Box Office Bomb / #-B

Box Office Bomb index
#-B | C | D | E-F | G-H | I-J | K-M | N-R | S-T | U-Z | DC Comics Films | Marvel Comics Films

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• 3 Generations (2017) — Budget, Unknown, but The Weinstein Company paid $6 million for distribution rights. Box office, $68,852 (domestic), $443,962 (worldwide). This was intended to be released in September 2015 as About Ray but it got put in The Shelf of Movie Languishment with a week to go before its release after a lukewarm screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. It didn't help that the film already faced controversy for casting Elle Fanning as its trans male main character. The filmmakers used the delay to re-edit the film which was greeted with scorn upon release. It had a limited release of three weeks and went to DVD a few weeks after that.
• 3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $11,798,854. This sequel to 3 Ninjas fell short of its budget and got a worse critical reception than its predecessor. However, it sold well on home video.
• 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) — Budget, $18 million. Box office, $1,305,114. This was the final film that Hal Ashby directed, and he died two years after its release.
• The 13th Warrior (1999) — Budget, $85 million (not counting marketing costs), $160 million (counting them). Box office, $61,698,899. The film version of Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead suffered a massively Troubled Production due to Executive Meddling which caused numerous reshoots. The end result was critically panned, was buried under fellow Buena Vista release The Sixth Sense on opening weekend and when adjusted for inflation, became one of the biggest bombs - if not the biggest - of all time. Barely a career was spared. Despite the success of The Thomas Crown Affair the previous month, director John McTiernan's career flatlined with this and his next films, Rollerball and Basic. Crichton, who also took over as director near the end, never produced another film again,^note And this combined with Sphere bombing the year prior spelled the end of his books being adapted into movies while screenwriters William Wisher and Warren Lewis barely found work again. The film also led to Omar Sharif briefly retiring from acting. Disney chief Joe Roth was sent packing at the end of the year due to this, several other critical busts, and Roth allegedly not getting along with CEO Michael Eisner.
• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) — Budget, $50 million. Box office, $69.4 million. This Michael Bay war picture attempted to tap into the box office success of other recent Based on a True Story modern warfare films like Lone Survivor and American Sniper. The choice to depict the 2012 attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, was controversial due to how the very word "Benghazi" had become a firebrand for U.S. conservatives to criticize the perceived incompetence of the Obama administration, particularly then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton... who was, at the time of the film's release, the frontrunner in the Democratic primaries for the presidential nomination. Perception that the film was a Fox News-funded hitpiece against Clinton likely alienated a substantial potential audience.
• 47 Ronin (2013) — Budget, $175 million (not counting marketing and editing costs), $225 million (counting them). Box office, $38,362,475 (domestic), $150,962,475 (worldwide). As a result of rising costs during filming and editing, Universal pulled the director Carl Rinsch from the film and had their executives complete the movie. Adding insult to injury, the studio then wrote down the initial budget's costs... before the film got released in the U.S. Rinsch hasn't directed another full-length film since.
• 50 to 1 (2014) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $1,064,454. It only topped out at 133 theaters but its theatrical release was an impressively long 29 weeks.
• The 51st State (2001) — Budget, $27 million. Box office, $14.4 million. Screenwriter Stel Pavlov never did another film, but became a novelist. Director Ronny Yu would recover with Freddy vs. Jason.
• 55 Days at Peking (1963) Budget: $10 million. Box Office: $10 million. This Epic Movie had a Troubled Production that saw, among many other issues director Nicholas Ray collapse on set and be replaced; he never directed another widely released picture again. Producer Samuel Bronston's next picture, the even more massive bomb The Fall of the Roman Empire, ended his production company.
• 187 (1997) - Budget, $23 million. Box office, $5,727,130. This school gang drama, which marked the first time Samuel L. Jackson received top billing for a role, was heavily slammed at the time for its racial stereotyping and over-the-top depictions of violence, and doing little to stand out from other recent school gang films. It didn't do any favors for director Kevin Reynolds' career, having just come off of the infamous bomb of Waterworld, and 187 would be the last film he directed until The Count of Monte Cristo five years later.
• The 355 (2022) - Budget, $40-75 million. Box office, $27.8 million. A spy film with all-female leads that was a passion project for star/producer Jessica Chastain, but a troubled pre-production phase and sitting two-and-a-half years on The Shelf of Movie Languishment led to it releasing in January 2022, as audiences were already occupied with the box-office juggernaut of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Combined with receiving apathetic reviews from critics, The 355 failed to make an impact. The second bomb in a row for Chastain and co-writer/director Simon Kinberg after Dark Phoenix, but its lackluster reception didn't stop Chastain from winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye a couple months later.
• 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) — Budget, $47 million. Box office, $59 million. This was one of several films released in 1992 to coincide with the 500th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus' journey to the Americas. One such film, Alexander and Ilya Salkind's Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, was going to be directed by Ridley Scott, who dropped out of that film and made 1492 instead. This led to the Salkinds suing the producers of 1492, which they lost because this film was developed first. Was nearly a Creator Killer for Scott, who didn't direct another movie for four years.
• 1776 (1972) — Budget, $6 million. Box office, $2.8 million (rentals). This adaptation of the hit Broadway musical about America's independence was only a success at New York's Radio City Music Hall and flopped everywhere else as movie musicals were no longer in vogue. This was legendary movie mogul Jack Warner's last film; he notoriously cut out the number "Cool Considerate Men" under pressure from Richard Nixon. Said number was later reinstated for a LaserDisc release in 1992 and was fully restored for the DVD and Blu-Ray releases.
• 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) — Budget, $62 million. Box office, $18,720,175. Stars Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner squabbled over this heist film's tone and were allowed to edit their own cuts to show to audiences (Costner's version mostly won out). Critics largely viewed the film as a poor attempt to emulate the style of Quentin Tarantino. Its failure was a factor in Franchise Pictures dying out by the end of the decade, and helped to end Russell as a Hollywood leading man, marking his transition to more supporting or elder statesman roles.
• The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T (1953) — Budget, $2.75 million. Box office, $1 million. A combination of the film's troubled production and horrible critical and financial reception scared Dr. Seuss, who wrote the film as his only live-action credit, out of the film industry for life (though he did later have some success in television).

A - Al

• Abandon (2002) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $12,302,319. Screenwriter Stephen Gaghan's directorial debut was derided by critics for its messy plot. His next directorial film, Syriana, fared much better.
• Absolute Beginners (1986) — Budget, £8.4 million. Box office, £1.8 million. Along with Revolution and The Mission, this put a huge dent into Goldcrest Films' prospects. While the film derailed the leading man career of Eddie O'Connell, female lead Patsy Kensit came out unscathed. The title track by David Bowie became a Breakaway Pop Hit, however.
• About My Father (2023) - Budget, $29 million. Box office, $18.1 million. This semi-autobiographical film starring stand-up comic Sebastian Maniscalco As Himself had the misfortune of opening the same day as The Machine, another movie based off a stand-up playing himself. The two films likely cannibalized each other's potential audiences, and both were panned by critics; while Father came out slightly better commercially, it marked another major box office disappointment for studio comedies in the 2020s.
• Accidental Love (2015) — Budget, $26 million. Box office, $4,500. This film's director, David O. Russell, asked to be credited as "Stephen Greene", an alternative to the retired Alan Smithee alias. The film's Troubled Production (principal photography ended in 2008) and critical panning killed it in the limited run arena.
• Across the Universe (2007) — Budget, $70.8 million. Box office, $29.4 million. Got mixed reviews for being a Jukebox Musical based on The Beatles. Julie Taymor's subsequent film credits were based off of Shakespeare plays, with her first non-Shakespeare film being The Glorias in 2020. It and DreamWorks Animation/Aardman's Flushed Away also dealt serious damage to the careers of writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
• Action Point (2018) — Budget, $19 million. Box office, $5,059,608 (domestic). This was the lowest-grossing opening weekend of Johnny Knoxville's film career. Paramount quickly pulled the plug on this film after less than two weeks.
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) — Budget, $46.63 million. Box office, $8,083,123. This film's implosion, along with the severe financial failure of Ishtar and to a lesser extent other movies such as Leonard Part 6, led to Columbia merging with Tristar and Coca-Cola selling their whole film business to Sony. It didn't help that it was greenlit by David Puttnam during his short-lived tenure as president of Columbia Pictures. Columbia's new management made only 117 prints for the American market, which is unusual for a film of this budget. The film also did not get production company Allied Filmmakers off to the start they would have hoped for, with most of their following films failing critically, commercially, or both. That said, this is one of their Acclaimed Flops, having a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and director Terry Gilliam bounced back to have several successful films in the next decade.
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) — Budget $17 million. Box office, $6.3 million. Despite a stellar cast, this oddball film failed in theaters. It would later become a Cult Classic on home video however, but any attempts to make the sequel promised in the ending have been squandered due to legal issues.
• The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999) — Budget, $17 million. Box office, $11,683,047. Both this and Muppets from Space caused Jim Henson Productions and Sony Pictures to dissolve their "Jim Henson Pictures" joint venture; Henson eventually sold their Muppet franchise to Disney in 2004 (with the Sesame Street Muppets going to Sesame Workshop in 2001), while Sony would not form another family-oriented label until 2002. Despite this, a third Sesame Street film is currently in development at Warner Bros., who distributed the first one, Follow That Bird, in 1985. It is also the only film to be directed by Gary Halvorson, who would eventually stick to directing for television afterwards. The film did so poorly because it was aimed at preschoolers, who are not allowed at movie theaters in some countries and some parents may find the theater experience too overwhelming for children that young, even for tame films such as this one. However, it was a huge bestseller on home video.
• The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $15,094,530. A Truer to the Text version of the original novel than Disney's version, though critics didn't think highly of it. It also brought an end to Steve Barron’s studio directing career. It managed to get a Direct to Video sequel, The New Adventures of Pinocchio, three years later.
