Big budgets don’t always translate to big box office returns for movies, as proven by several expensive films where things went disastrously wrong. At the end of the day, the film industry is a business like any other, and the highest-grossing films of all time gambled on some mᴀssive budgets full of special effects, visual splendor, and star power. However, this doesn’t always work out well for studios willing to shell out for expensive projects, as evidenced by some of the most infamous blockbusters of all time.

A film’s quality isn’t necessarily dictated by how well it does at the box office, but many of the biggest box-office bombs are undeniably critical duds as well, proving that money can’t buy everything. Even for low-grossing films that are good stories, ambitious budgets are always a dangerous gambit to run, sometimes ballooning out exponentially over time or running up against unfortunate production woes. Sometimes, it’s hard not to laugh at how profoundly wrong things go for certain productions whose ledgers were far in the red.

10

Waterworld

Chaos on the open sea

No one can say that Waterworld wasn’t an intriguing idea. Set in a dystopian future in which global warming has caused the majority of the Earth’s surface to be flooded with one giant ocean, the film took place in a world that could be accurately described as a Mad Max-themed water park, starring Kevin Costner as an unnamed mutant with gills. Sadly, in addition to its aesthetics, the film also inherited the typical production woes of the Mad Max franchise of films.

The very nature of the film’s setting necessitated incredibly expensive sets, with the lack of sophistication in CGI necessitating vast amounts of practical effects for the various ships, weapons, and floating contraptions swinging about the action. At the time it was made, Waterworld was the most expensive film ever, running up 75 million dollars past its initial budget due to weather, safety issues, Costner’s creative tyranny, and even an entire set sinking into the bottom of the ocean. All that effort was rewarded with only middling reviews and a pitiful box office take.

9

Battlefield Earth

A sci-fi flop steeped in controversey

From its very inception, Battlefield Earth was doomed to be a controversial film. The project was based on the book of the same name written by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the controversial new-age religion of Scientology. A Scientologist himself, actor John Travolta took it upon himself to find funding for a Battlefield Earth adaptation, being pᴀssed over by every major studio. This should have been a sign for Travolta to stop, considering what happened when the film finally was funded through an independent studio.

Battlefied Earth is widely considered to be not only one of the worst films of John Travolta’s career (Which also includes dudes like Gotti and The Fanatic), but one of the worst films ever made in general. Critics eviscerated the film’s cheap production values, terrible performances, nonsensical plot and dreadfully slow pace. On top of all that, moviegoers weren’t any kinder, leaving Battlefield Earth a 93-million-dollar bomb that permanently damaged Travolta’s reputation.

8

Cats

Was never meant to be a motion picture

Not every play that might work as a theater performance is destined to translate into a good film, as evidenced by 2019’s infamous disaster, Cats. Based on the classic stage play, Cats was confident on its ability to make back a hefty budget of 80 to 100 million dollars thanks to the name recognition of the source material and the impressive marquee value of its star-studded cast. However, Cats ended up being a scathing lesson for Hollywood that would go on to lose most of its budget.

The story of Cats is incredibly sparse to begin with, leaving the film to make do with the concept of a colony of flamboyant cats who introduce themselves one by one, competing for the honor of committing ritual suicide by H๏τ air balloon. This left only the disturbing special effects for audiences to feast their eyes upon, which ended up forcing Cats to release a post-release “patch” updating some areas where the CGI was blatantly unfinished. In the end, iconic songs couldn’t save such an absurd concept for a film in the first place.

7

Sahara

A failed attempt at grand action-adventure

On paper, nothing about Sahara seems to deserve its spot among the worst box-office bombs of all time. Based on a novel of the same name, the 2005 action-adventure film starred Matthew McConaughey as a treasure hunter who teams up with a World Health Organization doctor to find a cache of missing Confederate gold amid the wreckage of a lost ship that somehow wound up in the Sahara desert. Sadly, unlike the characters therein, Sahara would never strike the gold of a planned franchise meant to rival Indiana Jones’.

Much of the film’s losses could be attributed to the production costs that ballooned out of control, with entire extravagant action setpieces being edited out of the final film. The budget also allegedly included bribes to the Moroccan government meant to smooth over the use of certain filming locations, miring the already risky venture in further controversy. In the end, Sahara would be lost to the sands of time with slightly below-average reviews, crumbling under the weight of its mᴀssive budget in the box office.

6

Mad Max: Fury Road

Worth all the suffering and financial loss it caused

Mad Max: Fury Road is the perfect exception to the rule that all fraught productions that lose big in theaters result in bad movies. Despite being (or perhaps, because it is) the ultimate action film, Mad Max: Fury Road took decades to get off the ground, first halted by the 9/11 terror attacks plummeting the economy in the early 2000s and then delayed once more by unexpected heavy rains in Australia, ruining the barren shoot location with beautiful vegetation. By the time filming began in Namibia, the film quickly began to soar over its initial budget.

