the film adaptation of ''Literature/BigTrouble'', which was bumped to the DumpMonths from its original position ten days after the 11th. Another example of unfortunate timing is if a movie's [[GenreKiller genre is killed]] prior to release. More recently, the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic forced many theaters to shut down all over the world (China closed their theaters in January, and most other countries followed suit in March); films such as ''Film/{{Bloodshot|2020}}'' and Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' suffered from it so badly that major studios temporarily halted reporting box office numbers. Several tentpole films even had [[ReleaseDateChange their release dates changed]] when the pandemic hit since almost nobody would be going to the theaters any time soon, and films that couldn't do so ended up getting early digital releases. ''Film/{{Tenet}}'' was the first high profile theatrical release to occur during the pandemic as theaters started reopening in limited capacity, and ended up a valiant failure. Another situation regarding box office during the pandemic is the enforcement of health passports requiring vaccination to be allowed access to theaters in some countries -- even some highly advertised films like ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' outright tanked the very week that passport was enforced in July 2021 in France.

According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the biggest bomb of all time, according to the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' (before the category was retired), was ''Film/CutthroatIsland'' with an inflation adjusted loss of $176 million. This catastrophic failure along with ''Film/{{Showgirls}}'' instantly crushed Creator/CarolcoPictures as a result. The current largest ''confirmed'' loss is ''Film/MortalEngines'', with a $178 million loss that has pushed ''Island'' into joint second place with ''Film/TheLoneRanger2013'' which is at least equally the second biggest loss after losing at least $176 million at the box office but may have lost up to $209 million making it a contender for the biggest bomb of all time. Just outside the top three is ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' which lost $174 million.

There is some ambiguity however in that there are two other films that may have lost even more: ''Film/The13thWarrior'' with a loss ranging from the fairly depressing $106 million to an eye watering $198 million, and ''Film/JohnCarter'' with a range from a pretty dire $127 million to an insane ''$223 million'' lost. Both of these, as well as ''Film/TheLoneRanger2013'', were from Creator/{{Disney}} (though the former most has the Touchstone Pictures label attached to it, due to its more adult content), a multibillion-dollar company that '''easily''' weathered those losses unlike Carolco.

Please remember to take inflation into account when looking at films made decades in the past. ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'''s $44 million budget in 1963, while nothing impressive today, would be equivalent to $345.1 million in 2016 dollars. Furthermore, an independent film or studio is less able to absorb huge losses than a major studio, so the threshold for a bomb is lower for them. The lower figures (both budget and box-office) for older films and indie films can be deceptive.

Flops tend to become {{Franchise Killer}}s, {{Genre Killer}}s or {{Creator Killer}}s (or some combination of the three), or 'spawn' a StillbornFranchise. CriticalDissonance is often at full force here if critics liked it. VindicatedByVideo often helps (especially with BetterOnDVD thrown in), as does VindicatedByCable. For when the critics ''and'' the (too small) audience love the movie, yet it still fails commercially, see AcclaimedFlop.

* '''Other circumstances:''' Sometimes movies flop due to something that's not directly related to the movie itself or the movie industry as a whole. For example, the first film to lose over a million dollars, ''Film/{{Intolerance}}'', came out at a time when its anti-war sentiments (which were widely held just months earlier) were going against the popular pro-war wave of late 1916. Maybe the director or headlining actor made a derogatory comment that leads to a boycott of the film. {{Funny Aneurysm Moment}}s tend to hit {{disaster movie}}s' sales very hard when bad timing happens; the September 11th attacks and the Indian Ocean tsunami, for example, killed a lot of those even though they were obviously filmed prior to the catastrophes. The same effect involves comedies lampooning airports, airlines, and the security process, which all brought down the film adaptation of ''Literature/BigTrouble'', which was bumped to the DumpMonths from its original position ten days after the 11th. Another example of unfortunate timing is if a movie's [[GenreKiller genre is killed]] prior to release. More recently, the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic forced many theaters to shut down all over the world (China closed their theaters in January, and most other countries followed suit in March); films such as ''Film/{{Bloodshot|2020}}'' and Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' suffered from it so badly that major studios temporarily halted reporting box office numbers. Several tentpole films even had [[ReleaseDateChange their release dates changed]] when the pandemic hit since almost nobody would be going to the theaters any time soon, and films that couldn't do so ended up getting early digital releases. ''Film/{{Tenet}}'' was the most high profile theatrical release during the pandemic as theaters started reopening in limited capacity, and ended up a valiant failure.

'''[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease Please do not add any examples which have not finished their initial theatrical run,]] as it can be possible for films, still running theatrically which seem like box office bombs, to be able to recoup their budget slower than other films.'''

* ''Film/TropicThunder'': According to a news report, [[ShowWithinAShow the film-within-a-film]] ''Simple Jack'' is seen as a 'box office disaster', and one of the worst films of all time. The massive failure of the film, along with a string of several other duds before it, is what encourages ActionHero star, Tugg Speedman, to join the cast of the titular film and potentially save his career. Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that the title character was portrayed as ''too'' mentally disabled (or, in his parlance, Tugg "went full retard" in his performance) and lacking the "inspirational" part of the InspirationallyDisadvantaged trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

* ''Film/TropicThunder'': According to a news report, ''Simple Jack'' is seen as a 'box office disaster', and one of the worst films of all time. The massive failure of the film, along with a string of several other duds before it, is what encourages ActionHero star, Tugg Speedman, to join the cast of the titular film and potentially save his career. Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that the title character was portrayed as ''too'' mentally disabled (or, in his parlance, Tugg "went full retard" in his performance) and lacking the "inspirational" part of [[InspirationallyDisadvantaged this trope,]] citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

* ''Film/TropicThunder'': According to a news report, ''Simple Jack'' is seen as a 'box office disaster', and one of the worst films of all time. The massive failure of the film, along with a string of several other duds before it, is what encourages ActionHero star, Tugg Speedman, to join the cast of the titular film and potentially save his career. Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that the title character was portrayed as ''too'' mentally disabled (or, in his parlance, Tugg "went full retard" in his performance) and lacking the "inspirational" part of this trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

* ''Film/TropicThunder'': According to a new report, ''Simple Jack'' is seen as a 'box office disaster', and one of the worst films of all time. The massive failure of the film, along with a string of several other duds before it, is what encourages ActionHero star, Tugg Speedman, to join the cast of the titular film and potentially save his career. Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that the title character was portrayed as ''too'' mentally disabled (or, in his parlance, Tugg "went full retard" in his performance) and lacking the "inspirational" part of this trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

* ''Film/TropicThunder'': According to a new report, ''Simple Jack'' is seen as a 'box office disaster', and one of the worst films of all time. The massive failure of the film, along with a string of several other duds before it, is what encourages ActionHero star, Tugg Speedman, to join the cast and potentially save his career. Kirk Lazarus attributes the film's failure to the fact that the title character was portrayed as ''too'' mentally disabled (or, in his parlance, Tugg "went full retard" in his performance) and lacking the "inspirational" part of this trope, citing ''Film/IAmSam'' as an example. As a result, Tugg's performance [[UnfortunateImplications was just plain insulting and uncomfortable to watch]].

'''[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease Please do not add any examples which have not finished their initial theatrical run,]] as it can be possible for films, still running theatrically which seem like box office bombs, to be able to recoup their budget, although longer than other films.'''

'''[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease Please do not add any examples which have not finished their initial theatrical run,]] as it can be possible for films, still running theatrically which seem like box office bombs, to be able to recoup their budget.'''

* '''Misreading the market:''' Probably the biggest reason that a movie fails is that it's just plain hard to know what people will like. Worse, what the public likes changes all the time. Something that was innovative two years ago when you tried to FollowTheLeader and greenlit the movie is now a [[ClicheStorm tired old cliché]] nobody will see. Maybe you [[ViewersAreMorons underestimated the audience…]] or [[ViewersAreGeniuses overestimated]] them., or maybe you [[UncertainAudience don't even know]] which audience you want to attract. The point is: sometimes even your best efforts fail.

[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease Please do not add any examples which have not finished their initial theatrical run,]] as it can be possible for films, still running theatrically which seem like box office bombs, to be able to recoup their budget.

So, how can you tell when a movie has bombed? This depends on several factors. First is how much the studio paid to make the movie, paying all those people and companies you see in the credits at the end, which is generally public information. How much the studio paid to promote the movie is also an important factor. The marketing budget is generally not public information but is generally a significant percentage of the film's overall cost. A $150-million production may well have had $75 million spent to advertise it. Furthermore, since movie theaters don't just show movies for free, a portion of every ticket sold goes to supporting the theater itself. And of course, if the film is based on something, like a book, video game or comic, somebody's got to shell out for the rights to use the names and setting, and that can really rack up the bills. Put these together, and you can see that a movie mustn't merely cover its budget but probably needs to make at least twice that before it can begin paying for its marketing costs, much less become profitable.

Flops tend to become {{Franchise Killer}}s, {{Genre Killer}}s or {{Creator Killer}}s, or 'spawn' a StillbornFranchise. CriticalDissonance is often at full force here if critics liked it. VindicatedByVideo often helps (especially with BetterOnDVD thrown in), as does VindicatedByCable. For when the critics ''and'' the (too small) audience love the movie, yet it still fails commercially, see AcclaimedFlop.

Flops tend to become {{Franchise Killer}}s, {{Genre Killer}}s, and {{Creator Killer}}s, or 'spawn' a StillbornFranchise. CriticalDissonance is often at full force here if critics liked it. VindicatedByVideo often helps (especially with BetterOnDVD thrown in), as does VindicatedByCable. For when the critics ''and'' the (too small) audience love the movie, yet it still fails commercially, see AcclaimedFlop.

[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease Please do not add any examples which have not finished their initial theatrical run,]] as it can be possible for films, still running theatrically which seem like box-office bombs, to be able to recoup their budget.

So, how can you tell when a movie has bombed? This depends on several factors. First is how much the studio paid to make the movie, paying all those people and companies you see in the credits at the end, which is generally public information. How much the studio paid to promote the movie is also an important factor. The marketing budget is generally not public information but is generally a significant percentage of the film's overall cost. A $150-million production may well have had $75 million spent to advertise it. Furthermore, since movie theaters don't just show movies for free, a portion of every ticket sold goes to supporting the theater itself. And of course, if the film is based on something, like a video game or a comic, somebody's got to shell out for the rights to use the names and setting, and that can really rack up the bills. Put these together, and you can see that a movie mustn't merely cover its budget but probably needs to make at least twice that before it can begin paying for its marketing costs, much less become profitable.

[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease Please do not add any examples which have not finished their initial theatrical run,]] as it can be possible for films which seem like box-office bombs to be able to recoup their budget.

[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease Please do not add any examples which have not finished their initial theatrical run,]] as it can be possible for films which seem like they are box-office bombs to be able to recoup their budget.

[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease Please do not add any examples which have not finished their initial theatrical run.]]

* '''Misreading the market:''' Probably the biggest reason that a movie fails is that it's just plain hard to know what people will like. Worse, what the public likes changes all the time. Something that was innovative two years ago when you tried to FollowTheLeader and greenlit the movie is now a [[ClicheStorm tired old cliché]] nobody will see. Maybe you [[ViewersAreMorons underestimated the audience…]] or [[ViewersAreGeniuses overestimated]] them. The point is: sometimes even your best efforts fail.