• The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) — Budget, $100–120 million. Box office, $7,103,973. Yeah, you read that right. It sat on The Shelf of Movie Languishment for ages because everyone knew it was a catastrophe, and the final result was one of the biggest bombs in film history. The eventual atomic implosion of the film ensnared the careers of director Ron Underwood and co-producer Martin Bregman; Bregman produced one more lower profile movie and Underwood directed two more, with the latter moving to TV. Eddie Murphy himself disowned it, as did co-star Alec Baldwin, and it was one of three flops in 2002 that severely impacted Murphy's career.
• The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) — Budget, $76 million (not counting marketing costs), $98.6 million (counting them). Box office, $35,134,820. This take on the Jay Ward cartoon series has the dishonor of being the biggest animation/live-action hybrid bomb in history. Its failure along with that of Dudley Do-Right killed off plans for a Mr. Peabody & Sherman Live-Action Adaptation; that project was later rebooted instead as a CGI adaptation at DreamWorks Animation, and that ended up underperforming as well (although unlike Rocky and Bullwinkle and Dudley Do-Right, it at least made back its budget). This movie also flattened the cinematic careers of director Des McAnuff and Boris and Natasha players Jason Alexander and Rene Russo; Alexander has made fun of the film, and Russo appeared in several more failures before taking a long break from acting. The Rocky and Bullwinkle duo's helper in the film, Piper Perabo, also got a B-list demotion.
• The Affair of the Necklace (2001) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $471,210. It topped out at 40 theaters. The critics lambasted the film for Hilary Swank's miscasting but praised the elaborate sets and costumes.
• After Dark, My Sweet (1990) — Budget, $6 million. Box office, $2,678,414. An Acclaimed Flop.
• Against the Ropes (2004) — Budget, $39 million. Box office, $6,614,280. Charles S. Dutton's directorial debut was ko'd after seven weeks. It also served no favors to revive Meg Ryan's career.
• Agora (2009) — Budget, $70 million. Box office, $39,041,505. This epic about Hypatia, a woman philosopher in the Roman Empire who was murdered by Christian fanatics after standing up to them, was a huge hit in its native Spain but lack of interest overseas led to it losing money. Its U.S. distributor buried the film in 17 theaters, perceived to be out of fear of offending the self-proclaimed "anti-PC" Christian Right, though the Vatican did approve the film. Spanish-Chilean director/writer Alejandro Amenabar didn't make another film for 6 years.
• Air (2023) - Budget, $70-90 million. Box office, $89,960,106. This film provides a very unique case study for the economics of movie production in the era of streaming. A Biopic about the creation of the Air Jordan shoe was originally intended to go straight to streaming on Amazon Prime. It thus wasn't expected to earn any money from the box office, and its budget was inflated in large part to pay all the cast and crew up front. The All-Star Cast, public interest, and theatrical success of Creed III for the studio a few months earlier all convinced Amazon to put the movie out in theaters. Under the historical model for film success, Air would be seen as a severe money loser... but since its grosses covered the cost for theatrical distribution and advertisements, few at Amazon or the press treated it as a disaster, especially in wake of the far more severe flops and underperformances that would become a central point of attention in 2023.
• Airheads (1994) — Budget, $11.2 million. Box office, $5,751,882. One of Adam Sandler's earlier comedies was met with poor reviews on release and flopped at the box office, though it gained more appreciation as Sandler's profile rose in subsequent years.
• Air Strike (2018) — Budget, $65 million. Box office, $532,377. This Chinese war drama was meant to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II, received a large budget, and attracted high profile Western talent like Bruce Willis, Adrien Brody, and Mel Gibson (in a consulting capacity). However, it wasn't even released in China due to controversy surrounding Fan Bingbing, who only had a small cameo in the film but whose mysterious disappearance and massive government fine for tax evasion completely overshadowed the production, and accusations that the film itself was a money laundering scheme, as most of the biggest names in the cast barely appeared and the effects in the battle sequences looked decidedly cheap.
• Alatriste (2006) — Budget, €24 million (~US$30 million). Box office, $23 million. The film's budget was the highest of any Spanish-language film ever made in Spain at the time, a record only beaten by Agora.
• The Alamo (1960) — Budget, $12 million. Box office, $7.9 million. This was one of the top grossing films of 1960 but it didn't make back its then record budget. It was even worse for star John Wayne, who made his directorial debut here ^note Not counting Blood Alley, where he went uncredited., who put up quite a bit of the budget and was forced to sell his investment to United Artists. The film was notorious for its over-zealous Oscar campaigning by co-star Chill Wills, who was nominated for his supporting role, which pissed off Wayne and likely turned away voters ^note  The film did win one Oscar for Best Sound. Wayne would not direct again until the more financially successful The Green Berets (which he actually co-directed).
• The Alamo (2004) — Budget, $107 million. Box office, $25,819,961. One of a handful of flops in 2004 that ultimately helped end Disney CEO Michael Eisner's long run at the company. While liked by several Texas critics and Ebert & Roeper, this movie also derailed director/writer John Lee Hancock's career; he wasn't credited on anything again until the end of the decade with 2009's The Blind Side and didn't direct another Disney movie until Saving Mr. Banks in 2013. This was the first writing/story job for Leslie Bohem in seven years after 1997's Dante's Peak, and he would have to wait another seven for his next story job.
• Alamo Bay (1985) — Budget, $5 million. Box office, $380,970.
• An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998) — Budget, $10 million. Box office (get ready to faint), $52,850. The winner of six Golden Raspberry Awards, one of which was for Worst Picture of 1998. It also killed Arthur Hiller's direction career (he knew the movie was so bad, he asked the crew to be credited as Smithee. It didn't help, and he got the alias retired as well; he did one movie with Jon Bon Jovi after that, and that's it). This film was also the third and last blow to screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, following Showgirls and Jade (the former of which also has a Worst Picture Razzie), and it's also part of a series of busts that convinced maker Disney to discontinue Hollywood Pictures, which was the brand they released this film under, as well as being the final nail in Cinergi Pictures' coffin after they started on the wrong foot with Medicine Man and Super Mario Bros. (1993) in the early 90's. Finally, it and Dudley Do-Right derailed the cinematic career of Alan Smithee actor Eric Idle, who has not appeared in a live-action film in the 21st century apart from cameos.
• Albino Alligator (1997) — Budget, $6 million. Box office, $339,379. Kevin Spacey's directorial debut; he wouldn't occupy the director's chair again until 2004's Beyond the Sea.
• Alex & Emma (2003) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $15,368,897. Part of a string of busts for Rob Reiner. It was heavily-panned by critics and played itself out after eight weeks.
• Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (2006) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $23,937,870. This intended first film of the Alex Rider novels was its only cinematic outing.
• Alex L'Ariete (2000) — Budget, €3 million. Box office, €1,900. Champion skier Alberto Tomba's only acting role (aside from cameos as himself in other works).
• Alfie (2004) — Budget, $60 million. Box office, $35,150,546. A remake of the Michael Caine movie that critics felt didn't live up to the original. Director Charles Shyer wouldn't make another film for eight years.
• Ali (2001) - Budget, $107-118 million. Box office, $87.7 million. An Acclaimed Flop whose critical reception wasn't enough to exceed its significant budget.
• Alice (1990) — Budget, $12 million. Box office, $7,331,647. Yet another Acclaimed Flop from Woody Allen.
• Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) - Budget, $170 million. Box office, $77 million (domestic), $276 million (worldwide). The sequel to Tim Burton's 2010 smash hit fell victim to poor word-of-mouth combined with a six-year Sequel Gap, and ended up grossing only a quarter of what its predecessor achieved, costing Disney $70 million in total.
• All Good Things (2010) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $873,617. Documentary filmmaker Andrew Jarecki's narrative film debut was loosely based on the life of accused murderer Robert Durst. It was shoved to a limited release after it spent over a year on The Shelf of Movie Languishment. Jarecki documented the real Durst for his next film as director, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.
• All I See is You (2017) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $217,644 (domestic). Open Road Films buried this drama in a limited release with Invisible Advertising after delaying it for months. This was the company's last film before they were quietly rebranded as Global Road Entertainment, which occurred only three days after its release to boot. Part of a very gloomy year for the company as well.
• All the King's Men (2006) — Budget, $55 million. Box office, $9,450,897. This adaptation of the novel was heavily panned by critics and imprisoned the directing career of Steven Zaillian in Hollywood jail for 10 years; the next time he would try to direct, it would be a TV mini-series (he is still a force in Hollywood as a writer and producer, though).
• All the Pretty Horses (2000) — Budget, $57 million. Box office, $18,133,495. Billy Bob Thornton's directorial followup to Sling Blade was this adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel. Thornton got into conflicts with Miramax over the length of the movie and the musical score. The end result was generally panned by critics and faded from view pretty quickly even after getting a few awards nominations.
• All the Queen's Men (2001) — Budget, $15 million. Box office, $121,258 (US/Germany). One of the biggest bombs in history percentage-wise. This movie confirmed the derailing of Friends star Matt LeBlanc's cinematic prospects; after Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle in 2003, the conclusion of Friends in 2004, and the weak performance of Friends spinoff Joey in the mid 2000's, LeBlanc took a 4-year leave from acting (he would eventually move on to Top Gear). The film's failure also beheaded the producing career of Phil Alden Robinson and several other factors in the early 2000's led to him not getting any credits for the rest of the decade. Writer David Schneider also would not write another film until 2017.
• Almost an Angel (1990) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $6,939,946. John Cornell wouldn't direct another film again after this movie flopped.
• Almost Heroes (1998) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $6,136,856. Chris Farley's last starring role was delayed from release for a year due to the Turner/Time Warner merger and finally opened five months after Farley's passing. Director Christopher Guest rebounded two years later with Best in Show.
• Aloha (2015) — Budget, $37 million. Box office, $26,250,020. An ugly blot on director/writer/producer Cameron Crowe's career, and part of an unsatisfactory year for distributor Sony. Accusations of whitewashing really didn't help matters, with Emma Stone being cast as the one-quarter Chinese and one-quarter Hawaiian Allison Ng, a decision she would eventually regret.
