The 30 Most Expensive Box Office Bombs in Hollywood History
Every movie on this list was supposed to be a hit. Studios spent hundreds of millions of dollars on stars, sets and special effects, then millions more on marketing, and audiences simply didn’t show up.
Some of these flops ended careers, sank franchises before they started, or even helped push a studio into bankruptcy. Others sold plenty of tickets and still lost money because they cost so much to make.
The list runs roughly from the biggest estimated loss down, starting with recent blockbusters that each lost well over $100 million and finishing with the classic disasters that changed how Hollywood does business.
Loss figures are estimates from trade reports and studio statements, since studios rarely open their books. Here are the 30 most expensive box office bombs in Hollywood history.
1. The Marvels (2023)
The Marvels became the biggest box office bomb of 2023 and the lowest-grossing film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney’s sequel to Captain Marvel teamed Brie Larson with Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani, and UK filings later put its production cost at roughly $275 million, one of the highest in MCU history.
The film opened to about $46 million in North America, the weakest debut the MCU had ever seen, and finished with roughly $206 million worldwide. In Deadline’s breakdown of 2023’s biggest flops, which weighs production, marketing and every revenue stream, The Marvels came out with an estimated net loss of $237 million.
The 2023 actors strike kept the cast from promoting the film, and Disney CEO Bob Iger later admitted the studio had not supervised the production closely enough. Director Nia DaCosta did set one record: the biggest opening ever for a film directed by a Black woman.
2. John Carter (2012)
Disney’s John Carter is the textbook modern bomb. Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ century-old Mars stories, it was the live-action debut of Andrew Stanton, the Pixar director behind Finding Nemo and WALL-E, and its production budget was reported at $250 million or more, with a huge marketing campaign on top.
The film opened to about $30 million in North America and finished with roughly $284 million worldwide. That sounds respectable, but it was nowhere near enough. Just weeks after release, Disney announced it expected to lose about $200 million on the film, an unusually blunt public admission from a studio.
The fallout was swift: Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross resigned in April 2012. Many blamed the bland title and marketing that never explained who John Carter was, even though the books had influenced generations of science fiction. Unreality saw it coming before it opened, explaining why John Carter would be the biggest box office bomb of the year.
3. The Lone Ranger (2013)
Disney reunited the Pirates of the Caribbean team of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp for this western, with Armie Hammer as the masked hero and Depp as Tonto. Costs ran so high that Disney briefly shut down pre-production in 2011, and the film went ahead only after the budget was trimmed. Even so, the production budget was reported at around $215 million to $250 million.
The film opened over the Fourth of July holiday and finished with about $260 million worldwide, far short of what it needed once marketing was added. In August 2013, Disney told investors it expected to lose $160 million to $190 million on the film.
Reviews were harsh, and Depp’s casting as a Native American character drew criticism. The planned franchise never happened, and the film became shorthand for blockbuster excess.
4. Mortal Engines (2018)
Peter Jackson co-wrote and produced this adaptation of Philip Reeve’s young adult novel, set in a future where whole cities roll across the land on giant wheels and swallow smaller towns. His longtime visual effects artist Christian Rivers directed, and the production budget was reported at more than $100 million, with some estimates near $150 million.
Universal released it in December 2018, squeezed between big holiday titles, and it collapsed: about $16 million in North America and roughly $84 million worldwide. Deadline estimated the loss at about $175 million, one of the worst results of the year.
Critics praised the visuals but found the story thin, and audiences who had never heard of the books had little reason to go. With no major stars and a hard-to-explain premise, the film became a warning about building expensive franchises on little-known source material.
5. The Flash (2023)
Warner Bros. spent years developing a solo film for DC’s fastest hero, and the budget was reported at around $200 million or more. The time-travel story brought back Michael Keaton as Batman, and the studio heavily promoted glowing early reactions from test screenings.
The film opened to about $55 million in North America, a soft start for a superhero movie, and dropped quickly after poor word of mouth. It finished with roughly $271 million worldwide. Deadline’s analysis of 2023 estimated Warner Bros.’ loss at about $155 million, second only to The Marvels that year.
The movie also arrived under a cloud of off-screen controversy around star Ezra Miller, which limited the publicity tour, and its CGI drew particular criticism. By the time it opened, Warner Bros. was already preparing to reboot its DC films under James Gunn and Peter Safran.
6. Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
The first Joker was a phenomenon: it became the first R-rated film to pass $1 billion worldwide and won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar. Warner Bros. gave director Todd Phillips a reported budget of about $190 million to $200 million for the sequel, roughly three times the original’s cost, and added Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn in a story full of musical numbers.
Audiences rejected it. The film opened to about $38 million in North America, less than half of the first film’s debut, and earned a D CinemaScore, the first ever for a comic book movie. It finished with roughly $206 million worldwide, about a fifth of what Joker earned.
Trade reports during its run estimated the studio would lose $150 million to $200 million. It stands as one of the steepest drops ever between a hit and its sequel.
7. Pan (2015)
Warner Bros. pitched Pan as a fresh origin story for Peter Pan. Director Joe Wright cast newcomer Levi Miller as young Peter, Hugh Jackman as the pirate Blackbeard and Garrett Hedlund as a young James Hook, and the production budget was reported at about $150 million.
Moved from summer to October 2015, the film opened to about $15 million in North America. It finished with roughly $128 million worldwide, far short of its costs once marketing was counted, and trade estimates put the studio’s loss at up to $150 million.
Reviews singled out the jumble of tones, from pirates chanting Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to grim scenes of orphans in wartime London. Rooney Mara’s casting as Tiger Lily also drew criticism. Plans for sequels were dropped, and Pan is often named alongside Jupiter Ascending as one of Warner Bros.’ costly misfires that year.
8. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Guy Ritchie’s take on Camelot was meant to launch a six-film series, with Charlie Hunnam as a street-smart Arthur and Jude Law as the villainous Vortigern. Warner Bros. spent a reported $175 million on production, and the release slipped by almost a year from its original July 2016 date.
It opened to about $15 million in North America, a disastrous number for a film of its size. It finished with roughly $149 million worldwide, and trade reports estimated the studio’s loss at $150 million or more.
Critics found the mix of Ritchie’s fast-talking crime style and sword-and-sorcery effects confusing, and audiences showed little interest in yet another Arthur retelling. The planned sequels were cancelled, and the film became one of the biggest flops of summer 2017, a season that also saw Universal’s The Mummy stumble.
9. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Harrison Ford’s farewell to his most famous role was also one of the most expensive films ever made. UK filings put production costs at about $295 million, driven in part by COVID-19 delays and costly de-aging effects for an opening flashback set during World War II. James Mangold directed after Steven Spielberg stepped back.
Released 15 years after Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it opened to about $60 million over the July 4 weekend in North America, well below what Disney hoped for, and finished with about $384 million worldwide.
Deadline estimated Disney’s loss at about $143 million, the third-biggest of 2023. Ford, who turned 80 during production, said it would be his final outing as Indy, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge co-starred as his goddaughter. Many critics enjoyed his send-off, but younger audiences largely stayed away.
10. Mars Needs Moms (2011)
Disney’s motion-capture cartoon, produced by Robert Zemeckis’s ImageMovers Digital, cost a reported $150 million. It tells the story of a boy who chases the Martians who kidnapped his mother, based on a picture book by Bloom County cartoonist Berkeley Breathed.
It opened in March 2011 to just $6.9 million in North America, one of the worst debuts ever for a film with that budget. It finished with only about $39 million worldwide, and estimates of Disney’s loss ran from $130 million to $140 million.
Critics and audiences found the motion-capture characters stiff and unsettling, the “uncanny valley” problem that also hurt other films of the era. By the time it opened, Disney had already announced it was closing ImageMovers Digital. The film still ranks among the biggest flops in Hollywood history relative to its cost.
11. Tomorrowland (2015)
Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, co-wrote this original sci-fi adventure with Damon Lindelof, inspired by Disney’s optimistic vision of the future. George Clooney starred alongside Britt Robertson, and the production budget was reported at about $180 million to $190 million.
It opened over Memorial Day weekend 2015 to about $33 million for the three days, well below expectations, and finished with roughly $209 million worldwide. Trade estimates put Disney’s loss at about $120 million to $140 million.
Critics admired the visuals but found the story preachy and hard to follow, and the marketing kept the premise vague. It joined John Carter as one of several original live-action Disney blockbusters of the decade that failed to start a franchise.
