00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at movies that failed to recoup their investments
00:14theatrically in 2024.
00:17While box office doesn't always reflect a movie's quality, we can see why some of
00:22these bombed big time.
00:2910.
00:30Furiosa – A Mad Max Saga Despite receiving a prime release date, Furiosa
00:36led what turned out to be a slow Memorial Day weekend, grossing just over $30 million
00:42in four days.
00:43The film quickly ran out of gas from there, barely making back its $168 million budget,
00:49which doesn't count for advertising and additional costs.
00:54Given its critical acclaim, seeing Furiosa flop was disheartening, although not entirely
01:00surprising.
01:07While Mad Max Fury Road was an instant classic and won several Oscars, people forget it opened
01:13second to Pitch Perfect 2.
01:25When you make a prequel to a film that only did respectable numbers nine years earlier,
01:30you can't expect it to reach such a high break-even ceiling.
01:33As such, this sadly may be our last trip to the wasteland.
01:429.
01:44The Crow With so many superhero reboots, Hollywood
01:48was bound to revisit The Crow eventually.
02:02The Crow isn't like Batman or Spider-Man, however, where those characters possess broad
02:07appeal.
02:08The Crow has a smaller cult following, a following that won't accept anyone other than Brandon
02:14Lee in the role.
02:15Even with a talented actor like Bill Skarsgård, Lee's performance is iconic.
02:21Given Lee's tragic death on set, many found the idea of a reboot to be disrespectful.
02:33This included the original film's director, Alex Proyas, who called the reboot a cynical
02:37cash-grab.
02:38Cynical?
02:39Yes.
02:40Cash-grab?
02:41Not exactly, since the film didn't make back half of its $50 million budget.
02:51The film's financial failure seemingly vindicated the argument that nobody wanted this.
02:578.
02:58The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is one
03:12of those action movies that people might look back on years later, asking why it didn't
03:17perform better upon release.
03:19Well, for starters, you didn't go see it.
03:22Of course, even if you wanted to, this Guy Ritchie film opened in fewer theaters than
03:27some of its competitors.
03:34Only making $9 million during its first weekend, the film lost the battle in soon, the war.
03:40The international box office did little to help recoup its $60 million investment, as
03:45the film was a direct-to-streaming release in markets like the United Kingdom.
03:58Ritchie's home country could have given The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare a boost,
04:03although the director's name alone isn't always enough to sell a movie.
04:087.
04:09Horizon – An American Saga, Chapter 1 Kevin Costner left a hit western show to
04:15produce a western film that, ironically, plays like the first half of a TV season.
04:21Costner's vision for Horizon was so grand that he insisted it be released on the big
04:26screen.
04:31He also felt the story could be told in one, two, or three films.
04:36Costner intends to make four Horizon pictures, the first costing $50 million.
04:41For a three-hour epic that received mixed reviews, the film's ultimate gross of $38.2
04:47million could have been much worse.
04:50Still, we wouldn't call it a win.
04:55With three more movies supposedly on the Horizon, it's hard to imagine this passion project
05:00ever being profitable.
05:02That hasn't stopped Costner from investing his own money to help with costs.
05:146.
05:16Madam Web – Sony should know by now that unless their superhero movies prominently
05:20feature Spider-Man or at least Venom, the masses won't be interested.
05:30Refusing to learn anything from Morbius, the studio kept trying to make this cinematic
05:35universe happen with Madam Web.
05:37Whatever hope the film might have had was dashed with one infamous line from the trailer,
05:42which Sony didn't even have the courtesy to include in the finished film.
05:50If you're going to make a bad movie, commit.
05:53Regardless, those who showed up wanting to see how bad Madam Web was weren't disappointed.
05:59That's a pretty niche audience, however.
06:01It was just enough to push the film past the $100 million global mark, making its budget
06:07back yet still far from the break-even point.
06:135.