• Alone in the Dark (2005) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $10,442,808. Credited with destroying the reputation of video game movies beyond their already bad reputation and turning director Uwe Boll into the signature punchline for bad movies in general (he would make a sequel to this, but he only produced that one and it was released Direct to Video by Universal). Alone in the Dark is also the film that slapped Christian Slater and Tara Reid into the B-list of celebrities, especially after Reid's botched plastic surgery/liposuction (though she was fortunate enough to get the Sharknado TV movie series in due time). The Alone in the Dark video game franchise also never saw the heights it was at before this film was made.

Am - Az

• The Amateur (1981) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $6.8 million. Director Charles Jarrott wouldn't direct another theatrical movie for five years.
• Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) — Budget, $5 million. Box office, $500,000. A Spiritual Successor to co-director John Landis' The Kentucky Fried Movie, this time teaming him with four other directors. Critics felt the Mood Whiplash between the sketches was its biggest weakness, but it's since become a Cult Classic.
• Ambulance (2022) - Budget, $40 million. Gross, $52.3 million. Despite good reviews (for Michael Bay's standards), opening on the same weekend as Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) and the wide expansion of Everything Everywhere All at Once did this film no favours at the box office, and it dropped out of the top 10 after only four weeks.
• Amelia (2009) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $19,642,013. Hilary Swank's first film from her production company, 2S Films, was this biopic of Amelia Earhart. Its general panning by critics did neither her career or said company any favors.
• Amen (2002) - Budget: €15,700,000. Box office: €11,217,610.
• American Anthem (1986) — Budget, $7 million. Box office, $4,845,724. An attempt to make a star out of Olympic athlete Mitch Gaylord did no favors for him. It also derailed director Albert Magnoli's career, who waited seven years before his next film, Street Knight, and received a universal panning from critics such as Siskel & Ebert.
• An American Carol (2008) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $7,013,191. The bust of a movie that parodied the American Left in general, and Michael Moore in particular, was released during America's election year to ensure that Barack Obama wouldn't become President. (We all know how that turned out.) The film received unanimously negative reviews; some critics had to go out of their way to clarify that they were panning the film's quality after being accused by the producers of having a liberal bias, while right-wing columnist Michael Brendan Doherty accused the filmmakers of "insulting conservatives" for expecting them to laugh at the film's toilet humor (an excerpt of his review is the front quote of Offending the Creator's Own). It didn't help that a test screening in Texas was by and large underwhelming, with some audiences not realizing it was a comedy. It also put David Zucker's career in Hell; he wasn't credited on another film until the fifth Scary Movie, and has yet to return to the director's booth. It's also the final live-action role for Dennis Hopper; he died in 2010.
• American Outlaws (2001) — Budget, $35 million. Box office, $13,342,790. Les Mayfield didn't direct again for another 4 years, and co-writer Roderick Taylor didn't write another screenplay for 6.
• The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024) — Budget, $15 million. Box office, $2,480,645. Poor reviews and a name that many Americans would find offensive or uncomfortable to say out loud ensured that this satire had no chance of attracting a large audience, and would be pulled from theaters after only three weeks.
• American Ultra (2015) — Budget, $28 million. Box office, $15,470,118. The first of two flops for writer Max Landis, the other being Victor Frankenstein the same year.
• Amos & Andrew (1993) - Budget: $17 million. Gross: $9.7 million. Critics disliked the film about a black man being shot up by cops being played for laughs. This would be the only time E. Max Frye, who's best known for writing the Cult Classic Something Wild, would sit in the director's chair.
• Amsterdam (2022) — Budget, $80 million. Box office, $31.2 million. David O. Russell's period comedy opened to a mixed critical reception, with critics lambasting its needlessly complicated plot and uneven Genre Mashup but praising it for its production values and All-Star Cast. The COVID-19 Pandemic delayed filming and contributed to a ballooning budget. Disney struggled to market the film and combined with its excessive runtime and abuse allegations directed towards Russell, the film opened to a miserable $6.5 million. It's estimated the film could lose around $97 million.
• And God Created Woman (1988) — Budget, $5 million. Box office, $1,717,376. It sent director Roger Vadim's theatrical career into "the fiery pit" (he's only done TV movies since) and got him chastised by Roger Ebert for remaking his original '50s classic and having little in common with it.
• Angel Eyes (2001) - Budget, $53 million. Box office, $29.7 million. Mixed critical reviews and a bizarre tone that was hard to pitch to audiences led this Jennifer Lopez and Jim Caviezel romance to flop.
• Angela's Ashes (1999) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $13,042,112. The penultimate film directed by Alan Parker.
• Anna (2019) - Budget, $30 million. Box office, $31.6 million. Director and EuropaCorp founder Luc Besson was accused of sexual assault in the months prior to this film's release, which coincided with EuropaCorp beginning to disintegrate due to the massive failure of his preceding film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Both of these factors lead to this film being quietly sent out amidst a crowded summer headlined by Toy Story 4, where it was largely dismissed by critics as derivative of other action thrillers including Besson's own Nikita. EuropaCorp would be bought out just a year later, but Besson has continued directing with Dogman in 2023.
• Annapolis (2006) — Budget, $26 million. Box office, $17,496,992. The box-office of this movie and several others prompted Disney to cut back on its film slate. It did perform well on DVD, though.
• Anonymous (2011) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $15,395,087. Roland Emmerich's historical drama was based on the theory that William Shakespeare did not author his own plays. General audiences and history buffs were alienated by the film's portrayal of Shakespeare as a buffoonish murderous fraud and its egregious historical misinformation. It didn't help that its wide release was abruptly cancelled, and it topped out at 513 theaters. It was the first in a line of box office disappointments for Emmerich that continues to this day as of this writing.
• Another Stakeout (1993) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $20,208,496. This sequel to 1987's Stakeout achieved neither the critical nor financial success of its predecessor. Roger Ebert was one of its few defenders. Part of a string of flops for director John Badham.
• Another Woman (1988) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $1,562,749. Didn't stop Woody Allen a bit.
• Another You (1991) — Budget, $17 million. Box office, $2,865,916. It ranks among the top ten biggest second weekend drops at the box office for a wide release film, dropping 78.1% from $1,537,965 to $334,836. Gene Wilder never appeared in another theatrically-released film again. This was also Richard Pryor's final film in a leading role ^note Pryor however, would appear one last time in a movie in 1997's Lost Highway, being released four years after he revealed that he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and his physical deterioration is evident in this film.
• The Apparition (2012) — Budget, $17 million. Box office, $9,627,492. The last horror film Warner Bros. released by itself before it started using New Line Cinema for that purpose. The film was panned by critics and audiences alike and faced competition from the better-received The Possession by Lionsgate.
• Apt Pupil (1998) — Budget, $14 million. Box office, $8,863,193. This adaptation of the Stephen King story received mixed reviews for its murky presentation of its disturbing content.
• Arctic Dogs (2019) — Budget, $50 million. Box office, $5.8 million (domestic), $9.9 million (worldwide). Yep, less than 10% of its budget! This British-American-Canadian animated film with an All-Star Cast was hit with a number of delays and was Not Screened for Critics before its November 1 release to 2,844 theaters, during a slow period for family films three weeks before the release of Frozen II. It ended up having one of the worst opening weekends of all time at just $2,901,335. Some articles tried pinning its failure on lead star Jeremy Renner's recent abuse allegations, but the more plausible reasons are a lack of marketing and poor critical reception. Entertainment Studios, the film's distributor, has not released another film since this one.
• An Arctic Tale (2007) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $1,858,064. Its widest release was in 227 theaters. The critics generally liked it, but they didn't care for the cutesy narration.
• Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023) - Budget, $30 million. Box office, $21.4 million. It took over half a century for this immensely influential Young Adult novel to receive a film adaptation... which meant that the audience who were most likely to be familiar with it were decades removed from their own adolescence. Critics praised it.
• Argylle (2024) - Budget, $200 million, Box office, $45,207,275 (domestic), $96,194,684 (worldwide). Poor reviews derailed this big-budget spy action film from Matthew Vaughn. This was the third film with a nine-figure budget theatrically released by Apple in collaboration with a major studio to earn the support of a big name director for Apple TV+; all three bombed, though many observers speculated that Apple would've been willing to make no money on the films in theaters so long as they bolstered the profile of their streaming service.
• Arizona Dream (1993) — Budget, $15 million. Box office, $112,547.
• Around the World in 80 Days (2004) — Budget, $110 million. Box office, $72,178,895. One of a handful of flops in 2004 that ultimately helped end Disney CEO Michael Eisner's long run at the company after he picked up the US rights to this independently-financed production after Paramount dropped it. Fortunately for Jackie Chan, it didn't slow down his career much. This movie ended the cinematic career of David Titcher and is the last non-Happy Madison/Adam Sandler production in the cinemas to involve Frank Coraci. This was also the last appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger in a movie prior to him taking office as Governor of California.
• The Arrival (1996) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $14 million. This Alien Invasion thriller was crushed by the anticipation for Independence Day, which opened a little over a month later. Critics liked this film slightly more than its bigger, louder rival, though, and it performed much better overseas and on video, which led to a Direct to Video sequel.
• The Art of War (2000) — Budget, $60 million. Box office, $40,400,425. This film's failure didn't stop two sequels from being made, but it did send them Direct to DVD.
• Aspen Extreme (1993) — Budget, $14 million. Box office, $8,041,048. The first and only feature film directed by Patrick Harsburgh.
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $15,001,776. Despite rave critical reviews, director Andrew Dominik's cinematic career was chased off the big screen for 5 years.
• Astro Boy (2009) — Budget, $65 million. Box office, $39,886,986. The losses of the film sucked producer Imagi Studios into a black hole of debt.
• The Astronaut's Wife (1999) — Budget, $80 million. Box office, $10,672,566 (domestic), $19,598,588 (worldwide). This movie becoming one of the biggest critical and commercial bombs of 1999 resulted in the career of Rand Ravich burning on reentry; he only had one more film after this, and then he plummeted to the C-list of Hollywood producers.
