Top 10 Worst Billion-Dollar Movies

WatchMojo

Money doesn't always buy quality! Join us as we count down the films that somehow raked in billions despite their questionable merits. From unnecessary sequels to lackluster remakes, these blockbusters left audiences wondering how they managed to break the bank. Which billion-dollar disappointment surprised you the most?

Transcript

00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the movies whose billion-dollar

00:11box office hauls left us scratching our heads.

00:14We're not necessarily saying all of these movies are terrible, but we are saying that

00:19their limited quality did merit such enormous success.

00:2410.

00:28The Fate of the Furious There's nothing inherently wrong with giving

00:32audiences exactly what they want.

00:35Nevertheless, one can point to The Fast and Furious Saga's eighth chapter as the moment

00:40where Dom Toretto's platitudes about family finally started losing their touch.

00:50The Fate of the Furious doesn't skimp on what makes these movies easy to enjoy, but

00:54as the first film to be released after Paul Walker's passing, it frequently struggles

00:59to carve out an identity for itself.

01:16The movie tribute paid to the actor in Furious 7 was justifiably cause for celebration, but

01:21without an everyman like Brian O'Connor to keep things grounded, the tonal inconsistencies

01:27and implausible logic become far more noticeable.

01:42Fate allowed this movie to coast off its built-up fanbase rather than its own merits.

01:489.

01:49The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy

02:01took in nearly $3 billion and a collective 17 Academy Awards, so it was only a matter

02:08of time before filmgoers would get to return to Middle Earth once more.

02:12While the first Hobbit film's billion-dollar haul made it clear that love still remained,

02:17the decision to split a relatively slim novel into three films quickly showed signs of weakness.

02:37While the characters, both old and new, are all mostly likable, the sense of adventure

02:42is hampered by endless exposition and a misguided use of CGI to bring certain creatures to life.

02:49The action would pick up in later installments, but notably reduced box office receipts indicates

02:54that An Unexpected Journey did not make the greatest first impression.

03:018.

03:07Aladdin – Aladdin Like most of the live-action remakes Disney

03:23has tackled, Aladdin flies a magic carpet for nostalgia in its best moments, but is

03:28egregiously miscalculated in its worst.

03:31It deserved credit for trying something new with the story we all know and love, but the

03:35changes it opts for cause it to lose the very magic that made the originals so beloved.

03:46Despite having everything from an energetic Will Smith to immortal music at its disposal,

03:52Aladdin never fully wishes itself free from the shadow of its predecessor.

03:56It's more than a little frustrating when something with promise settles for being average

04:01and squanders its chance to find its place in our hearts.

04:04But you know what they say, Phenomenal cosmic powers, but itty bitty living space.

04:107.

04:11Minions – Love em or hate em?

04:13The Minions were a phenomenon in the early 2010s, but they are animated proof that you

04:19can have too much of a good thing.

04:32Their hilarious slapstick made them an endearing aspect of the first two Despicable Me movies,

04:37but their best qualities only emerge when they have a villain to follow.

04:41This origin story, which sees the little yellow guys search throughout history to find the

04:45perfect master, is ultimately a harmless and occasionally wholesome adventure.

05:01But the comedy isn't as fresh as it once was, with the Minions' indecipherable gibberish

05:07quickly wearing thin on even the most patient viewer.

05:11When your target audience is kids and they're paying families, sometimes simplicity is the

05:16name of the game.

05:246.

05:28The Lion King It's no surprise that goodwill toward The

05:45Lion King propelled this live-action reimagining to a staggering $1.6 billion in revenue.

05:52But that number should be taken with a grain of salt, as it's likely a reflection of

05:56how many people saw the movie, and not how many times they saw it.

06:01Once you remove your nostalgia-tinted glasses, this Lion King has little to offer on the

06:05first watch, let alone multiple watches.

06:20A beat-for-beat recreation, its startling lack of originality is worsened by its pursuit

06:25of realism.

06:26While not lacking in technical prowess, its phoned-in performances and CGI-ed cast of

06:31animals leave it deprived of the soul that makes the original such a timeless classic.

