Box Office Bombs: 'John Carter,' 'Pluto Nash,' 'Heaven's Gate' And More (PHOTOS)

The Huffington Post  |  By Posted: 03/21/2012 3:31 pm Updated: 03/22/2012 12:38 pm

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Box Office Bombs

Maybe Disney should forget Mars altogether. Almost one year to the day that the studio released the high-budgeted "Mars Needs Moms" to some terrible box-office returns, the Mars-set "John Carter" landed with similarly dire results. The Andrew Stanton film, which cost $250 million to produce, could lose Disney as much as $200 million. Of course, the Mouse House isn't the first studio to weather the fallout from a red-ink spewing bust; ahead, 12 other infamous box-office misfires.

[Figures via Box Office Mojo and Wikipedia]

PHOTOS:

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  • "Heaven's Gate," 1980

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $44 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong> $3.4 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $40.6 million<br> <br clear="all"> Director Michael Cimino had all sorts of cachet following his Oscar-winning work on "The Deer Hunter." His next feature? This costly mess, which is still synonymous with Hollywood hubris gone mad, 32 years after its release. Like "Cutthroat Island" did with Carolco, this film eventually led studio United Artists to shutter its doors.

  • "Ishtar," 1987

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $55 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $14.3 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $40.7 million<br> <br clear="all"> The road to ruin. The Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman comedy (from director Elaine May) was rife with post-production woes, which led to bad pre-release buzz. <a href="http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/ja06/elainemay.htm" target="_hplink">As Mike Nichols</a>, May's former comedy partner, said: "['Ishtar'] is the prime example that I know of in Hollywood of studio suicide."

  • "Cutthroat Island," 1995

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $115 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $18.5 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $96.5 million<br> <br clear="all"> The movie that sunk (sorry) both Renny Harlin's directing career and production company Carolco, though who could be surprised? Even Harlin and star Geena Davis knew "Cutthroat Island" -- about a female pirate -- was bad news from the start. "We begged to be let go. We begged that we didn't have to make this movie," <a href="http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tb/tb110912action_director_renn" target="_hplink">he told KCRW last year</a>. "We felt that a pirate movie with a female lead was suicidal, but we were contractually obligated."

  • "The 13th Warrior," 1999

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $160 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $61.9 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $98.1 million<br> <br clear="all"> Directed by John McTiernan ("Die Hard") and eventually re-cut by author Michael Crichton (who wrote "Eaters of the Dead," which the film was based on), "The 13th Warrior" was another career-altering bust. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2003-11-20#celeb8" target="_hplink">The film left such a sour taste in the mouth of co-star Omar Sharif that he retired from acting for four years</a>.

  • "Battlefield Earth," 2000

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $103 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $29.7 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $73.3 million<br> <br clear="all"> Based on the book by L. Ron Hubbard, "Battlefield Earth" was one of the worst-reviewed films ever. Perhaps star John Travolta would have had better luck bringing "Dianetics" to the big screen?

  • "Town & Country," 2001

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $105 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $10.3 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $94.7<br> <br clear="all"> Thanks to director and star Warren Beatty's meticulous nature, this romantic comedy took three years and millions of dollars to produce. When it was finally released in 2001, audiences didn't care: "Town & Country" was an all-time bust and marks the last time Beatty appeared onscreen.

  • "Pluto Nash," 2002

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $120 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $7.1 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $112.9 million<br> <br clear="all"> From "Holy Man" to "Showtime" to "Meet Dave" to the recent release "A Thousand Words," Eddie Murphy is dependable for one thing: box-office washouts. "Pluto Nash" was his most notorious, a $100 million space "comedy" that couldn't even gross $5 million <em>total</em> at the domestic box office.

  • "Gigli," 2003

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $74 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $7.2 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $66.8 million<br> <br clear="all"> Jennifer Lopez was right: It <em>was</em> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZyZbn5baJk" target="_hplink">"turkey time."</a>

  • "The Alamo," 2004

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $145 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $25.8 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $119.2 million<br> <br clear="all"> Forget "The Alamo."

  • "How Do You Know," 2010

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $120 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $48.6 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $71.4 million<br> <br clear="all"> How do you know this James L. Brooks romcom was doomed for disaster from the start? Look at the budget, which spiraled out of control after reshoots.

  • "Mars Needs Moms," 2011

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $175 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $38.9 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $136.1 million<br> <br clear="all"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley" target="_hplink">Lost in the uncanny valley</a>. The Robert Zemeckis-produced motion-capture spectacle, "Mars Needs Moms," was such a costly mistake, <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/disney-kills-robert-zemeckis-yellow-167415" target="_hplink">Disney canceled the director's plans to remake "Yellow Submarine" in a similar fashion</a>.

  • "Green Lantern," 2011

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $325 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $219.9 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $105.1 million<br> <br clear="all"> Despite over $100 million in domestic grosses, "Green Lantern" wound up being a write-off for Warner Bros. Worse, any hope to turn this fringe comic character into a franchise like "Iron Man" -- one that could produce income for the studio for years to come -- was lost. Hal Jordan wasn't kidding about that whole "blackest night" thing.

  • "John Carter," 2012

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $375 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $282.7 million<br> <strong>Total losses</strong>: $92.3 million<br> <br clear="all"> John Carter of flops. The costly live-action debut from Pixar director Andrew Stanton <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-carter-cost-disney-millions-301704">reportedly lost Disney $120 million</a>, this despite grossing almost $300 million worldwide.

  • "Battleship," 2012

    <strong>Cost</strong>: $200-210 million<br> <strong>Worldwide gross</strong>: $300 million<br> <br clear="all"> "Battleship" earned $300 million worldwide, but because of high costs, <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/battleship-universal-box-office-taylor-kitsch-327972">the film reportedly lost Universal parent company NBC $150 million</a>.

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Maybe Disney should forget Mars altogether. Almost one year to the day that the studio released the high-budgeted "Mars Needs Moms" to some terrible box-office returns, the Mars-set "John Carter" land...
Maybe Disney should forget Mars altogether. Almost one year to the day that the studio released the high-budgeted "Mars Needs Moms" to some terrible box-office returns, the Mars-set "John Carter" land...
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Carine Fabius

Carine Fabius: Just Call Me Crazy: I Liked John Carter

"What? You and three other people?" That's what a friend of mine said when I told him I went to see John Carter.

 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dbrockskk
44 Fans
02:12 PM on 04/13/2012
must be me. I can barely afford movies anymore.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Collin07
Common sense wins
102 Fans
04:47 PM on 04/04/2012
I would take exception with a number of these movies. Cut Throat Island is my wife's favorite movie. Green Lantern wasn't that bad and Mars Needs Moms was actually pretty good. As far as John Carter goes, I thought it was EXCELLENT!
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Zee Remorca
0 Fans
01:56 PM on 04/04/2012
John Carter is not a flop.
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jrev2020
39 Fans
09:14 PM on 03/25/2012
Hunger Games IS a Battle Royale rip off. Why was the Japanese smash hit movie banned in America and now 10 years later they redo it and it's a smash hit here? Why...because they didn't want to pay royalties.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Steve Rotert
98 Fans
04:31 PM on 03/25/2012
This may be a stupid question to some, but I honestly don't know. When the amount of money that a movie has made is figured, are they allowing for inflation? I paid $8.00 to see Titanic and .75 cents to see Star Wars, so of course the total gross is going to be far higher. I'm wondering which movies actually sell more tickets. Titanic was the second to the last time I went to the movies, after I paid to see Armageddon I vowed never to go back.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
Mchris1947
My Life is Too Big, for a teenie-tiny Bio.
27 Fans
12:20 PM on 03/26/2012
There are lots of inflation adjusted All-time box office lists. As you might expect, there are plenty of movies from generations past which stack up favorably with today's hits, in terms of number of ticket sold. Gone With The Wind is still one of the most watch films of all time.
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ANARCHITEK
11 Fans
04:14 PM on 03/25/2012
Really! Who couldn't anticipate a movie based on a book 100 years old, with a Civil War veteran hero, being a FLOP?!?!? This points up the problem with having bean-counters in charge of production, in general, and the whole CEO culture in particular. When ANY business is run on the MAXIMUM PROFIT basis, crap like this is a NATURAL RESULT! Maybe we could do WITHOUT someone at the TOP raking off a FEW HUNDRED MILLION BUCKS! I bet EVERY business could IMPROVE its bottom line, JUST by DUMPING their CEO's. The PROOF would show up in just HOW MANY jobs these guys could line up, in the aftermath! I'm bettting ZERO or LESS, paying anything more than a TENTH, or ar TWENTIETH of what they make NOW. The WORLD would be a better place, the rest of us would sleep easier, and the UNEMPLOYMENT numbers would PLUMMET! As it is, now, TOO MUCH MONEY goes to SUPPORTING TOO FEW, paying them ENTIRELY TOO MUCH. "reaganomics" gone haywire, indeed!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Doug Girard
I will take a Raptor over a politician anyday.
78 Fans
07:14 PM on 03/26/2012
Aw heck. Get off your soapbox.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Frank Lee Mydear
21 Fans
01:52 PM on 04/04/2012
This movie has been in pre-production in one form or another since the 1930's. The movie is great, better than the last three star wars prequels.
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sankariabuharb
26 Fans
04:03 PM on 03/25/2012
I thought the Alamo was awesome.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Mike McClaren
166 Fans
03:53 PM on 03/25/2012
Maybe the studio needs to get control of the directors. And good, I wish every film would lose money so they could bring cost back into reality, paying actors and actresses to play pretend, and getting 7 or 10 million is making fools out of the movie going public.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Frank Lee Mydear
21 Fans
01:54 PM on 04/04/2012
They saved money by not hiring stars. All of the money is up on the screen. It was great.
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j5kevin550
2 Fans
03:38 PM on 03/25/2012
I also want to see John Carter, but it takes a lot for me to want to go to the movie theater since the closest one to me is 20 minutes away, so I was waiting for Blu-ray.

