Line #9 BoxOfficeBomb/DCComicsFilms


1	[[header:[[center:BoxOfficeBomb index\
2	[-BoxOfficeBomb/NumbersThroughB \| BoxOfficeBomb/{{C}} \| BoxOfficeBomb/{{D}} \| BoxOfficeBomb/EThroughF \| BoxOfficeBomb/GThroughH \| BoxOfficeBomb/IThroughJ \| BoxOfficeBomb/KThroughM \| BoxOfficeBomb/NThroughR \| BoxOfficeBomb/SThroughT \| BoxOfficeBomb/UThroughZ \| '''DC Comics Films''' \| BoxOfficeBomb/MarvelComicsFilms-]]]]]
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4	A number of films based off Creator/DCComics characters have bombed since TheEighties, often due to inflated budgets from [[TroubledProduction/DCComicsFilms troubled productions]], themselves often due to a notorious history of ExecutiveMeddling from Creator/WarnerBros that made them struggle to find an audience.
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6	[[index]]
7	* '''''Film/{{Supergirl\|1984}}''''' (1984) — Budget, $35 million[[note]]This was a huge budget for the time; about the same as ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' released the prior year, bigger than the budget aloted for ''Film/SupermanIII'' and two-thirds the budget of ''Film/SupermanII'' - itself one of the most expensive movies ever made at the time.[[/note]]. Box office, $14,296,438 (domestic). Not only did it end Alexander and Ilya Salkind's involvement with the original ''Film/{{Superman\|Film Series}}'' film series (though they would later produce the TV series ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy''), but the film’s failure would be largely responsible for the character getting killed off in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''.
8	* '''''Film/SupermanIVTheQuestForPeace''''' (1987) — Budget, $17 million[[note]] Originally $36 million, before Cannon, notorious for taking money meant for one project and siphoning it off to others, cut it down to less than half of that. [[/note]]. Box office, $15,681,020 (domestic), $30,281,020 (worldwide). Along with ''Film/SupermanIII'' (which barely broke even and was considered a huge disappointment), it was the death knell for Creator/ChristopherReeve's tenure in the role and kept the Man of Steel off the big screen for nearly two decades. It was also one of several big flops in the late '80s for Creator/TheCannonGroup, who took over production from the Salkinds, which lead to their eventual bankruptcy.
9	* '''''Film/BatmanAndRobin''''' (1997) — Budget, $160 million (plus $125 million marketing). Box office, $107,353,792 (domestic), $238,235,719 (worldwide). The other infamous fourth installment of a once-groundbreaking DC movie series, its critical thrashing and financial underperformance cast a permanent shadow over Creator/JoelSchumacher for the rest of his career, set back the careers of several of its lead actors (with Creator/AliciaSilverstone getting the worst of it), and ended the original ''Film/BatmanFilmSeries'', keeping the Caped Crusader off the big screen for nearly a decade until Creator/ChristopherNolan brought him back with ''Film/BatmanBegins''. Speaking of which, to this day ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' is still the only DC Comics-based film series to have concluded without either a disappointment with critics or a box office bomb.
10	* '''''Film/{{Steel}}''''' (1997) — Budget, $16 million. Box office, $1,710,972 (domestic). Was critically panned and dealt a fatal blow to Creator/ShaquilleONeal's acting career. Removing the character's ties to the ComicBook/{{Superman}} mythos likely didn't help either. Combined with ''Batman & Robin'', it ended up keeping DC as a whole off the big screen for seven years and nearly killed the superhero movie as a whole, which allowed DC’s rival Creator/{{Marvel}} to [[Film/Blade1998 start]] [[Film/XMen1 gaining]] [[Film/SpiderMan1 ground]] and become the new dominant force in superhero movies.