Actual filming was no less disastrous, with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron’s on-set beef infamously putting a hostile spin on the shooting. That’s not even to mention the dangerous practical effects and hordes of working vehicles needed to be kept in line. In the end, Mad Max: Fury Road was a critical marvel of an action film, but was only able to more-or-less break even against such a mᴀssive budget despite all its success.

5

Apocalypse Now

Wasn’t without its production issues

Today, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is considered to be one of the greatest films ever made by many, re-telling the events of the famous literary classic Heart of Darkness through the lens of the Vietnam War. But it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the production of the film was just short of a complete disaster. It’s a wonder that Apocalypse Now was ever able to release, let alone ascend to the heights of cinematic fame it has.

Filming on-location in the Philippines, the film’s sets were laid waste to by the 1976 storm Typhoon Olga, causing thousands of dollars in damages. Marlon Brando was also infamously a source of trouble on set, showing up overweight and forcing a re-write of the script’s ending. Meanwhile, Charlie Sheen actually suffered a heart attack during filming, which stretched on for months after the initial proposed dates. Apocalypse Now may be considered a masterpiece today, but Coppola had to crack more than a few eggs to get his perfect omelet.

4

The Lone Ranger

Couldn’t be the next Pirates of the Caribbean

With Gore Verbinski having created blockbuster royalty once before with the beloved Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the visionary director was contracted to make lightning strike twice in the early 2010s with The Lone Ranger. Based on the classic pulp hero, the film clearly set out to be a Wild West version of the same action-adventure antics that made the Pirates of the Caribbean films so special. Johnny Depp was even recruited once more to play another peculiar character in a goofy hat, this time as the sidekick Tonto.

Thanks to its ambitious scope, The Lone Ranger quickly let its budget grow out of control, ending production to the tune of 250 million dollars, losing almost all of it at the box office. Numbers likely weren’t helped by the poor word-of-mouth reviews that cited tonal inconsistency and the controversy over Johnny Depp’s contested Native American ancestry, which made a big difference in his performance of a character as stereotypical as Tonto. Sadly, The Lone Ranger is a huge black spot on Verbinski’s cinematic career.

3

Evan Almighty

A messy production of biblical proportions

Jim Carrey’s Bruce Almighty might be one of the finest achievements in his illustrious comedic career, telling the story of what one man might do with godly powers. The spin-off film Evan Almighty, featuring the return of Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman as Evan and God, respectively, seemed to be in good hands. However, the production would soon prove to be a task as arduous as constructing Noah’s Ark itself.

Between the CGI pairs of creatures marching two by two, the expensive construction of an actual Ark, and the very-real animal actors that needed to populate many scenes, Evan Almighty quickly flooded past its initial budget. Doubling the budget of Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty quickly became the most expensive comedy film ever made in its time, though it was later surpᴀssed by Men in Black 3. Ultimately, the film drowned in the box office, unable to recoup the arduous costs of its lofty filmmaking.

2

John Carter

Another attempt by Disney to cash in on a public domain IP

Considering all the success Disney have historically had adapting classic tales and public domain stories, John Carter certainly seemed like a safe bet. The company had already successful portrayed one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels before with Tarzan, and the Barsoom book series must have seemed like the perfect ripe opportunity for establishing a sci-fi franchise at the box office. Unfortunately, despite all its potential, John Carter would end up being a legendary dud for the House of Mouse.

It seems as though Disney should have dipped their toes in the water more carefully before funneling a whopping 263 million dollars into the film’s expansive CGI worlds, bringing to life the alien fauna and locations of the original books. Taylor Kitsch didn’t prove to be the charismatic leading man the film needed, and the final result was a historic 255 million dollar loss. Still the single biggest box-office bomb of all time, John Carter overestimated the appeal of a relatively obscure classic literature series before going all-in on a gamble that didn’t pay off.

1

Battleship

A bad idea to begin with

Like John Carter, Battleship was another ambitious blockbuster starring Taylor Kitsch in 2012 that vastly overestimated the appeal of its brand recognition. Based on the classic board game of the same name, Battleship manages to somehow wring a story out of the simple back-and-forth of charting hits by describing an alien invasion that is countered by the U.S. Navy. Amazingly, the film actually took itself relatively seriously, unlike more subversive board game movie adaptations like Clue.

Battleship’s troubled pre-production actually led Universal to consider canceling the film, a decision that would have served them better financially in the long run. Losing 150 million at the box office, Battleship‘s formulaic and boring plot, blatant advertising for the United States military, and terrible performances from the likes of Rihanna didn’t impress audiences. Today, Battlleship is only dimly remembered as a sunken wreck of a science fiction action movie.