The problem with Mars Needs Moms is the disgusting CGI they have, it's horribly nasty looking and makes me want to vomit just looking at it... I sort of liked Green Lantern, but it took too long to get going. I like Paul Rudd and Reese Witherspoon, but I couldn't sit through more than 10 minutes of How Do You Know.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
nomadic
Artist, writer and not fond of the politically ran
140 Fans
03:31 PM on 03/25/2012
First of all, by the numbers of those attending and the money drawn by them this film is in no way a flop. Second, considering the overt lack of merchandizing (no toys, models, movie focus magazines, etc.), the reticence to actually make a new trailer to retool the impression of the film and the unprecedented act of Disney officially throwing their film under the bus, while it's still in the theaters and after only 10 days in the theaters is patently absurd. Who takes a 10 day old film and decides that while it's still drawing impressive amounts of money and viewers, (including a LOT of repeat viewers) that it's time to officially and very publicly cut their "losses"? It's now barely into its third week and it's officially a "bomb"? Name another film treated like that, ever? They can't. No one here can.
What has bugged me for months was the lack of studio hype. The John Carter tales have stayed in print, continuously for 100 years. Astonishingly, none of this story's rich history has been promoted, not even the original author who later created Tarzan.
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ahetty2000
Free Your Mind and Your A$$ will Follow
127 Fans
03:16 PM on 03/25/2012
What REALLY suprised me about this list is that they ALL (except for Alamo) are ORIGINAL MOVIES - NOT REMAKES - which there are WAY too many of.
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chrissf4529
your opinion is as valid as mine
75 Fans
02:59 PM on 03/25/2012
Michael Crichton once said of hollywood " Fabulous idiots". You always wonder who "greenlit" some of these movies and why do they cost so much to produce. But of course you never know the fickleness of the movie watching public. Some movies win by default ,Honey I shrunk the kids", did well because the Big movie was sold out, and "honey" caught a lot of overflow. The benefit to all of the new avenues (Rental, payperview, and dvd sales) is all of the "flops" have the opportunity to live on, and ,make more money.
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pie17
126 Fans
02:50 PM on 03/25/2012
This is how we America are stupid and waste our money. Paying for overpaid celebrities to star in 1-1/2 films in which the stars are in it less than an hour. America wake up and stop ovberpaying celebrities, doctors, sports pro, etc and get the economy back in shape by not going to the show, games and fighting for fair healthcare so doctors won't overcharge and bill us.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Steve Rotert
98 Fans
03:41 PM on 03/25/2012
I absolutely agree that celebrities and ESPECIALLY sports "pros" are paid too much, but doctors? They actually provide a badly needed service and most have devoted their entire lives to providing it. But yes, we need to save our money for things that actually affect our lives and stop spending it on stupid movies and watching big sweaty men grope each other, I can watch gay porn( Wrestling and Football) for that. Seriously, for any heterosexuals that watch WW SmackDown!, or whatever it is, you have to admit it is nothing more than gay porn without the actual penetration. I say this with all due respect to those of alternative lifestyles.
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pie17
126 Fans
03:50 PM on 03/25/2012
Doctors overcharge for their services and its killing the healtcare for everyone. They work extremely hard (I know I have had the big C and a few surgeries in my life and I thank the caring doctor) but we have to be reasonable these men makes millions a year and that is why all the foriegn doctors (I have had about 5 foreign doctors in my surgeries and they are the best) come from Germany, Australia, etc. because they make more here in this country than their own. They would do the same job in their own country for alot less so let's be realistic they are still overpaid in America.
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tallenarts
0 Fans
02:41 PM on 03/25/2012
I thought John Carter was fantastic. At the end of the movie I could have sat through another two hours happily. The people I went with felt the same. We were all actually hoping for a sequel, looks like that may not happen now. It's a shame.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Steve Rotert
98 Fans
03:57 PM on 03/25/2012
I haven't seen it but since it bombed at the box office I'm sure it was a great movie. The reason Hollywood rarely makes decent movies is because nobody will watch them. There are few exceptions like Gladiator, BraveHeart, and Saving Private Ryan, but most people would rather flock to pure unapologetic crap like Armageddon, any Adam Sandler movie, and many others that I can't even think of. The only reason I remember Armageddon so well is that when it started I thought there was at least one good thing about this movie in that it couldn't possibly get any worse. I was wrong.
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tallenarts
0 Fans
01:59 AM on 03/26/2012
That literally made me laugh, thanks for that! I also loved Hugo and The Artist and Captain America. The only Adam Sandler movie that I have enjoyed was 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore, great concept with decent execution though when it comes to similar themed movies I prefer Groundhog Day with Bill Murray or the much darker Momento.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Frank Lee Mydear
21 Fans
01:57 PM on 04/04/2012
I like the fact that at the end, they added "of Mars" to the title.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Doug Girard
I will take a Raptor over a politician anyday.
78 Fans
02:34 PM on 03/25/2012
I really dont care if Disney loses money on the film at all. Serves them right. They usually pillage and steal smaller known works, re-hash them, then produce thme as thier own. Take for instance 'The Haunted Mansion' with Eddie Murphy. I personally know the creator, and I saw his work right down to the characters and creation of the mansion itself years before Disney put the project into production. My friend made the mistake of making a 'deal' to produce an idea for an attaction at one of the parks, and 'shazam!' All of a sudden it becomes a Disney reality. In not ONE part of the credits is this person recognized as the creator of the idea.

I dont spill a tear over Disney losing money over a poject. They deserve it at times.

In defence of 'John Carter.' I read the book in high school, and was excited when I saw they made a feature film about it. I can say they didnt butcher the story like they normally do, and the movie surprizingly follows the book. I do advise people who have seen it to read the book, then see the movie again. You'll enjoy it much more.
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