11	* '''''Film/{{Catwoman\|2004}}''''' (2004) — Budget, $100 million. Box office, $40,202,379 (domestic), $82,102,379 (worldwide). This was DC's first film since the double bombs of 1997, and it was definitely not the comeback they were looking for. This film was meant to be a spinoff of ''Film/BatmanReturns'', but it suffered through DevelopmentHell that led to it not having anything to do with ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}''. Creator/HalleBerry quit the ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'' franchise to take the role of the titular character and be in this film, only for ''Catwoman'' to become one of the biggest critical busts of 2004. Berry personally accepted her Razzie, stating [[SarcasmMode "It was just what my career needed."]] Said career [[StarDerailingRole had to fight its way back]]. The movie was also a major blow to BigBad actress Creator/SharonStone, who followed it up with ''Film/BasicInstinct2'', setting it back even further. Along with ''Film/{{Elektra}}'', this helped keep the superheroine genre barren after films like ''Film/{{Supergirl\|1984}}'' made it that way, and it also ensured director "Pitof" would not helm another major project. DC would have to wait another year for ''Film/BatmanBegins'' to regain ground in the film industry and thirteen years for ''Film/{{Wonder Woman\|2017}}'' to take another crack at the superheroine genre and finally see major box office success.
12	* '''''Film/SupermanReturns''''' (2006) — Budget, $204 million. Box office, $200,081,192 (domestic), $391,081,192 (worldwide). An attempt to revive the original ''Superman'' movie series for contemporary audiences, it proved to be extremely divisive for being a SamePlotSequel and failed to break even at the box office, causing plans for a sequel to be scrapped and Superman to get [[Film/ManOfSteel a full-blown film reboot]] seven years later. While its gross was respectable in absolute terms (comparable to near-contemporaries ''Batman Begins'' and ''X-Men 2'', which were both successful enough to get multiple sequels), the sheer cost plus its relative underperformance from expectations of what a mega-high-budget Superman revival "should" have been doomed it.
13	* '''''Film/{{Watchmen}}''''' (2009) — Budget, $130–150 million. Box office, $107,509,799 (domestic), $185,382,813 (worldwide). Creator/ZackSnyder’s adaptation of Creator/AlanMoore’s [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} iconic miniseries]] got a polarizing reception from critics and audiences alike at the time ([[VindicatedByHistory though said reception would get better over the years]]), and failed to make a dent financially. [[NeverTrustATrailer The marketing trying to sell it as a traditional superhero romp]] instead of the {{Deconstruction}} it actually was didn't help matters.
14	* '''''The Losers''''' (2010) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $23,591,432 (domestic), $29,397,654 (worldwide). The 2010 film adaptation of ''ComicBook/TheLosers'' from the DC imprint Creator/VertigoComics underperformed.
15	* '''''Film/{{Jonah Hex\|2010}}''''' (2010) — Budget, $47 million. Box office, $10,547,117 (domestic), $10,903,312 (worldwide). Releasing against the heavily anticipated ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' did '''not''' help - it had the lowest opening weekend of the entire company at the time, with just $5.6 million domestic. Its abysmal reception (currently 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and 32 on Metacritic) likely sealed its fate as it then plummeted to just ''$1.6'' million the next week.
16	* '''''Film/{{Green Lantern\|2011}}''''' (2011) — Budget, $$225 million (plus $100 million marketing). Box office, $116,601,172 (domestic), $219,851,172 (worldwide). Being critically panned didn't help. This movie was originally supposed to be the start of a DC shared universe, but as a result of this failure, ''Film/ManOfSteel'' would instead serve as the introduction to the DC Extended Universe.
17	* The Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse got caught in quite a bad string of bombs it never managed to overcome starting with ''Film/{{Birds of Prey\|2020}}'' in 2020. Of particular note, there's the ContinuityReboot by Creator/JamesGunn that was announced in late 2022... [[TheFireflyEffect while there were still four expensive movies to release in 2023]], among other reasons that led to audience indifference.