12. Dark Phoenix (2019)
The final film in Fox’s main X-Men series retold the famous Dark Phoenix comics story, which the franchise had already tried in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. Longtime X-Men writer Simon Kinberg made his directing debut, and the production budget was reported at about $200 million.
The film went through major reshoots, including a rewritten finale, and its release slipped from late 2018 to June 2019, by which time Disney had bought Fox. It opened to about $33 million in North America, the lowest start in the X-Men series, and finished with about $252 million worldwide.
Deadline estimated the loss at about $133 million. Critics gave it some of the worst reviews in the franchise, and audiences handed it a B- CinemaScore. It ended Fox’s 19-year run with the X-Men, with Marvel Studios taking the characters back.
13. 47 Ronin (2013)
Universal turned the famous Japanese legend of 47 masterless samurai who avenge their lord into a fantasy epic with witches, monsters and Keanu Reeves as a half-Japanese outcast. First-time feature director Carl Rinsch led the production, whose budget was reported at about $175 million, with some reports higher.
The film was delayed repeatedly, from November 2012 to February 2013 and then to Christmas 2013, amid reshoots and reports of studio worries about the edit. Universal took a large write-down on the film before it even opened.
When it finally arrived, it earned roughly $152 million worldwide, far short of its production and marketing costs. Critics found the blend of Hollywood fantasy and Japanese history clumsy, and it is regularly listed among the costliest flops of the 2010s.
14. Cutthroat Island (1995)
Cutthroat Island is the pirate movie that helped sink a studio. Carolco Pictures, the independent company behind Terminator 2 and the Rambo sequels, bet heavily on this swashbuckler directed by Renny Harlin and starring Geena Davis, then his wife. The budget was reported at around $98 million to $115 million, enormous for the mid-1990s.
Carolco filed for bankruptcy in November 1995, weeks before the film reached theaters. When it opened that December, it earned only about $10 million in North America.
For years Guinness World Records listed it as the biggest box office flop of all time, citing a loss of about $147 million. Its failure also made studios wary of pirate films until Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003. Some critics have since been kinder to its practical stunts and full-scale ship battles.
15. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Terminator: Dark Fate tried to reset the franchise by ignoring every sequel after Terminator 2. James Cameron returned as a producer, Tim Miller of Deadpool directed, and Linda Hamilton came back as Sarah Connor alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. The production budget was reported at about $185 million.
The film opened to about $29 million in North America and finished with roughly $261 million worldwide. Deadline estimated the loss at about $123 million, shared among Paramount, Skydance and China’s Tencent.
It was the third Terminator film in a row to disappoint, after Terminator Salvation in 2009 and Terminator Genisys in 2015, and Cameron later acknowledged that he and Miller had clashed during production. The planned new trilogy never moved forward.
16. Stealth (2005)
Sony’s Stealth followed three elite Navy pilots, played by Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx, who must stop an AI-controlled fighter jet that goes rogue. Rob Cohen, director of The Fast and the Furious, filmed it with real aircraft and heavy visual effects, and the production budget was reported at about $135 million or more.
Released in July 2005, it opened to only about $13 million in North America and finished with roughly $77 million worldwide. Estimates of the loss run well over $100 million once marketing is counted.
Critics mocked its silly script, and the summer of 2005 was crowded with bigger hits. Today it is mostly remembered as an early Hollywood take on rogue artificial intelligence, years before the subject became everyday news.
17. The 13th Warrior (1999)
Based on Michael Crichton’s novel Eaters of the Dead, this Viking adventure starred Antonio Banderas as an Arab envoy who joins a band of Norse warriors against a mysterious enemy. John McTiernan, director of Die Hard, shot it in 1997, but poor test screenings led to major reshoots with Crichton taking charge.
The release was pushed back by about two years and the title was changed. Reports put the final budget between $100 million and $160 million.
When Disney’s Touchstone Pictures finally released it in August 1999, it earned only about $32 million in North America and roughly $62 million worldwide. Estimates of the loss run from about $100 million to $130 million. It has since gained a cult following for its gritty battle scenes.
18. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi directed this computer-animated film, which aimed to create fully photorealistic digital humans for the first time. Made by Square Pictures in Honolulu and released by Sony’s Columbia Pictures, it cost a reported $137 million.
The story, about scientists fighting alien phantoms on a ruined Earth, had little to do with the games fans knew. It opened in July 2001 to about $11 million in North America and finished with roughly $85 million worldwide, for losses estimated at around $100 million or more.
