It feels like the rate at which new movies are made is always on the rise, and in the midst of it all, there are a few movies that stand out for their potential, but unfortunately, they don’t always hit the mark. Hollywood has continued to expand and bounce back after COVID rocked the landscape of cinema. Today, the box office racks up millions of dollars every week, and tens of billions of dollars a year. And on top of traditional cinema, new production companies and streaming services are throwing their hat in the ring with a constant stream of new releases.

All things considered, there has never been a better time for cinema in terms of the sheer volume of what is coming out. However, that doesn’t mean everything is high quality. In fact, even with some of the most H๏τly anticipated releases in recent years, there have been decisive failures that built up anticipation only to disappoint the mᴀsses.

10

Prometheus

Prometheus has been given a much more favorable look in the years since it came out, but in all honesty, the return to the Alien franchise from legendary director Ridley Scott could have been and done so much to reinvigorate the franchise after it started with Scott back in 1979. Instead, the 2012 movie felt like it barely had any connection to the world of Alien, and it appeared to take the franchise in an odd new direction of religious symbolism and mythos.

Yes, in hindsight and after having seen many deleted scenes from Prometheus, it’s clear that Scott had a grander vision for the film, but what appeared in theaters was a confusing diversion. But a movie shouldn’t have to rely on deleted scenes and future films to fill in the gaps.

9

Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola is one of the greatest filmmakers in history. With contributions such as The Godfather, Dracula and Apocalypse Now, he has left his mark on Hollywood. So when news started stirring about his pᴀssion project, a grandiose epic sci-fi story set in an alternate version of history, with a spectacular star-studded cast, hopes were high for Megalopolis.

And while the movie does have stunning scenes, visuals that are confronting, and an epic feel, it falls flat in so many disappointing ways. From bizarre repeated lines, to hollow imagery and symbolism, this film wants to be the ultimate art house piece, but it fails to resonate with anyone. The pretension and lack of cohesive plotting is only emphasized by the clearly fake settings and backgrounds that appear in almost every scene.

8

Godzilla

Godzilla has been a staple in films since 1954. The monstrous Kaiju that comes to the surface and wreaks havoc on the landscape like a child destroying a city made of Lego bricks has always managed to capture excitement, shock and awe. And when a rebooted story starring Bryan Cranston was announced to come out in 2014, kicking off a new Legendary Monster Universe, it felt like the franchise was about to embark on its next epic adventure.

However, the movie almost immediately kills Cranston’s character, and replaces him with his son, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. This felt like a bait-and-switch, and despite Taylor-Johnson’s talents, it was hard to get into the film after it betrayed the trust of the audience. Add to that just how little Godzilla actually appears in the film, and the resulting story was an overwhelming disappointment.

7

Cats

I’ll be honest. As a kid, I was absolutely in love with the musical Cats. In fact, I watched the videotape of the musical so much that it stopped working, and we had to buy a new copy just so I could keep on getting my fix. The music, the atmosphere, and the excitement that appears to fill the air around the Jellicles is infectious, and when a major movie was being adapted from the musical, I was ready to reignite that childhood fire.

However, despite a star-studded cast that included Idris Elba, Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, and Jason Derulo, this movie was utterly bizarre and baffling. The costumes, the special effects, the sizes and the general effort to adapt the narrative were deeply flawed across the board. As much as I wanted to see a childhood favorite musical on the big screen, this was not what I was looking for.

6

Wonder Woman 1984

Admittedly, I consider myself to be more of an MCU fanboy, but I did enjoy parts of the DCEU. The first Aquaman movie, Shazam!, and Wonder Woman all managed to deliver in satisfying ways, and build hope that the DCEU could be made into something special. And among them, Wonder Woman was the first character set to get an official solo sequel. However, Wonder Woman 1984 started a trend that appeared to spiral ever further.