18	** '''''Film/{{Justice League\|2017}}''''' (2017) — Budget, $300 million ($500 million including marketing, interest expense, and residuals). Box office, $229,024,295 (domestic), $657,926,987 (worldwide). Following the critically polarizing but financially successful ''Film/ManOfSteel'', the CriticProof duo of ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' and ''Film/{{Suicide Squad\|2016}}'', and the runaway success of ''Film/{{Wonder Woman\|2017}}'', ''Justice League'' was expected to have a box office performance that could rival the MCU's ''Avengers'' movies. This was among the most expensive films ever made, caused in part by its TroubledProduction that saw Creator/ZackSnyder replaced with Creator/JossWhedon for studio-mandated reshoots, so it needed to gross a massive amount just to break even. Instead it earned the [[MedalOfDishonor dubious title]] of "[[https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/12/12/justice-league-is-the-biggest-grossing-box-office-bomb-ever/ most successful box office bomb ever]]" as [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2017/11/20/warner-bros-faces-a-possible-50m-to-100m-loss-on-justice-league/#5e80a1e25d8b industry analysts]] believe this film lost $50 to $100 million for WB. It opened in a [[Literature/Wonder2012 surprisingly]] [[Film/ThorRagnarok competitive]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Coco}} season]] on the release calendar. Its opening domestic weekend of $93.8 million was only about half of ''[=BvS=]'' and the lowest of any DCEU film to that point, suffering from lackluster marketing and critical backlash after [[NotScreenedForCritics a long embargo]]. The film's failure prompted the studio to fire several members of Creator/DCFilms including heads Creator/GeoffJohns and Jon Berg, while both Snyder and Whedon were removed from future DC films, the latter also being accused of abusive behavior during the reshoots. Walter Hamada became the new chairman in January 2018. Meanwhile, after a massive [[SendingStuffToSaveTheShow fan campaign]], Snyder was eventually allowed to release his original vision of the film as ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' in 2021 to noticeably better critical reception, leading to some thinking that releasing a shorter version of ''that'' movie in November 2017 would've yielded better results than what came out of [[TroubledProduction Whedon's numerous, costly, and rushed reshoots]].
19	** '''''Film/{{Birds of Prey\|2020}}''''' (2020) — Budget, $84-100 million. Box office, $84,172,791 (domestic), $205,372,791 (worldwide). Despite the missteps with ''Justice League'', the next two movies, ''Film/{{Aquaman\|2018}}'' and ''[[Film/Shazam2019 SHAZAM!]]'', managed to generate profits, with ''Aquaman'' grossing over a billion dollars worldwide, while ''SHAZAM!''’s worldwide gross of $365 million on a $100 million budget allowed the movie to make a modest profit. The future seemed promising after these, but this is actually where the DCEU's run of profitability ended (with the only films afterwards related to DC to be a success being the non-DCEU films ''[[Film/Joker2019 Joker]]'' and ''[[Film/TheBatman2022 The Batman]]'' and the animated film ''[[WesternAnimation/DCLeagueOfSuperPets DC's League of Super Pets]]''- and even so, the latter film still had to rely on a surprisingly strong-legged run in a rather dry 2022 end-of-summer box office to make back its budget). ''Birds of Prey'' fell short of its [[https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/birds-of-prey-box-office-disappoints-1203498018/ $250-300 million break-even point]], costing the studio tens of millions of dollars. This was not helped by the movie’s audience-limiting R-rating, competition from the much more accessible ''Film/{{Sonic the Hedgehog\|2020}}'', confusion over its title (being more a Harley Quinn movie than a Birds of Prey movie, to the point that theater listings and even the film’s own commercials started referring to it as ''Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey''), a massive underperformance in the opening weekend (it made $33m after expectations of $55m) followed by indifference among general audiences (a large second-week drop ensued), and the impending onset of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and the subsequent closure of theatres, which cut off the film's legs.
20	** '''''Film/WonderWoman1984''''' (2020) — Budget, $200 million. Box office, $46,801,036 (domestic), $169,601,036 (worldwide). A massive drop compared to the first film's $412 million domestic/$822 million worldwide. The film was released amidst one of the worst timeframes of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2020, with many theaters still being closed, and it was the first of the "Day-and-Date" releases on [[Creator/{{Max}} HBO Max]] (which caused much piracy), and that difficult release was combined with mixed-to-terrible reviews and word of mouth. Creator/PattyJenkins, who still stands by her creative choices on the film, was eventually let go by Creator/DCStudios out of CreativeDifferences once James Gunn took over, and plans for a third film were quietly dropped, possibly also meaning the end of Creator/GalGadot's run in the role.
