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20 of the biggest box-office flops of the decade, from 'Green Lantern' to 'Dark Phoenix'
20 of the biggest box-office flops of the decade, from 'Green Lantern' to 'Dark Phoenix'
Travis ClarkDec 10, 2019, 23:30 IST
As the decade comes to an end, we looked back at some of the biggest box-office flops of the 2010s.
They include superhero movies like "Green Lantern" and "Dark Phoenix," disastrous animated movies like "Mars Needs Moms," and atrocious remakes like "Ben-Hur."
The 2010s have delivered plenty of box-office hits and some terrible misfires.
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The superhero genre dominated the decade at the box office thanks to the steady success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and surprise sensations like "Venom" and "Joker." But not all of them were success stories. The decade kicked off with one of the biggest bombs of all time with "Green Lantern" and this year saw Fox's final "X-Men" movie, "Dark Phoenix," crash and burn.
We looked back at the decade in flops and highlighted some of the major duds of the 2010s. Some managed to earn back their production budgets, but just barely. When factoring in marketing costs, they were epic failures. Others didn't come close to earning back the money it cost to make them.
There were some themes throughout the biggest flops of the decade. Pretty much all of the movies we highlighted were torn apart by critics. And it's safe to say that audiences aren't interested in modern takes on medieval tales - like "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" and last year's "Robin Hood" - no matter how determined Hollywood is to make them. Actor Chris Hemsworth was a recurring face throughout the list and we didn't even include this year's "Men in Black: International," which tanked at the box office. It's a good thing he has his role as Thor in the MCU to fall back on.
Even Disney, the uncontested box-office champion of the latter part of the decade, had some major flops, such as the big-budget "John Carter," the animated "Mars Needs Moms," and "The Lone Ranger."
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The latest bomb is STX Entertainment's "Playmobil: The Movie," which made less than $1 million in its domestic opening over the weekend. It's one of the worst openings of all time. STX has had a string of flops this year, including "UglyDolls" and "Poms."
Below are 20 of the biggest box-office flops of the 2010s (budget and box-office numbers are based on IMDb Pro data):
What critics said: "Children are unlikely to enjoy it, and parents will be aching for a few stiff drinks in a Mars bar long before it's over." — Guardian
"Green Lantern" (2011)
Production budget: $200 million
Worldwide gross: $220 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 26%
What critics said: "How many more of these superheroes can we take?" — The Wrap
"John Carter" (2012)
Production budget: $250 million
Worldwide gross: $284 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 52%
What critics said: "The reported $250 million price tag for John Carter gives one pause. I suppose one could argue that masterpieces have no price. Then again, John Carter is no masterpiece." — Christian Science Monitor
"Cloud Atlas" (2012)
Production budget: $102 million
Worldwide gross: $130 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 66%
What critics said: "An earnest but misbegotten adaptation, which reduces a moving tour de force to a dull and homiletic house of frenetically shuffled cards." — Newsweek
"The Lone Ranger" (2013)
Production budget: $215 million
Worldwide gross: $260 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 31%
What critics said: "Gallops across our skulls for two and a half hours, pounding them into the same kind of desert as that on screen: a barren flatland with occasional rearing outcries of rock." — Financial Times
"I, Frankenstein" (2014)
Production budget: $65 million
Worldwide gross: $71 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 5%
What critics said: "Long on talk and incoherent action, devoid of humor, this listless supernatural actioner surely has Mary Shelley turning in her grave." — Variety
"Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" (2014)
Production budget: $65 million
Worldwide gross: $39 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 43%
What critics said: "Reviewers were forbidden from posting a word about this sequel until opening day, lest we give away the shocking secret that it's a carbon copy of its predecessor." — Chicago Reader
"Blackhat" (2015)
Production budget: $70 million
Worldwide gross: $19 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 33%
What critics said: "Hints of a quasi-apocalyptic chill seem arbitrary — neither symbolic nor dramatic. The effect is like watching software run itself." — New Yorker
"Fantastic Four" (2015)
Production budget: $120 million
Worldwide gross: $168 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 9%
What critics said: "It's as if the whole Marvel thing got in the way of the indie movie everyone secretly wanted to make — a squeamishness that does no one any favours." — London Evening Standard
"In the Heart of the Sea" (2015)
Production budget: $100 million
Worldwide gross: $93 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 43%
What critics said: "If a silent whale is your most magnetic screen presence, he should probably appear for more than a few minutes." — The Atlantic
"The Huntsman: Winter's War" (2016)
Production budget: $115 million
Worldwide gross: $164 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 18%
What critics said: "Here's hoping that any future installment ditches the Huntsman the way that Snow White was shunted aside, because the evil queens are where it's at." — BuzzFeed
"Ben-Hur" (2016)
Production budget: $100 million
Worldwide gross: $94 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 25%
What critics said: "What's wrong with the new Ben-Hur? How long have you got? This is a textbook case, step by agonising step, of how not to make a big-budget blockbuster." — Times (UK)
"King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" (2017)
Production budget: $175 million
Worldwide gross: $148 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 30%
What critics said: "Director Guy Ritchie can turn London crime dramas into cinematic lightning, but apply his fast cuts and jagged pacing to the Arthurian legend and you get, well, a brutal, bleedin' mess." — Rolling Stone
"The Happytime Murders" (2018)
Production budget: $40 million
Worldwide gross: $27 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 24%
What critics said: "Comedies this broad come down to percentage games and (in what has become a ritual for me, alas), I estimate less than 10 percent of screenwriter Todd Berger's jokes land." — Vulture
"The Girl in the Spider's Web" (2018)
Production budget: $43 million
Worldwide gross: $35 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 40%
What critics said: "It's "new" in the way New Coke was new, familiar enough so you can tell what it's aiming for, but it's subtly, and sometimes not-so-subtly, off." — Slate
"Robin Hood" (2018)
Production budget: $100 million
Worldwide gross: $86 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 15%
What critics said: "It's legitimately funny. Not sure that was the intention." — Chicago Sun-Times
"Mortal Engines" (2018)
Production budget: $100 million
Worldwide gross: $83 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 27%
What critics said: "How did this truly crummy movie get made?" — RogerEbert.com
"Hellboy" (2019)
Production budget: $50 million
Worldwide gross: $44 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 17%
What critics said: "Watching Hellboy is my new personal idea of hell." — Globe and Mail
"Dark Phoenix" (2019)
Production budget: $200 million
Worldwide gross: $252 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 23%
What critics said: "Seeking to tie up loose ends and correct past errors, Dark Phoenix instead comes across as more of a collection of forgettable outtakes, like Pink Floyd's The Endless River LP." — Toronto Star
"Playmobil: The Movie"
Production budget: $70 million
Worldwide gross (so far): $13 million
Rotten Tomatoes critics score: 18%
What critics said: "Playmobil: The Movie isn't as funny as some of the direct-to-video Lego-related movies, either, and that's very much the field it competes in, theatrical release or not." — AV Club