The flop led Square to close its film studio, and Sakaguchi later left the company. Its heroine, Dr. Aki Ross, was so lifelike that she made Maxim’s Hot 100 list, but the film is mostly remembered as a warning about chasing technology over story.
19. Sahara (2005)
Sahara was meant to launch a franchise based on Clive Cussler’s best-selling Dirk Pitt novels, with Matthew McConaughey as the adventurer, Steve Zahn as his sidekick and Penélope Cruz as a World Health Organization doctor. Philip Anschutz’s Bristol Bay Productions financed it, Paramount released it, and production costs were reported at about $145 million to $160 million.
The film opened at number one in April 2005 but finished with roughly $119 million worldwide, far less than it needed. Internal documents that surfaced in a later court case projected a loss of about $105 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Cussler sued the producers over control of the script, and the producers countersued. The legal fight dragged on for years without a clear winner, and no sequels were made.
20. Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Lana and Lilly Wachowski, creators of The Matrix, returned with this original space opera starring Mila Kunis as a cleaner who learns she is heir to a galactic dynasty, with Channing Tatum as a genetically engineered soldier on rocket boots. Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow spent a reported $176 million on production.
Originally set for July 2014, the film was moved to February 2015 to finish its visual effects, a shift that often signals trouble. It opened to about $18 million in North America and finished with roughly $184 million worldwide, not enough to cover production plus a global marketing campaign.
Critics called the story overstuffed, though many praised its costumes and creature design, and the film has since built a small cult following.
21. The Alamo (2004)
Disney’s Touchstone Pictures retold the 1836 battle at the Alamo with Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston and Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett. Ron Howard was first set to direct a darker, more violent version but stepped down after disagreements over budget and tone, and John Lee Hancock took over. The production budget was reported at about $107 million.
The filmmakers built a 51-acre set outside Austin, Texas, reported as one of the largest ever built in North America. The release moved from Christmas 2003 to April 2004, and the film opened to about $9 million.
It finished with roughly $26 million worldwide, earning back only a small share of its cost. Critics praised Thornton but found the film slow and somber, and it remains one of the costliest westerns ever to fail.
22. The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)
Eddie Murphy played a nightclub owner on the Moon in this sci-fi comedy directed by Ron Underwood. Shot in 2000, it sat on the shelf at Warner Bros. for about two years before reaching theaters in August 2002, and its budget was reported at about $100 million.
The results were among the worst in Hollywood history. It earned about $4.4 million in North America and roughly $7 million worldwide, recovering only a tiny fraction of its cost, and estimates put the loss at about $100 million.
Critics savaged it, and the studio did little to promote it. Pluto Nash still sits near the bottom of every list comparing a movie’s budget to its gross, proof that even one of the biggest comedy stars of the era could not save a film audiences had no interest in.
23. The Mummy (2017)
Universal planned The Mummy as the first film in its Dark Universe, a shared world of classic monsters, and even released a cast photo for future films before this one opened. Tom Cruise starred, with Sofia Boutella as the ancient princess Ahmanet and Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll. The production budget was reported at about $125 million, with some estimates higher.
It opened to about $32 million in North America, weak for a Cruise tentpole, and reviews were poor. Strong overseas sales pushed the worldwide total to roughly $410 million, but Deadline still estimated a loss of about $95 million once marketing and other costs were counted.
The Dark Universe quietly ended, and Universal later found success with smaller, director-driven monster films such as The Invisible Man in 2020.
24. Cats (2019)
Universal’s adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit stage musical, directed by Oscar winner Tom Hooper, turned a cast including Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, Idris Elba and Ian McKellen into “digital fur” human-cat hybrids. The first trailer in July 2019 became a viral joke, and the effects were finished so close to release that an updated version was sent to theaters after opening.
The production budget was reported at about $95 million. Cats opened to about $6.5 million in North America on the busy pre-Christmas weekend and finished with roughly $75 million worldwide. Trade estimates put the loss at around $70 million to $100 million.
It went on to win six Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture. Even so, it has become a midnight-movie favorite with fans who love its strangeness.
25. Gemini Man (2019)
Ang Lee’s action thriller had Will Smith play an aging assassin hunted by a younger clone of himself, created through digital de-aging. Lee shot it in 3D at 120 frames per second, a format few theaters could actually show. The production budget was reported at about $138 million.