21	** '''''Film/TheSuicideSquad''''' (2021) — Budget, $185 million. Box office, $55,817,425 (domestic), $168,717,425 (worldwide). Most agreed it was a massive improvement over 2016's ''Suicide Squad'', but while that [[CriticProof made a lot of money in spite of terrible reviews]], this one became [[AcclaimedFlop the exact opposite]]. The divisive reception to the first film likely impacted the sequel's performance, as general audiences who didn't like it may not have been in a rush to revisit the Suicide Squad concept, while those that ''did'' likely wished for a direct sequel rather than a soft reboot. However, the box office gross was more severely impacted by the industry still being hindered by the pandemic and Creator/WarnerBros' decision to gave it a simultaneous release on HBO Max to drive subscriptions to the fledgling platform. The film had a huge streaming premiere, but how many new subscribers that strategy generated against the money lost from not keeping the movie exclusive to theaters is unclear (accusations of cooking the HBO Max numbers have risen amidst the creation of the Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery conglomerate); Warner would abandon the simultaneous strategy by the end of the year. Other roadblocks included its R-rating, having significantly less star power than the 2016 film had (Creator/WillSmith, Creator/JaredLeto), and the RecycledTitle from its recent predecessor confusing general audiences. At the end of the day, the very positive critical response to the film (and its companion series ''Series/{{Peacemaker\|2022}}'') was apparently enough for WBD to look past the box office underperformance and give the keys of their entire DC slate and its ContinuityReboot over to Creator/JamesGunn, ''not'' what usually happens to directors of films that appear to have lost as much money as this one did.
22	** '''''Film/{{Black Adam\|2022}}''''' (2022) — Budget, $260 million. Box office, $168,152,111 (domestic), $393,252,111 (worldwide). It was actually the highest grossing DCEU movie post-''Aquaman'' and above-average in Creator/DwayneJohnson's catalog in general, but its massive budget set a high break-even point that it failed to reach. The film is estimated to have lost WBD $50-100 million. Not helping is that the Rock's hyping of the movie prior to release caused HypeAversion for a number of DC fans going in, particularly those who got sick of him insisting the film would completely "change the hierarchy of the DC Universe", much of which stems from ignoring Black Adam’s traditional nemesis, Shazam, to focus entirely on a proposed conflict between him and Superman that was teased in this film’s post-credits scene. Not long after this movie was released, Walter Hamada left the company and James Gunn took over, announcing a reboot for the franchise, resulting in Creator/HenryCavill's much-ballyhooed return as Superman being nixed. The word about Johnson’s meddling with the movie also greatly damaged his career, with him returning to the ''[[Franchise/TheFastAndTheFurious Fast & Furious]]'' franchise despite having previously exited after a dispute with Creator/VinDiesel.
23	** '''''Film/ShazamFuryOfTheGods''''' (2023) — Budget, $110-125 million. Box office, $57,638,006 (domestic), $133,838,006 (worldwide). The aforementioned announcement that DC Comics adaptations on film would be completely rebooted under Creator/JamesGunn signaled doom for this movie well in advance, as fans knew going in that any unresolved threads would be LeftHanging. The movie was pushed back almost a year from its original scheduled release date and ended up stranded in a very crowded Spring 2023 marketplace (opening against, amongst others, ''Film/CreedIII'', ''Film/ScreamVI'', ''Film/JohnWickChapter4'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'') with little fanfare, and opened to an anemic $30.1 million domestic and $60 million worldwide, the lowest for any DCEU film not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and simultaneous release on [[Creator/{{Max}} HBO Max]]. From there, it suffered huge weekend to weekend drops both domestically and internationally and was put on digital platforms within a month of release, finishing as the lowest grossing DCEU film ever at the time. As soon as it became evident the film would bomb, multiple members of the cast and crew openly criticized Warner and DC executives for kneecapping the project almost from the start, with star Creator/ZacharyLevi leveling a lot of the blame on Creator/DwayneJohnson for ExecutiveMeddling and blocking any crossover with Film/{{Black Adam\|2022}} (whose own potential financial shortcomings likely set the stage for ''Fury of the Gods'' being left to die on the vine at the box office).