The thing is, the DCEU was known for gritty, dark, intense stories. Villains who destroy, and heroes who walk a gray moral line to protect the vulnerable. This movie, which is literally about making and breaking wishes, felt like an odd addition. Of course, it’s rooted in comics, but the tone felt like a disconnect from earlier entries, and confused the core thesis of the DCEU. The result was lukewarm at best, and uninspired and forgettable at worst.

5

Eternals

To be fair, the MCU hasn’t been perfect either. For me, the Eternals movie was one of my most H๏τly anticipated entries following the end of the Infinity Saga, as I was keen to see where the MCU would go next. While this new hero team was an unknown, I read the comics, and I latched on to the marketing. The visuals, the cast, and the direction all appeared to be incredibly promising, and the threat of a Celestial appearing in the MCU was huge.

However, while I think the movie was unfairly criticized to an extreme degree, and it appeared to be the victim of review bombing, the movie was not nearly on the same level as everything that came before or since in the MCU. Despite a mᴀssive scale, high-stakes, and immortal heroes, the movie felt hollow. With these characters being ever present, ut inconsequential in Earth’s darkest moments, it felt as though no matter what they faced, it would still be inconsequential. And as it turns out, it was.

4

Jupiter Ascending

The Wachowskis are the brilliant minds behind The Matrix movies, having created something that not only became an iconic film and an instant classic, but something that has continued to feel prescient, and shaped language and discourse around reality and perceptions. Clearly, they are brilliant, and they have insight and talent enough to make movies that go the distance.

But, when Jupiter Ascending came out, as this epic space opera with steampunk overlays, the film fell flat. It had interplanetary space fights, galactic space trade, stolen princesses, and winged aliens, but the movie didn’t have a coherent or worthwhile story. It felt overly indulgent in some ways, similar to Megalopolis, but it also just failed to deliver on the core themes or ideas, because it spread itself too thin, and tried to do too much, which ultimately led to accomplishing nothing.

3

Suicide Squad

Like Eternals, I had high hopes for the super-team-up story that was due to arrive in Suicide Squad as directed by David Ayer. With anti-heroes in vogue, Suicide Squad had the potential to take over the world. The marketing also managed to go hard, and the talent both on screen and behind the camera all added up to potentially create something unique.

Unfortunately, the film failed to effectively create a team-up story, and the balance was way off. The potential far outweighed the final results and the movie ended up being a disappointment. This was only further compounded by the fact that a genuinely thrilling version of The Suicide Squad was released just a few years later under the guiding vision of James Gunn.

2

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens

Star Wars ranks high as one of the absolute biggest and most beloved franchises ever made. Since the series began in 1977, the galaxy far, far away has been expanding and capturing imaginations. While the prequel trilogy was not as immediately well-liked as the original trilogy, its response was a huge step up from what would become of the sequel trilogy, beginning with The Force Awakens.

The story laid out in the first six films is easy to connect, with all the events following one central family, the Skywalkers. However, the sequel trilogy came on the back of an established series, with plenty of spin-off stories, and expansions that people already adored. And in an effort to connect, the movie essentially repeats the same story that plays out in both the fourth and first entries. On top of that, it brings Luke back in an incredibly disappointing way, and feels like a betrayal of the original film’s goals.

1

Thor: Love and Thunder

Finally, Thor was one of the most challenging characters to get right in the original MCU lineup. Despite being one of the founding members of the Avengers team, Thor is an odd one out. He is not human, and his manner of speech is somewhat outdated. While this led to an ok first movie, and a stale sequel, Thor: Ragnarok was a spectacular success that reinvented the series under Taika Waiтιтi.

So, when Waiтιтi returned to direct Love and Thunder, it was expected to be another hit. In fact, the opposite was true, and this movie pushed too hard to be funny, while loosely threading together a story, and underselling a villain who had so much potential, both from the source material and Christian Bale’s casting. The movie was a disappointment, and easily one of the worst entries in the MCU to date.