• Asura (2018) — Budget, $113.5 million. Box office, $7.1 million. The directorial debut of stunt coordinator Peng Zhang was China's most expensive film. It was meant to start a trilogy, but it bombed so disastrously that it was pulled from theaters after a single weekend.
• At Close Range (1986) — Budget, $6.5 million (estimated). Box office, $2,347,000. Sean Penn and Christopher Walken were praised for their performances, while Penn's then-wife Madonna had a #1 hit with her Breakaway Pop Hit "Live to Tell".
• At First Sight (1999) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $22,365,133. This was the one and only screenplay by Steve Levitt. Part of a string of busts for Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino.
• At Long Last Love (1975) — Budget, $6 million. Box office, $1.5 million. Director Peter Bogdanovich published a full page apology letter in several newspapers after the film was panned by critics. The film tarnished leading lady Cybill Shepherd's movie career and made her a laughingstock in Hollywood until Moonlighting a decade later. A studio editor recut the film on his own time in 1979. 32 years after that, Bogdanovich saw this cut and liked it so much he released a Director's Cut Blu-Ray to better reviews in 2013, 38 years after premiering in theaters.
• At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991) — Budget, $36 million. Box office, $1,345,903. Director Hector Babenco's last English-language film; he returned to Brazil to continue his career, and even then took eight years to make another film. Tom Berenger's career took a big hit as well, with this marking the start of a major slide.
• Atlas Shrugged Parts I, II, and III (2011/2012/2014) — Budget, roughly $20 million/$10 million/$5 million. Box Office, roughly $4.6 million/$3.3 million/$850,000. Despite the budget being cut in half with each subsequent entry, every film proved to be an even more severe financial and critical bomb than the last. Commentators found it impossible not to comment on the irony of the adaptation of a famous libertarian/"Objectivist" work being rejected by the movie free-market, and then its producers plowing forward with both a sequel and Part III — using Kickstarter, of all things, which just adds to the irony.
• Attack the Block (2011) — Budget, $13 million. Box office, $1,024,175 (US box office), $5,824,175 (worldwide). Its US release was hit with Invisible Advertising and an extremely limited release despite testing positively there. It has since become a Cult Classic.
• Australia (2008) - Budget, $130 million. Box office, $211.3 million. A long Troubled Production ballooned costs, and middling reviews didn't help matters. Baz Luhrmann would end his longstanding relationship with 20th Century Fox, and Nicole Kidman would shift her focus to smaller projects after a streak of big budget disappointments.
• The Avengers (1998) — Budget, $60 million. Box office, $23,384,939. The last of three career-zapping bombs for director Jeremiah Chechik, and one of two Star Derailing Roles for star Uma Thurman, with her role as Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin being the other. Chechik didn't direct another film until 2013, and Thurman fell into limbo before clawing her way back up with the Kill Bill films in 2003. Both this and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 5 years later also convinced ex-James Bond Sean Connery (who played the Big Bad in this film) to retire from acting. The British Avengers franchise (which has nothing to do with Marvel) has since been banished to audio plays by Big Finish in the 2010s.
• Avenging Angelo (2002) — Budget, $17 million (allegedly).^note The film was financed by Elie Samaha, a notorious fraudster who inflated the costs of his films; $17 million is practically close to the salaries Stallone was receiving at the time. The actual budget may have actually been around $30-70 million. Box office, sadly, $824,597. This was the first film starring Sylvester Stallone to go Direct to Video in most countries, including North America. This was Anthony Quinn's final film role, released a year after his death. It also served Madeleine Stowe's film career no favors either.

B - Be

• Babe: Pig in the City (1998) — Budget, $90 million. Box office, $69,131,860. Director George Miller wouldn't return to live-action films of any sort until 2015. Its own box office failure would end the Babe franchise after two films.
• Baby's Day Out (1994) — Budget, $48 million. Box office, $16,827,402 (domestic), $30 million (worldwide). After this film's implosion and the mixed reception to director Patrick Read Johnson's next movie, Angus, Johnson would not direct another theatrical release until 2007. He did executive produce Dragonheart in 1996, though. It still managed to break box-office records in India, and led to four Bollywood remakes between 1995 and 2002.
• Babylon (2022) – Budget, $78-80 million. Box office, $63,379,032 (only $15,351,455 domestic). Divisive critical and public reception on its runtime, graphic content, and "movie about movies" plot, plus its opening as R-rated counterprogramming against Avatar: The Way of Water and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and fellow R-rated awards contender The Whale, badly hindered its staying power. Marked star Margot Robbie's third straight bomb after The Suicide Squad and Amsterdam (2022). It made a little more money internationally, but it still wasn’t enough to cover the budget.
• Bad Company (2002) — Budget, $70 million. Box office, $65,977,295. This was pushed back from December of 2001 as its plot, which involved terrorists plotting to blow up New York's Grand Central Station, was close to the events of 9/11. Even eerier, this was the last major movie to film in the former World Trade Center. Its new release date didn't help.
• Bad Girls (1994) — Budget, $25-35 million. Box office, $15,240,435. Originally directed by Tamra Davis, this was penned as a much more serious action movie; After 20th Century Fox was disappointed with the original shoots, they replaced her with Jonathan Kaplan, who rewrote the script and turned it into more of a romantic satirical yarn. This angered several of the actresses on set, specifically Drew Barrymore, who threatened to quit during it and refused to promote the film upon release. While the movie had a decent opening weekend it dropped hard the following week, and was eventually out of theaters in less than a month.
• The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $10,589,102. Its widest release was only 96 theaters. It was well received critically though.
• Bad Medicine (1985) — Budget, $8 million. Box office, $2,685,453.
• Bad Moon (1996) — Budget, $7 million. Box office, $1,060,024. Part of a string of box office underperformers for director Eric Red, and this one caused his cinematic career to black out until 2008. This also ended Michael Pare's career as a theatrical lead, mostly doing small roles or starring in direct-to-video films.
• Bailey's Billion$ (2005) — Budget, $9 million. Box office, $45,000. This was kicked out of 37 theaters after its opening weekend. Director/Producer David Devine's career stalled after its burial; his only credits since are on the TV shows Across the River to Motor City and The Madcap Learning Adventure.
• Bait (2000) — Budget, $35 million. Box office, $15.4 million. It nearly ended Jamie Foxx's leading career, as he wouldn't lead again in a theatrical film for four years, but winning an Oscar for portraying Ray Charles in Ray revived his career. Director Antoine Fuqua saw better success the following year with Training Day.
• Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002) — Budget, $70–90 million. Box office, $19,924,033. Critics thrashed this actioner as inept and amaturish in both action and plot, gifting it with the rare 0% from Rotten Tomatoes. This was the only major attempt by Thai filmmaker Wych Kaosayananda, who credited himself as "Kaos", to break into the American cinema market. He returned to Thailand when the movie imploded and wasn't heard from again for another 10 years. TV showrunner Peter Lenkov also never tried to write another cinematic film (his writings for this film are uncredited). Stars Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu also had their cinematic careers severely wounded; Banderas had better luck with his role as Puss in Boots in the Shrek series, while Liu stuck around for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Kill Bill before heading to television.
• Balto (1995) — Budget, $31 million. Box office, $11.3 million (domestic). It notably killed off Amblimation and caused a planned animated adaptation of Cats to be scuttled (though Amblin themselves would hold on to the rights long enough to co-produce the eventual live-action adaptation), prompting the chain of events that would form DreamWorks. Home video releases were profitable enough to produce two sequels, however.
• Bamboozled (2000) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $2,463,650. This Spike Lee film was given a limited release due to its controversial subject matter. This was given a mixed reception from contemporary critics, many of whom felt Lee's satire was too heavy-handed to be effective. Later became Vindicated by History by The New '10s, as its examination of how the media portrays black people proved prescient in the face of later controversies.
• Bandslam (2009) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $12,225,023. Critics loved this coming-of-age dramedy, but it was immensely mismarketed as a Lighter and Fluffier musical comedy.
• Bangkok Dangerous 2008 — Budget, $45 million. Box office, $42,487,390. An English remake of the Pang Brothers' own Thai film; it was also their last film in English. It debuted at number one with $7 million in September, making it the lowest number one debut since Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. It was also a Star-Derailing Role for Nicolas Cage, knocking him off the A-list and into a steep decline that would continue through The New '10s.
• Barb Wire (1996) — Budget, $9 million. Box Office, $3,793,614. This film suffered from being labeled a Hotter and Sexier clone of Casablanca, vanishing from theaters after just two weeks when it suffered a 67.7% drop. Pamela Anderson would not have a starring role in a motion picture again for many years, and copyright holder Dark Horse Comics has refused any more adaptations of the Barb Wire series. It also had the misfortune of taking Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie with it, due to distributor Gramercy Pictures throwing their marketing towards Barb Wire and shoving the other out to die in a limited release with Invisible Advertising... which added insult to Gramercy's injury when Mystery Science Theater managed some shockingly high theater averages despite its lack of marketing.
• The Barbarians (1987) — Budget, $4 million. Box office, $800,000. Influential director Ruggero Deodato didn't last long in Hollywood after this.
• Barbarosa (1982) — Budget, $11 million. Box office, $1,736,123. Originally slated for release in August 1981, Universal picked up the distribution rights after its intended distributor Associated Film Distribution went under. Even though the critics adored it, Universal initially opened the film in the Southern United States with a half-hearted marketing campaign, and after poor box-office returns, dumped the film onto second-run houses and drive-in double features. After rejecting an offer to sell the film to United Artists Classics, Universal ultimately gave the film a proper release in New York and Los Angeles, but it was too little too late.
• Barney's Version (2010) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $8,455,457. This only played in 281 theaters despite great reviews and a Golden Globe for Paul Giamatti.
• Baseketball (1998) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $7,027,290. Began the slow but steady decline of director David Zucker, whose only hits ever since were Scary Movie 3 and 4, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone wouldn't star in anything they didn't write/direct themselves for nearly two decades until Trey was cast as the villain in 2017's Despicable Me 3.