24	** '''''Film/{{The Flash\|2023}}''''' (2023) — Budget, $200 million. Box office, $108,133,313 (domestic), $268,533,313 (worldwide). After spending roughly a decade in DevelopmentHell as the DCEU took shape and COVID-19 shook up the film industry, this effort to finally bring the iconic DC Comics character to the big screen faced even greater challenges after filming wrapped. Creator/EzraMiller became the center of numerous legal controversies that made it impossible for the film's [[ActingForTwo lead and co-lead]] to do any promotion for the movie and cost WB many product endorsements that typically help offset costs. Ads were forced to focus on the film's [[TheMultiverse multiverse]] concept (particularly the return of Creator/MichaelKeaton to the role of Batman for the first time since ''Film/BatmanReturns'' three decades prior, [[UncertainAudience reaching out for a significantly older viewerbase than what WB was targeting]]) and the film's intended role in rebooting the entire DC movie universe, which (as evident by the previous entries on this page) hadn't had any box office success since before the pandemic. This [[TaintedByThePreview kneecapped the film in generating positive pre-release buzz]], as audiences were already fatigued by superhero ''and'' multiverse-based films (and for those who weren't, ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'' provided stiff competition), the focus on subject matters ''other than its title character'' gave the impression that WB had no confidence in the project and was desperate to [[PanderingToTheBase bank on nostalgic fans]] for success (even if the finished film is still Flash-centric), and the news of the upcoming reboot by James Gunn [[TheFireflyEffect led audiences to think it was inconsequential and unnecessary]]. All this, combined with other issues -- the [[UsefulNotes/TVStrikes WGA strike]], chaos at [[Creator/WarnerBrosDiscovery WB after its merger with Discovery]] (including the scrapping of a nearly completed ''Batgirl'' movie that would have included Keaton, for a tax write-off), and lukewarm reviews for the movie – led to a disaster at the box office, with a poor opening and near-record week-to-week dropoffs. All of this added up to [[https://deadline.com/2024/05/biggest-box-office-bombs-2023-lowest-grossing-movies-1235902825/ a $155 million loss]], with some speculating that WB would've lost less money had they scrapped ''The Flash'' entirely as they had with ''Batgirl'' or released it straight to streaming.
25	** '''''Film/{{Blue Beetle\|2023}}''''' (2023) - Budget, $104-120 million. Box office, $72,397,133 (domestic), $129,197,133 (worldwide). While it got the best reviews for a DCEU movie since ''The Suicide Squad'' and featured an AllStarCast of Latin-American talent, the circumstances around its release were dire; [[InvisibleAdvertising the advertising was limited to two trailers and a few TV spots]], it was releasing towards the end of [[DumpMonths August]], it was yet another leftover of the DCEU that audiences knew that the upcoming reboot would render pointless (though James Gunn said he intends to put the character in his new universe, and with the same actor too), the SAG-AFTRA strikes going on at the time prevented the cast from promoting the film themselves, and most general audiences had lost faith in the DC brand on film after the DCEU’s string of flops, ''especially'' after the monumental flop of ''The Flash'' barely two months prior. Couple that with many audiences experiencing genre fatigue (and ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantMayhem'' appealing to others who weren't) and key markets the film was targeting being impacted by Tropical Storm Hilary, and ''Blue Beetle'' barely edged out ''SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods'' as the lowest grossing film in the franchise (though it actually made more money domestically).
26	* '''''Film/TheKitchen''''' (2019) — Budget, $38 million. Box office, $12,180,032 (domestic), $15,980,032 (worldwide). Based off a DC Creator/{{Vertigo\|Comics}} comic, its $5.5 million opening weekend just ''barely'' outdid ''Film/{{Jonah Hex\|2010}}'' for the worst opening weekend of a DC-related film and was the worst opening weekend for lead actress Creator/MelissaMccarthy. It quickly petered out and left theaters before the month was over.
27	[[/index]]

Context BoxOfficeBomb / DCComicsFilms