06:36We can't feel the love with this one.

06:525.

06:54Star Wars Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker

07:02Star Wars is always going to do good business, yet it's hard to know who is most responsible

07:08for taking the saga to such an egregious low.

07:11Regardless of where you stand on The Last Jedi and its bold choices, The Rise of Skywalker

07:16did virtually nothing to rectify its predecessor's reputation.

07:32If the question was whether Episode IX would finish the established story, or give in to

07:37viewer demands, the answer was a deafening, neither.

07:41Entire plot threads were wiped off the slate, while characters we were just getting invested

07:46in were practically exiled so that the series could pointlessly resurrect its biggest antagonist.

08:01It was an illogical attempt to salvage credibility, and it amounted to one of the least satisfying

08:06finales in recent memory.

08:094.

08:10Alice in Wonderland It was the wrong movie at exactly the right

08:27time.

08:28Alice in Wonderland represented just the kind of mind-expanding 3D adventure people were

08:32craving in a post-Avatar landscape.

08:35On top of that, it made the idea of re-experiencing a Disney classic in live-action a rather fresh

08:41concept.

08:42Unfortunately, despite turning a huge profit, its biggest selling points turned out to be

08:47temporary novelties.

08:59Although the film's visuals were fitting for director Tim Burton, the over-indulgence

09:03in style left much of the story struggling to keep up.

09:06In fact, the movie thoroughly misunderstands Lewis Carroll's original text by casting

09:11its eccentric characters aside to make way for an out-of-touch story of warricked factions.

09:17Suffice it to say, Disney didn't learn many lessons from this one.

09:253.

09:27Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides Considering this was once the most expensive

09:46movie ever made, the executives at Disney probably breathed a sigh of relief when it

09:50crossed the billion-dollar threshold.

09:52And it's a good thing, too, as this unnecessary Pirates of the Caribbean continuation hasn't

09:58inspired many re-watches since.

10:00On Stranger Tides has an intriguing premise on paper, as Captain Jack Sparrow squaring

10:05off against Blackbeard on a hunt for the Fountain of Youth sounds like an adventure for the

10:10ages.

10:22But the welcome return of Jack and Hector Barbosa were done dirty by the confusing plot

10:27and uninteresting new characters.

10:29What should have been a back-to-basics quest is instead padded with poorly written humor,

10:34underdeveloped action, and enough superfluous side-plots to fill a treasure-chest.

10:392.

10:50Jurassic World Dominion To paraphrase Ian Malcolm, the producers of

11:04the Jurassic World series were so preoccupied with whether or not they could resurrect this

11:09franchise that they didn't stop to think if they should.

11:13While not without state-of-the-art CGI, Universal's wild overestimation of the saga's critical

11:18capabilities reached a fever pitch with this sixth and sadly not final chapter.

11:40Dominion already does fans a disservice due to the lack of chemistry between its old and

11:44new school characters.

11:46But in fashioning a plot around a locust plague, it does the unthinkable by making

11:50the dinosaurs almost completely irrelevant.

11:53Throw in action sequences that really belong in other franchises and Dominion ironically

11:58evolves into one of the power-mad, money-hungry beasts the Spielberg original tried to warn

12:04us about.

12:24Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified

12:28about our latest videos.

12:30You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.

12:33If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.

12:391.

12:42Transformers Age of Extinction In hindsight, nothing was going to stop Michael

12:55Bay from finding new ways to enrage Transformers fans as long as his movies kept making money.

13:022011's Dark of the Moon should have been all the proof we needed that a billion dollars

13:06could make up for obnoxious characters and incoherent action.

13:11And yet Age of Extinction took the franchise to an all-time low three years later.

13:21Quadrupling down on the franchise's biggest flaws, it not only serves up a story more

13:26convoluted than the first three films combined, but also overhauls its human cast to disastrous

13:33effects.

13:34The worst part is that Bay lifelessly directs the movie as if box office success is a guarantee.

13:40He makes all of the wrong choices simply because he can.

13:54Is there a movie you were surprised made a billion dollars?

13:58Let us know down in the comments.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended