Ridley Scott's Star-Packed 'The Counselor' Bombs At Theaters

The Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt film earned a tepid $8 million at theaters opening weekend.

Estimates had the film making anywhere from $10 million to $20 million.

The movie had enough star power to carry interest in the film with Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz also at the reigns. Plus, Pitt and Fassbender are both in another high-profile blockbuster "12 Years a Slave" that's getting a lot of Oscar buzz.

So what happened?

Plain and simple, "The Counselor" suffered from awful reviews. Collectively, the film scored 35% on Rotten Tomatoes with critics attacking everything from the film's action sequences, its script, length, and actors' performances from Diaz to Pitt.

Overall, it was just a disappointment.

From Entertainment Weekly who gave the film a D+:

"The director surrounds the garishly painted characters in excessive dollops of glitzy opulence, hammer-to-the-skull symbolism, and sex scenes that are as embarrassing as they are unerotic - the film's paranoid view of women comes off as downright Neanderthal."

The Fox film cost an estimated $25 million to make.

The film is the latest addition to a string of box-office duds that continues to grow:

"Machete Kills" - $3.8 million
"Runner, Runner" - $7.6 million
"Getaway" - $5.5 million
"Paranoia" - $3.5 million