06:15Joker – Fully Ado The Joker sequel was granted a budget as high
06:19as $200 million, more than double its predecessors.
06:35Since the first Joker made over $1 billion, though, Fully Ado was virtually guaranteed
06:41to print money as long as it didn't alienate every demographic.
06:45Well, the joke's on Warner Bros. and us, because Todd Phillips seemingly went out of
06:51his way to piss everybody off.
07:06Fully Ado was bizarrely antagonistic towards fans of the first film while doing little
07:12to win over the original's detractors.
07:15Whether you love or hate musicals, most agree that the genre shift was misguided.
07:32Some might argue there's a clever commentary underneath, but this sequel left nobody laughing,
07:38least of all to the bank, reportedly losing $125 to $200 million.
07:454.
07:46Fly Me to the Moon Apple is a tech company first, and a streaming
07:50service second.
07:51Thus, this media giant can afford to produce a few box office duds.
08:00That said, it wasn't surprising Apple is reportedly reconsidering its movie business
08:04strategy after 2024.
08:08Fly Me to the Moon almost went straight to Apple TV+, but promising test screenings led
08:13to a theatrical release with Sony joining as a partner.
08:20With the company's dividing marketing and distribution expenses, a $100 million budget
08:25didn't seem like the biggest gamble.
08:28The chemistry between Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum wasn't enough to make the
08:32film a sleeper hit, however.
08:37Debuting at number 5 on the domestic box office chart, the film failed to launch, going
08:42on to make just over $40 million.
08:453.
08:47Argyle Another Apple release, this time partnering
08:50with Universal, Argyle came with a massive budget of $200 million.
09:06The espionage comedy's $80 million ad campaign was inescapable with clear aspirations to
09:12build a franchise.
09:14Not enough people cared who the real Agent Argyle was, however.
09:26On the heels of negative reviews that criticized the film's excessive action, bloated runtime,
09:32and needlessly stacked cast, Argyle couldn't make back half of its production budget in
09:37the end.
09:38Seeing how Apple's net worth is over $3 trillion, some might argue that the company can afford
09:43to take a blow like this.
09:50If they're serious about making Argyle sequels, prequels, and crossovers, though, Apple will
09:56need to sell a lot more iPhones, or, you know, make better movies that cost less.
10:032.
10:04Borderlands After the success of Super Mario Bros., some
10:08were quick to say that video game movies would be the next big thing in Hollywood.
10:12Borderlands was a wake-up call that video game movies can still be huge commercial and
10:18critical flops, even with Jack Black voicing a character.
10:25Behind the scenes, troubles were evident as director Eli Roth didn't return for reshoots
10:30and co-writer Craig Mazin requested his name be removed after his script was rewritten.
10:35As abysmal reviews poured in, fans chose to skip the movie and just play the games.
10:42Ironically, the film's existence helped game sales according to CEO Strauss Zelnick.
10:50Lionsgate was still left with a colossal dud that made only $33 million, not even a
10:56third of its production budget.
10:58Game over.
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11:251.
11:27Megalopolis It costs no less than $120 million, but Megalopolis
11:32is technically an independent film.
11:35After fantasizing about this sci-fi epic for over four decades, Francis Ford Coppola decided
11:40to finance Megalopolis himself.
11:49The funds largely derived from Coppola's wine business, which he sold in a $650 million
11:54deal.
11:55In addition to bankrolling the film's budget, Coppola paid for marketing costs after Lionsgate
12:00agreed to be its distributor.
12:15While many were interested in seeing Coppola's passion project come to life, few thought
12:19it would be profitable.
12:21They weren't wrong, as Megalopolis made a mere $13.7 million.
12:26Coppola seems hopeless that time will be kind to Megalopolis.
12:30Like Coppola's one from the heart, though, the film may never shake its reputation as
12:34a swing and a miss.
12:40What box office bomb do you think deserved to do better?
12:44Let us know in the comments.
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