• Basic Instinct 2 (2006) — Budget, $70 million. Box office, $38,629,478. The critical panning of both this film and Catwoman (2004) began the derailment of star Sharon Stone's career. It ended Michael Caton-Jones' directing career (he hated the filming experience), signaled the end of Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna's C2 Pictures label, and concluded ideas of a Basic Instinct film series. It was even dubbed by the Razzies in the 2007 Razzie Awards ceremony as "Basically, It Stinks, Too", and is credited as the final nail in the coffin for the erotic thriller genre.
• Battle of the Sexes (2017) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $17,837,161. Based on the eponymous 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, this struggled upon expanding to wide release even with glowing reviews.
• Battlefield Earth (2000) — Budget, $75 million (declared), $44 million (actual). Box office, $29,725,663. The egregious case of Hollywood Accounting involved in the production led to Franchise Pictures being sued into bankruptcy. The infamous film's creation also crippled plans for a sequel about the second half of the book and put John Travolta's career back in jeopardy after his Career Resurrection with Pulp Fiction, from which he never fully recovered. Co-stars Barry Pepper and Forest Whitaker and director Roger Christian, who all hate this film, also fell off the map (Whitaker would come back with The Last King of Scotland), one of the writers, J.D. Shapiro, criticized Travolta's creative "input" and personally accepted the Golden Raspberry Award this movie received.^note Pepper later said that had he been told he was "winning" Worst Supporting Actor beforehand he would have also accepted the award in person The film is also guilty of ruining the chances of any further adaptations of L. Ron Hubbard's work or anything connected to Scientology being taken seriously. The film's financial failure eventually ended up bankrupting Franchise Pictures, but for the exact opposite reason of most of the films on this list- the company lied about how big a loss they took by inflating the reported budget, leading to investors suing the company for even more money.
• Battleship (2012) - Budget, $209-220 million. Box office, $303 million. This extremely expensive movie was Hasbro's next attempt to produce a blockbuster in the vein of the financially successful Transformers series, and Universal transparently sought to Follow the Leader by making Battleship also about alien robots rather than just battleships. General audiences shared critics' cynicism about adapting a completely storyless board game for a summer tentpole, and the film wound up costing investors around $150 million when accounting for the expensive marketing budget. The double whammy of this and John Carter bombing within two months of each other completely derailed Taylor Kitsch's film career as a leading man, and director Peter Berg was never given this big a budget again.
• The Beans of Egypt, Maine (1994) — Budget, unknown. Box office, $73,956. Jennifer Warren's directorial debut. She only directed one more film in 2000 and stuck mainly to acting. Part of a series of bombs that derailed I.R.S. Records' ill-fated film division.
• The Beast (1988) — Budget, $8 million. Box office, $161,004. This was one of several films greenlit by David Puttnam during his tenure as president of Columbia Pictures that the studio left out to dry.
• Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991) — Budget, $6 million. Box office, $869,325. The remaining Beastmaster sequels went Direct to Video.
• Beau Is Afraid (2023) - Budget, $35 million. Box office, $11.5 million. After the great success of Hereditary and Midsommar, A24 gave Ari Aster a much bigger budget for an even more personal and strange project (that also boasted an audience unfriendly three-hour runtime). After a very successful first weekend in extremely limited release, the film failed to catch on with general audiences after going wide.
• The Beautician and the Beast (1997) — Budget, $16 million. Box office, $11.4 million. Fran Drescher's first and only theatrical lead role, and her last live-action theatrical appearance overall. This and Dunston Checks In also sent helmer Ken Kwapis' career into the river until the middle of the 2000s.
• The Beaver (2011) — Budget, $21 million. Box office, $970,816 (domestic, no typos there), $6,370,816 (worldwide). Directed by Jodie Foster, this turned out to be a botched comeback attempt for Mel Gibson as his personal troubles continued to overshadow his career (Hacksaw Ridge managed to restore his reputation, but only behind the camera). Foster would not direct another movie until 2016's Money Monster, 5 years later.
• Bee Season (2005) — Budget, $14 million. Box office, $6,856,989. The film version of Myla Goldberg's novel was the last collaboration between Naomi Foner and Scott McGehee before their divorce in 2009. They had a few more credits individually since then.
• Before And After (1996) — Budget, $35 million. Box office, $8,797,839. This film was part of a string of flops for Barbet Schroeder and it sent screenwriter Ted Tally off-screen until All the Pretty Horses.
• Before I Go to Sleep (2014) — Budget, $22 million. Box office, $15,447,154. The last of three busts for distributor Clarius Entertainment. The company was forced to give up the rest of its slate and cease operations the following year.
• Being Human (1994) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $1,519,366 (domestic), $5 million (worldwide). The victim of Executive Meddling which resulted in director Bill Forsyth disowning the film. Robin Williams carried on without much of a dent in his career.
• Being Julia (2004) — Budget, $18 million. Box office, $14,339,171. This is the last American film director Istvan Szabo has been involved with.
• Beloved (1998) — Budget, $80 million. Box office, $22,852,487. The film version of Toni Morrison's novel, produced by and starring Oprah Winfrey, was greeted warmly by critics and coldly by audiences. Disney quickly forced it out of theaters to make way for Adam Sandler's The Waterboy, which despite good success was hated by critics. Its failure was a major blow for Winfrey, who wouldn't produce another theatrical film again until The Great Debaters nearly a decade later.
• Below (2002) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $2.6 million. This World War II horror film topped out at 353 theaters and sunk after three weeks. It also didn't help that it suffered from Invisible Advertising so bad, there wasn't a trailer, poster, or official website less than two weeks before its release.
• Ben-Hur (2016) - Budget, $100 million. Box office, $94.1 million. This "reimagining" of the novel that spawned the 1959 epic fell laughably short of its box office juggernaut predecessor. It failed to even make its production budget back, likely costing Paramount $100 million and putting yet another stake in the Sword and Sandal genre. Intended to be a Star-Making Role for Jack Huston but did the complete opposite for his career. Director Timur Bekmambetov mostly shifted his focus from big budget epics to uber-cheap "screenlife" movies.
• Bert Rigby, You're a Fool (1989) — Budget, $7 million. Box office, $75,868. In case you're wondering, that's just over one percent of its budget. That's an understandable gross considering it topped out in 23 theaters and was gone after three weeks.
• Best Laid Plans (1999) — Budget, $7 million. Box office, $27,816. Its widest release was in 5 theaters.
• The Best of Times (1986) — Budget, $12 million. Box office, $7,790,931. This sports comedy proved a minor speed bump for all the major players involved.
• Betsy's Wedding (1990) — Budget, $26 million. Box office, $19.7 million. Arguably the end of Molly Ringwald's stardom, as she wouldn't do another theatrical film role for six years.
• Bewitched (2005) - Budget, $85 million. Box office, $131.4 million. Critics and audiences mostly rejected this meta adaptation of the classic TV series. Part of a string of disappointments for Nicole Kidman in the 2000s and sent Nora Ephron straight back to director jail for a few more years (though she'd cap her career on a high note with Julie & Julia).
• Beyond Borders (2003) — Budget, $35 million. Box office, $11,705,002. After this film, production company Mandalay Pictures slowed down their output heavily.
• Beyond Skyline (2017) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $992,181 (worldwide). This sequel to Skyline was seen as vast improvement over the critically mauled original, but it was only released in a handful of international markets. The US got it Direct to Video.
• Beyond The Poseidon Adventure (1979) — Budget, $10,000,000. Box office, $2.1 million. This sequel to The Poseidon Adventure, whose premise would seem to eliminate the possibility of a direct follow-up, was greeted with none of the critical or financial success of its predecessor.
• Beyond the Sea (2004) — Budget, $24 million. Box office, $8,447,615. This Bobby Darin biopic is the last movie Kevin Spacey has directed to date.

Bf - Bl

• Bicentennial Man (1999) — Budget, $100 million. Box office, $87,423,861. A hard hit to Robin Williams' career and the film that led to his second feud with The Walt Disney Company, who produced it alongside Columbia.
• The Big Blue (1988) — Budget, 80 million French Francs (roughly $14 million or €11.5 million). Box office: $3.5 million (USA), 2.4 million admissions (outside France), 9 million admissions (France). One of a handful of 1988/1989 films that caused the Weintraub Entertainment Group to implode right out of the gate, and one of the movies that ended Coca-Cola's control over Columbia and caused their merger with TriStar and (much later) Sony. This movie was heavily edited and received a different ending for the U.S. release, which was panned by critics.
• The Big Bounce (2004) — Budget, $50 million. Box office, $6,807,176. This had a troubled post-production when producer Steve Bing suddenly demanded director George Armitage edit the movie to a PG-13. He reluctantly complied, quit the film and the end result was lambasted by critics. Armitage has yet to make another film.
• Big Bully (1996) — Budget, $15 million. Box office, $2,042,350. One of the 3 career-halting films with Tom Arnold released that year and was also the last theatrical live-action movie that Rick Moranis would star in (though it was less to do with this movie and more to do with his wife's passing).
• Big George Foreman (2023) - Budget, $32 million. Box office, $6 million. This faith-based Biopic of the boxing legend was released to mixed reviews less than two months after the critically and commercially successful Creed III used up any audience desire for a boxing movie.
• The Big Kahuna (2000) — Budget, $7 million. Box office, $3,728,888. John Swanbeck's directorial debut and his only film. Screenwriter Roger Rueff, who adapted his own play Hospitality Suite into this film, didn't have another film credit until he remade his play into a 2016 short.
• Big Miracle (2012) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $24.7 million. It got pretty good reviews, but director Ken Kwapis wouldn't return to the director's chair until 2015's A Walk In The Woods. This was also arguably, a Star-Derailing Role for Drew Barrymore. She has only done two movies since (reuniting with Adam Sandler in Blended and appearing in the low budget British film Miss You Already) and has since transitioned into television, finding the most success as a daytime talk-show host.
• The Big Picture (1989) — Budget, $5 million. Box office, $117,463. After this film, Richard Gilbert Abramson never produced another theatrically-released film (his next project was Theodore Rex, which was denied a cinema run).
• Big Top Pee-wee (1988) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $15,122,324. The director of the original Pee-wee Herman film, Tim Burton, did not return for this sequel due to commitments on Batman (1989). It was also poorly received by critics and was dumped into theaters amongst a Bambi reissue, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, A Fish Called Wanda, and other movies. This and the aforementioned Big Picture popped the career balloon of producer Richard Gilbert Abramson. It not only ended the Pee-Wee movie series after two features, it was also the beginning of the end for Pee-wee's Playhouse as well; it ended its run two years later, and not helping matters was Paul Reubens' infamous nudie theater incident the year after. It would be a quarter-century before Netflix revived Pee-wee Herman on a visible basis.
• The Big Town (1987) — Budget, $17 million. Box office, $1,733,000. This was released a week after the abrupt resignation of Columbia Pictures president David Puttnam. This was the only feature film directed by Ben Bolt, a replacement for Harold Becker, and he went back to TV ever since.
• The Big Trail (1930) — Budget, $1.76 million. Box Office, $945,000 (rentals). Recorded Loss, over $1 million. John Wayne's debut as a leading man was one of the first films shot in 70mm. Barely any theaters were equipped to show the film, thus leading to a standard 35mm version being shot simultaneously with the 70mm version, but it wasn't enough to save the film at the box office and it quickly rode off into the sunset. Wayne ended up starring in B-westerns until his actual Star-Making Role in Stagecoach nine years later.
• Big Trouble (2002) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $8,493,890. Originally scheduled for September 21, 2001, once al-Qaeda struck the country the release was pushed to April of the following year to avoid implications of being too similar to the attacks, since the movie's climax involves hijacking an airplane. It didn't help, nor did a muted promotion close to release.
• Big Trouble in Little China (1986) — Budget, $20 million (not counting marketing costs), $25 million (counting them). Box office, $11.1 million (domestic). This movie's original failure in theaters thanks to distributor 20th Century Fox also releasing Aliens the next week led to director John Carpenter to return to lower budget features and got a planned sequel cast into limbo until BOOM! comics continued it in 2014. Carpenter would not return to directing big budget features until the '90s, by which point he got ensnared in a line of bombs that knocked out his directing career. This movie quickly became a Cult Classic on home video and with critics.
• Big Wednesday (1978) — Budget, $11 million. Box office, $4.5 million. John Milius's surfing drama wiped out in the states, but made a bigger splash in Japan ^note The Pokémon: The Series episode Pokemon S 1 E 67 The Pi Kahuna apparently paid homage to it.. Nevertheless, it was a Breakthrough Hit for its scorer Basil Poledouris.
• The Big Year (2011) — Budget, $41 million. Box office, $7.4 million. Despite three bankable names in the lead roles, an established supporting cast, and a director whose two previous films grossed well over $100 million, Fox dumped this film in theaters with a misleading trailer and no promotion. Its failure might partly explain why Steve Martin has mostly retired from acting.
• Biggles (1986) - Budget, £7 million. Box office, £1.45 million (British release), $112,132 (US release). The first film of W.E. Johns's adventure novels tried to Follow Back to the Future's success by introducing a time-traveling angle, but it crashed and burned in its native UK and in its American release two years later, which made future cinematic adventures very unlikely. It also marked Peter Cushing's final film before his death in 1994.
• Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) - Budget, $25 million. Box office, $6,274,027 (worldwide). A casualty of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as widespread lockdowns had left theaters mostly devoid of filmgoers if they were open at all. Despite a Sequel Gap of twenty-nine years since Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, critics faced the music with open arms as a much-needed burst of optimistic energy in an otherwise depressing year. It also benefitted from its strong performance on VOD services, allegedly enough to drag it past the break-even point for the studio.
• Billionaire Boys Club (2018) — Budget, $15 million. Box office, $2,209,689 (worldwide). This film became Overshadowed by Controversy for being the first film project starring Kevin Spacey since he was outed as a sexual predator, though the film was shot well before that became public and was spending time on The Shelf of Movie Languishment. A limited release in the US and toxic press coverage revolving around Spacey earned it only $126 dollars in ten theatres on opening day, cementing Spacey as box office poison. Ansel Elgort's career was also damaged by this film, with the failure of The Goldfinch, the financial underperformance of West Side Story (2021), and his own personal controversies seemingly ending his era as a bankable star. However, Taron Egerton quickly rebounded with his performance as Elton John in Rocketman (2019).
• Billy Bathgate (1991) — Budget, $48 million. Box office, $15,565,363. The film version of E.L. Doctorow's novel had a very Troubled Production largely due to the Hostility on the Set between Dustin Hoffman and director Robert Benton. The end result received lukewarm reviews and was shot down after four weeks. Writer Tom Stoppard wouldn't write another theatrical film until his Oscar-winner, Shakespeare in Love in 1998.
• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $30,930,984. It earned weaker reviews than most of the other films directed by Ang Lee, which hindered the opening to where it did not even make a million dollars in opening weekend in the United States. The technology required to show this film the way Lee made it also was only available in two theaters in America, period. This continues a trend of films that have basis on the Iraq War not doing well in the U.S., except for American Sniper.
• Bird (1988) — Budget, $9-$14.4 million. Box office, $2.2 million. Clint Eastwood's biopic of jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker was liked by critics and awards groups, but it never expanded beyond 93 theaters.
• Birdy (1984) — Budget, $12 million. Box office, $1,455,045. This was screwed by Tri-Star, who cancelled its wide release after it got ignored by various award groups ^note Though the National Board of Review named it one of the Top 10 films of the year.. Its widest release was at 18 theaters.
• Birth (2004) — Budget, $23 million. Box office, $23,925,492. This killed Jonathon Glazer's cinematic directing career for nine years.
• The Birth of a Nation (2016) — Budget, $8.5 million plus the additional $17.5 million that Fox Searchlight paid to distribute the film. Box office, $15,858,754. The title of this historical drama based on the life of Nat Turner and his slave rebellion likely played a role in turning audiences away, as it was an attempt by director/writer/star Nate Parker to "reclaim" it from the more well-known 1915 pro-slavery film. Not helping this film's chances at all was a years-old rape case that was attributed to Parker and co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin that resurfaced prior to opening day, as it largely overshadowed the reception to the film itself, especially as a gratuitous scene within the film was seen to mirror said case. The next film by Parker, American Skin, went direct-to-streaming.
• Birth of the Dragon (2017) — Budget, $31 million. Box office, $6,967,631. This dramatization of Bruce Lee's 1965 bout with Wong Jack Man had a scathing reception from critics and audiences, mainly due to relegating Lee to a Supporting Protagonist for a fictional white protagonist (that is an Expy of Steve McQueen named Steve McKee). It was overshadowed that weekend by Hurricane Harvey's landfall and the McGregor vs. Mayweather boxing match and died a quick death at the end of an apathetic summer.
• Bitter Moon (1992) — Budget, $5 million. Box office, $1,862,805.
• The Black Cauldron (1985) — Budget, $44 million ^note Disney claims it was $25 million. Box office, $21,288,692 (domestic). Disney's adaptation of The Chronicles of Prydain became the most expensive animated film at the time due to its protracted production spanning nearly twelve years. It faced an Uncertain Audience due to its whimsical moments clashing with frightening content (which earned it the first "PG" rating for a Disney animated film) and was trampled that year by, of all things, The Care Bears Movie (which was released four months earlier). Its failure nearly killed Disney itself, but the success of their next animated feature, as well as those of their rivals, kept them afloat, eventually leading to the Disney Renaissance beginning with The Little Mermaid (1989). The Black Cauldron still ended the Disney careers of CEO Ron Miller and the film's producers and directors; co-director Richard Rich found success with his own studio beginning with The Swan Princess (Miller became a successful winemaker). It ended further plans for the Prydain series until Disney announced a reboot in 2016. It was the last film Disney Animation made in its classic building before being moved to the Glendale Warehouses for the next decade. It would take thirteen years before Disney finally released it to home video, where it became a Cult Classic in part due to mistaken belief that the film had been banned.
• Black Dog (1998) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $12,951,088. Black Dog opened with a terrible $4,809,375 — placing #5 for the slow weekend led by He Got Game. It sank 52.5% to $2,285,705 the following frame. Also, Universal didn't screen the film for critics. Patrick Swayze never had another major studio vehicle built around him.
• Blackhat (2015) — Budget, $70 million. Box office, $17,491,707. This was Michael Mann's first film in 6 years, but had a poor reception and suffered a premature exit from theaters after 3 weeks when it got dumped into January against American Sniper. Mann has yet to direct another film, instead taking executive producer roles in Ford V Ferrari and Tokyo Vice, the latter of which Mann also directed the pilot episode of. Blackhat has gained a small cult following, particularly among those who've seen the "Director's Cut" that was only ever aired on TV.
• Blacklight (2022) - Budget, $43 million. Box office, $15.9 million. Another in a long stretch of samey Liam Neeson action films released with such frequency that audiences likely don't even know they're different movies.
• Black Knight (2001) — Budget, $50 million. Box office, $39,976,235. Director Gil Junger's cinematic career was blacked out by this film's failure; the next film he made ended up going Direct to Video and he's stayed on television since.
• Bleed For This (2016) - Budget, $16 million. Box office, $7.2 million. This boxing biopic about Vinny Pazienza came in the middle of a bad streak for Miles Teller that would help derail his career.
• Bless the Child (2000) — Budget, $60 million. Box office, $29,381,494 (domestic), $40,443,010 (worldwide). A loose adaptation of the Religious Horror novel by Cathy Cash Spellman. Paramount refused to screen it for critics, who wasted no time ripping the film apart on release for, among other things, a Plot Hole-riddled story lacking scares and bad CGI effects. Audiences were indifferent, as it opened at seventh place and dropped from there. Along with I Dreamed of Africa the same year, this ended the A-list status of Kim Basinger, who hasn't had a leading role in another major film outside of Cellular. Screenwriter Tom Rickman was left writing made-for-television films, while co-writer Clifford Green never had another writing credit.
• Blind Fury (1990) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $2.6 million (domestic). While the movie was a financial failure, putting plans for a sequel on the backburner, it received much critical praise and did very well once it hit video.