It opened to about $20 million in North America and finished with roughly $173 million worldwide. Estimates of the loss for Paramount and its partners ranged from about $75 million to more than $100 million.
Critics praised the technical achievement of the digital young Will Smith but found the story dated; the script had been bouncing around Hollywood since the late 1990s. The film is now a case study in how cutting-edge technology alone does not sell tickets.
26. The Great Wall (2016)
Directed by Zhang Yimou, The Great Wall starred Matt Damon as a European mercenary who helps an elite Chinese army fight monsters attacking the wall. Legendary Entertainment and its Chinese partners made it the most expensive film ever shot entirely in China, with a reported budget of about $150 million.
It earned about $171 million in China but only about $45 million in North America, where it drew criticism for putting an American star at the center of a Chinese story. Its worldwide total was roughly $335 million, which sounds healthy, but reports estimated a loss of about $75 million once marketing and theater shares were counted.
The film was meant to prove that big U.S.-China co-productions could work in both markets. Its failure helped cool Hollywood’s enthusiasm for them.
27. The BFG (2016)
Steven Spielberg adapted Roald Dahl’s 1982 novel about a young orphan and a gentle giant, played through motion capture by Oscar winner Mark Rylance. It was the last screenplay by Melissa Mathison, who wrote E.T. and died before the film’s release. The production budget was reported at about $140 million.
Disney released it over the 2016 Fourth of July weekend, where it opened to about $19 million against strong family competition, including Finding Dory. It finished with roughly $195 million worldwide, not enough to cover production, marketing and the theaters’ share, and it is counted as a money-loser for Disney and its partners.
Critics were mostly kind, and the film found a warmer audience at home. It remains one of the few outright flops of Spielberg’s career.
28. Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Michael Cimino had just won the Best Director Oscar for The Deer Hunter when United Artists gave him this epic western about the Johnson County War. The budget, first set at about $11.6 million, climbed to around $44 million as Cimino shot take after take and rebuilt sets to his exact standards.
His first cut ran more than five hours. The premiere version still ran 219 minutes, and after brutal reviews United Artists pulled it from theaters within a week and re-released a shorter cut in 1981. It earned only about $3.5 million in North America.
The loss helped push UA’s parent company, Transamerica, to sell the studio to MGM in 1981. Heaven’s Gate became shorthand for a director spending without limits and is widely seen as the end of the 1970s era of director-driven filmmaking. Later restored versions have been judged more kindly.
29. Cleopatra (1963)
Cleopatra was the most expensive film ever made at the time. Its budget grew from about $2 million to roughly $31 million, and around $44 million counting other costs, after the production moved from England to Rome, replaced director Rouben Mamoulian with Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and halted during Elizabeth Taylor’s serious illness.
Taylor’s off-screen romance with co-star Richard Burton made headlines around the world. The film became the highest-grossing movie of 1963 in North America, earning about $57.7 million, but its costs were so high that it still lost money on its first release. The production pushed 20th Century Fox to the edge of bankruptcy.
Fox only moved into profit on the film years later, helped by the sale of its TV rights. Cleopatra remains the classic example of a hit that was still a bomb.
30. Ishtar (1987)
Elaine May wrote and directed this comedy starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as two hopelessly untalented songwriters who stumble into a Cold War plot in the made-up country of Ishtar. Shooting in the Moroccan desert ran far over schedule, and the budget was reported at about $51 million, huge for a comedy in the 1980s.
Columbia released it in May 1987 after months of bad press about the troubled shoot. It earned only about $14 million in North America, and the studio lost tens of millions of dollars.
The title became a punchline for Hollywood excess, used by comedians for years. Yet the film has been partly reappraised: some critics now defend its deliberately awful songs and comic timing, and it found new fans after its 2013 Blu-ray release.
How Box Office Losses Are Calculated
A movie’s worldwide gross is not what the studio keeps. Theaters hold on to roughly half of ticket sales in North America and often more overseas, and big releases usually spend $100 million or more on marketing on top of the production budget. That is why a film can gross $300 million and still lose money, while plenty of terrible movies made over $100 million and turned a profit.
Studios rarely publish profit and loss figures for single films, so most loss numbers on this list are estimates from trade outlets such as Deadline and Variety, or from what studios told investors. Figures are in the dollars of each film’s release year, not adjusted for inflation.