• Blinded by the Light (2019) - Budget, $15 million. Box office, $11,901,145 (domestic), $17,736,480 (worldwide). While critics loved it, this musical comedy-drama opened too close to Yesterday, another movie about a British Asian inspired by a popular rock artist. Not all major cinemas in the United Kingdom screened it, likely for this reason.
• Blindness (2008) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $19,844,979. This film version of José Saramago's novel centered on a sudden epidemic of blindness. It dealt with protests from blindness advocates over the film's portrayal of blind people. It appeared on some critics' top 10 lists, but its reception was mixed overall.
• The Blob (1988) — Budget, $19 million. Box office, $8,247,943. This Bloodier and Gorier remake of the 1958 movie received mixed reviews but later became a Cult Classic. Director Chuck Russell would return six years later with The Mask.
• Blood and Chocolate (2007) — Budget, $15 million. Box office, $6,311,117. This In Name Only film version of Annette Curtis Klause's novel was heavily panned by critics and was cast out of theaters after nine weeks.
• Blood and Wine (1996) — Budget, $26 million. Box office, $1,094,668. This is the only cinematic screenplay from co-writer Alison Cross, and co-writer Nick Villiers didn't writer again for 4 years. It also ensured director Bob Rafelson wouldn't direct for 6 years. On a more positive note, the working experience Michael Caine had on this film prompted him not to retire from acting.
• Blood In Blood Out (1993) — Budget, $35 million. Box office, $4,496,583. This drama centered on members of a Los Angeles street gang was retitled Bound by Honor due to its original title being the slogan of an actual gang and the LA riots were fresh on everyone's minds. It was still given a mixed reception by critics.
• BloodRayne (2006) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $3,650,275. This Video Game Movies Suck example was accused by Gametrailers of "wasting Ben Kingsley's talent", and it put a bit of a dent in Kingsley's career in addition to becoming a sticking point for frequent Uwe Boll/Quentin Tarantino collaborator Michael Madsen and writer Guinevere Turner, the latter of whom refused to work with director Boll afterwards. It drove a stake through the promising career of Kristanna Loken, and her roles have been mostly Direct to Video fare after starring here. It also prompted Boll to sue co-star Billy Zane for lost revenue because he also helped distribute the film. This did not stop Uwe Boll from starting a series of films when the film sold well on DVD...
  • Blood Rayne II Deliverance (2007) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $167,445. After the first film was slaughtered by critics and flopped at the box office, this one had a limited run and was otherwise released Direct to Video. A third installment was made three years later, though it skipped theaters entirely.
• Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $5,874,530. The live-action version of the anime film received mixed reviews from critics and it faded away in an extremely limited release.
• Blood Ties (2013) — Budget, $24.7 million. Box office, $2,415,472. This was buried in a limited release in North America, with a mere 28 theaters screening the film.
• Blood Work (2002) — Budget, $50 million. Box office, $31,794,718. Reviews were mixed and it didn't survive its opening weekend against xXx. Fortunately, director Clint Eastwood and writer Brian Helgeland bounced back the next year with Mystic River.
• Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989) — Budget, $4 million. Box office, $43,671. The film opened in under 10 theaters and was gone less than a week after release. In addition, film helmer Howard Brookner passed away from AIDS months before this movie's release.
• The Blue Bird (1976) — Budget, $12 million. Box office, $887,000. Fox's second attempt at filming the classic play was hyped as the first cinematic collaboration between the USA and the USSR. Unfortunately, this was a severely Troubled Production which dealt with outdated equipment, actor illnesses, misbehaving actors, a problematic director in George Cukor, and weather. The end result was eviscerated by critics and has never had an official video release.
• Blue Chips (1994) — Budget, $35 million. Box office, $23 million. Along with I Love Trouble and I'll Do Anything, this was part of a bad year for Nick Nolte. It didn't help director William Friedkin's career any, either.
• Blue City (1986) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $6,947,787. Blue City is the only movie film producer and Paramount executive Michelle Manning attempted to direct. Manning felt that the movie released at a bad time, when the 'Brat Pack' ensemble movies of young actors were starting to gain critical backlash. While it had a strong opening start, it was destroyed by movies such as Short Circuit and Top Gun after a while, and was out of theaters in less than five weeks.
• Blue Sky (1994) — Budget, $16 million. Box office, $3,359,465. This was filmed in 1990 but it was placed on The Shelf of Movie Languishment due to Orion Pictures' bankruptcy. This ended up being the final film of director Tony Richardson, who died in 1991. It was an Acclaimed Flop that garnered Jessica Lange an Oscar for Best Actress.
• Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) — Budget, $28 million. Box office, $14 million. The movie was hit with a multitude of studio changes, deciding to turn down Dan Aykroyd and John Landis' original script and changing it more to a kid-friendly romp with fantasy sequences. Aykroyd and Landis hated these changes and only stuck with production due to contractual reasons. It ended up getting dumped out in a bad season, still competing with heavy hitters such as Titanic (1997) and Good Will Hunting, was buried with negative reviews, and audiences were uninterested in seeing a sequel without the late John Belushi. This film, along with the Direct to Video film Susans Plan, dropped the curtain on Landis' career outside of documentaries until Burke & Hare in 2010, which killed his career a second time.

Bo - Bz

• Boat Trip (2002) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $15 million. This comedy about two straight men on a gay cruise was eviscerated by critics for being one-note and offensive and was a Star-Derailing Role for Cuba Gooding Jr..
• Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $2,707,913. This movie halted the career of director/writer Rowdy Herrington, as he's never directed or written again. Bobby Jones is also the sole writing job for Kim Dawson, Bill Pryor, and Tony De Paul.
• The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022) - Budget, $38 million. Box office, $34.1 million. Despite good reviews from critics and fans, the movie for the popular animated series was Screwed by the Network. An afterthought of Disney after the Fox merger, it was pushed back nearly two years from its original release date due to COVID, received Invisible Advertising, and shared an opening weekend with the juggernaut of Top Gun: Maverick.
• The Body (2001) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $36,849 (domestic); $3,739,400 (worldwide). This religious thriller about a conspiracy surrounding a corpse alleged to be Jesus was considered too daring and controversial for mainstream audiences and was buried in a limited release (11 theatres) in the U.S. Most of the film's box office totals came from Spain (not surprising, since it stars Antonio Banderas).
• Body of Evidence (1993) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $13.2 million. This erotic thriller vehicle for Madonna was thrashed by critics for quite obviously chasing the coattails of Basic Instinct, along with unlikable characters, clunky dialogue, and a miscast leading man in Willem Dafoe. The film was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards and won one (Worst Actress), and Roger Ebert listed the film among his most hated. Director Uli Edel only did TV work for the rest of the decade and it was one of several blows dealt to Madonna's acting career.
• Body Snatchers (1993) — Budget, $13 million. Box office, $428,868. This movie did earn a lot of good reviews and only proved to be a minor setback for the careers of its director and most of the writers. Screen story writer Raymond Cistheri, however, never worked another movie.
• Bogus (1996) — Budget, $30 million. Box office, $4.3 million. One of the movies that year, along with the infamous Theodore Rex, the highest budget film to be sent Direct to Video, that derailed Whoopi Goldberg's cinematic career, but she has moved on to other avenues such as The View.
• Bones and All (2022) - Budget, $16-20 million. Box office, $15.1 million. Got good reviews, but an Audience-Alienating Premise of YA-adjacent romance with cannibal protagonists was always going to be a tough sell.
• The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) — Budget, $47 million. Box office, $15,691,192. This notorious adaptation of the Tom Wolfe novel was lambasted for, among other things, its immensely miscast stars and mishandling of the source's satire. Director Brian De Palma's career never fully recovered from the mess, but most of its stars bounced back.
• The Book of Clarence (2024) — Budget, $40 million. Box office, $6,132,813. This satirical Biblical dramedy debuted in 8th place at the box office and fell out of the Top 10 less than a week later, being easily trounced by Mean Girls and The Beekeeper.
• The Book of Henry (2017) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $4,288,104. This family drama film became panned thanks to its overtly sentimental, unintentionally funny, and contrived plot. Its underperformance and director Colin Trevorrow's difficult behavior on the set of this film and Jurassic World cost him his gig on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker a few months later.
• The Boondock Saints (1999) — Budget, $6 million. Box office, $20,471. The film only managed to get a token theatrical release due to the Columbine massacre. While critics panned it as a juvenile knock-off of Quentin Tarantino films, it became a Cult Classic and made $50 million through video rentals which paved the way for a sequel, though writer/director Troy Duffy's ego issues and legal battles over royalties led to a Sequel Gap of ten years.
  • Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) - Budget, $8 million. Box office, $10.6 million. Got a limited release in theaters but failed to break into the top ten in any given weekend. Critics gave it even worse reviews than the first film, and it didn't resonate with audiences enough to get the same kind of cult following. It reportedly turned a profit through home video sales but a third film has since been stuck in Development Hell. It didn't do Duffy's career any favors either, with his only feature film credit since 2009 being as a writer on Guest House in 2020.
• The Boost (1988) — Budget, $8 million. Box office, $784,990. Based on Ben Stein's novel The Ludes, this drama about cocaine addiction got a mixed reception from critics and died a quiet death in a limited release.
• Bordello of Blood (1996) — Budget, $13 million. Box office, $5.5 million. The films failure ended up scrapping plans for a third Tales From the Crypt movie. It also ended up denting Dennis Miller's career as a lead theatrical actor, having left him with small roles and TV work since.
• The Border (1982) — Budget, $22 million. Box office, $6,118,683. This was the film Jack Nicholson made in-between his Oscar-nominated role in Reds and his Oscar-winning role in Terms of Endearment. This lacked the critical and financial support of either of those two films.
• The Borrowers (1997) — Budget, $29 million. Box office, $22,619,589. Producer Rachel Talalay, who was just coming off Tank Girl, which turned her and the other producers of that movie into enemies of the comic's creators, saw her cinematic career fully implode with this film. She has done a lot of TV work since then (including Supernatural and Doctor Who), but the only two movies she did past this were TV movies. The careers of the director, other producers, and writers also saw downgrades to B-level (two of them, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, would get back into the A-level in the New 10s).
• Bottle Rocket (1996) — Budget, $7 million. Box office, $560,069. Despite the film's financial failure, its critical acclaim brought attention to director Wes Anderson and stars Luke and Owen Wilson.
• Bound (1996) — Budget, $6 million. Box office, $3,802,260. Despite the poor box office take, this lesbian crime thriller won several festival awards and brought attention to The Wachowskis, whom were able to use the buzz to get The Matrix greenlit.
• The Bounty (1984) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $8,613,462. One of several busts for producer Dino De Laurentiis, who saved the project from Development Hell after it started with David Lean. Its stars, including Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, survived.
• The Boy in Blue (1986) — Budget, $7.7 million Canadian dollars. Box office, $275,000 U.S. dollars. This film crushed director Charles Jarrott's cinematic career permanently, since every movie he made in his life after this were T.V. movies.
• Boys and Girls (2000) — Budget, $35 million. Box office, $25.8 million. After the huge success of She's All That, director Robert Iscove worked once again with Freddie Prinze Jr. on this movie. Iscove never had a theatrical hit again, really crashing out with his next effort From Justin to Kelly, and Prinze never had another real success as a star again outside of his ensemble role in the Scooby-Doo live-action films.
• The Boys in the Band (1970) — Budget, $5.5 million. Box office, $3.5 million. The film version of Matt Crowley's play was an Acclaimed Flop with critics but received divided responses from the Gay community, many of whom slammed the film as an Unintentional Period Piece of Pre-Stonewall Gayngst. Both the film and stage play were Vindicated by History years later.
• Brainstorm (1983) — Budget, $18 million. Box office, $10.2 million. This sci-fi flick was the final film for Natalie Wood, who died just after filming her scenes. MGM attempted to scrap the film after her death, but director Douglas Trumbull pushed back and got the film finished after making adjustments. It went onto The Shelf of Movie Languishment for over a year and was released in September with Invisible Advertising. Trumbull was so exhausted by the Executive Meddling that he retired from mainstream filmmaking until The Tree of Life.
• Brazil (1985) — Budget, $15 million. Box office, $9 million. Terry Gilliam's dystopian satire was released in Europe by Fox to healthy box office results. Its US release by Universal became a shining example of Executive Meddling as the studio attempted to Re-Cut the film into a more marketable movie with a happy ending. Gilliam gained enough critical support through covert screenings that the studio released his cut, which was slightly shorter than the original but with the Downer Ending intact. It ended up an Acclaimed Flop upon release and later became a Cult Classic.
• Breakfast of Champions (1999) — Budget, $12 million. Box office, $178,278. The film version of Kurt Vonnegut's satirical novel received scathing reviews from critics and topped out at 11 theaters. Vonnegut himself had nothing good to say about it.
• Brenda Starr (1989) — Budget, $16 million. Box office, $67,828. This sat on The Shelf of Movie Languishment for three years due to legal issues before getting released in France. It waited another three years before it got a US release, where it didn't survive long in theaters.
• The Bride (1985) — Budget, $13 million. Box office, $3,558,669. This Hotter and Sexier version of Frankenstein, with Sting as Dr. Frankenstein, was shredded by critics and was overshadowed by another Columbia Pictures horror film released that August, Fright Night (1985).
• Brigadoon (1954) - Budget, $3,019,000. Box office, $2.25 million. Recorded loss, $1,555,000. Vincente Minnelli's adaptation of the Lerner and Lowe musical drew mixed reviews from critics ^note with its length being a common criticism, and was overshadowed that year by MGM's other big musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Lerner and Lowe bounced back with My Fair Lady and Gigi (the latter also directed by Minnelli). The film was later Vindicated by History.
• Bright Lights, Big City (1988) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $16,118,077. It would be the last film that James Bridges would direct before his death in 1993.
• Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986) — Budget, $18 million. Box office, $11,957,943. The film version of Neil Simon's play, the first of his Eugene Trilogy, was the penultimate film directed by Gene Saks.
• Brighton Rock (2011) — Budget, $12 million. Box office, $1,829,020. This second film version of the Graham Greene novel premiered simultaneously in theaters and on video-on-demand.
• Bringing Out the Dead (1999) — Budget, $32 million. Box office, $16,797,190. This Martin Scorsese film was an Acclaimed Flop that suffered due to misleading advertising painting the film as a supernatural thriller when it wasn't.
• Brokedown Palace (1999) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $10,115,013. This is the final film directed by Jonathan Kaplan before he focused his career on TV shows. This was banned in Thailand for its negative depiction of its legal system. Star Claire Danes was banned in the Philippines, where it was filmed, for making unflattering comments about the country in an interview. This and The Mod Squad derailed Danes' career for a good bit.
• The Bronze (2016) — Budget, $3.5 million. Box office, $615,816. A movie with this small a budget normally wouldn't make this list, but the decision to give it a wide release was a disaster. This movie is one of the worst grossing movies released in 1,000+ theaters, meaning the decision to create prints to send to theaters rather than go straight to video/streaming probably cost the studio big money. It also had one of the lowest opening weekends of all time ($331).
• Bros (2022) — Budget, $22 million. Box office, $14.7 million. The film's marketing leaned heavily into emphasizing its historic status as the first LGBTQ rom-com produced by a major American studio. Writer/star Billy Eichner believed this contributed to its poor performance, as it attracted protests and boycotts from anti-gay groups (and heightened scrutiny from the community it sought to represent). However, the film's financial woes probably had more to do with the general struggles of the rom-com at the box office in the streaming era and the lack of recognizable stars, with Eichner being most known for his TV roles.
• The Brothers Bloom (2008) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $3,531,756 (domestic), $5,529,464 (worldwide). Its widest release was in 209 theaters but the critics generally liked it. Director Rian Johnson had better luck with his next film, Looper.
• The Brothers Grimsby (2016) — Budget, $35 million. Box office, $25,182,929. The biggest bomb of Sacha Baron Cohen's career. It opened in America with $3.5 million, slightly more than its UK opening of $2.6 million.
• The Brothers Solomon (2007) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $900,926 (domestic), $1,035,056 (worldwide). The last feature film directed by Bob Odenkirk; he expressed disappointment in the final product in a 2021 interview with The A.V. Club. It is also infamous for being the first movie film critic Richard Roeper walked out on.
• The Brown Bunny (2003) — Budget, $10 million. World-wide ticket and DVD sales: $374,000. Mostly famous for featuring an unsimulated oral sex scene between producer/director/lead actor Vincent Gallo and Chloë Sevigny, and the epic war of words between Gallo and critic Roger Ebert over the Cannes Film Festival cut, which included roughly 26 extra minutes of mostly meaningless footage. Chloë Sevigny managed to escape this film with her career intact but Gallo was not so fortunate, as the controversies revolving around him and the poor reception to the film killed any post-Buffalo '66 momentum he had. Gallo has only made one other feature film since, with his other directorial credits being in short films.
• The Browning Version (1994) — Budget, Unknown. Box office, $487,391. Mike Figgis' adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play never exited limited release in North America.
• Bubble Boy (2001) — Budget, $13 million. Box office, $5,007,898. Critics hated this comedy for its over-reliance on lowbrow humor and it bounced out of theaters after seven weeks.
• Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011) — Budget, just under $10 million. Box office, $2,529,395. It was taken out of theaters after only two weeks, and quickly derailed Nick Swardson's film career before it could even get started (the Misaimed Marketing didn't seem to help either).
• Buddy (1997) — Budget, $25 million. Box office, $10,113,400. This was the first film from Jim Henson Pictures, and its box-office failure, as well as Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, nearly destroyed the Jim Henson Company. This film's menagerie of animals included several chimpanzees, elicited an outcry from animal activists over the movie's attempt to portray chimpanzees as suitable, docile house pets (chimpanzees can be pretty aggressive as well as intelligent). Director Caroline Thompson's feature film career was iced for 8 years. Co-writer William Joyce also did not have a theatrical credit through that time span apart from Pixar's A Bug's Life. This is also the only film in Rene Russo's career (before or since) where she was the first billed star.
• Buddy Buddy (1981) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $7,259,000 (domestic). This critically-panned comedy was the last film directed by Billy Wilder, and the last film written by his long-time collaborator, I.A.L. Diamond.
• Bullet to the Head (2013) — Budget, $55 million. Box office, $22.6 million. The start of a bad year for Sylvester Stallone; this had his worst opening weekend in 32 years and his second lowest of all time.
• Bulletproof Monk (2003) — Budget, $52 million. Box office, $37,713,879. The first and only feature film directed by Paul Hunter, who went back to music videos after its critical and financial beatdown. This also ended attempts by Hollywood to make Chow Yun-fat a leading star in the west after headlining several flops.
• Bullets over Broadway (1994) — Budget, $20 million. Box office, $13,383,747. This was one of Woody Allen's most highly Acclaimed Flops.
• Burke & Hare (2010) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $4.3 million. It is the last film that John Landis has directed so far.
• The Burning (1981) — Budget, $1.5 million. Box office, $270,508 (domestic, original release), $707,770 (domestic, after reissue). This was the debut release of Miramax Films and the film debuts of Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and Holly Hunter. It initially failed to expand from its original limited release due to the over-saturation of slasher films at the time. Orion Pictures gave the film a wide release the next year. The film's director, Tony Maylam, said that the film recouped its budget from its international box office. It later became a cult hit in the US on video.
• Butch and Sundance: The Early Years (1979) — Budget, $9 million. Box office, $5.1 million. This semi-prequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid received neither the critical nor financial success of the original. This was the only film produced by Butch Cassidy's screenwriter William Goldman.
• By the Sea (2015) — Budget, $10 million. Box office, $538,460 (domestic), $2,555,525 (worldwide). Even with the star power of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (who starred in, produced, and directed this movie while on their honeymoon), it never escaped limited release when critics and audiences rejected it.

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