They can't all be future classics! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the biggest film duds that premiered or went into wide release in 2023, even if they did well at the box office. Spoiler alert!
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00:00 "You know what? I am done with you!"
00:02 Welcome to WatchMojo!
00:04 And today we're looking at the biggest film duds that premiered or went into wide release in 2023,
00:10 even if they did well at the box office.
00:13 Spoiler alert!
00:14 "I cannot be a part of this."
00:16 Number 10. Peter Pan and Wendy.
00:20 Remember how the animated classic features Peter's courage, Wendy's likable charm,
00:25 and Neverland's awe-inspiring appeal?
00:28 Throw all that out the window and you have 2023's Peter Pan and Wendy.
00:33 Far from sharing his animated counterpart's love for adventure,
00:37 the live-action Peter is more of a villain than Captain Hook ever is.
00:41 "How did you do it, boy? How did you survive?
00:46 Faith, trust, and pixie dust?"
00:51 "No. No pixie dust this time. No magic. No tricks."
00:57 Meanwhile, Wendy's role is reduced to nagging and complaining,
01:01 destroying any chemistry she might have shared with Peter.
01:04 "It was an adventure. Isn't that what you wanted?"
01:07 "Yes, and I didn't think that meant being shot out the sky by pirates."
01:11 There's not much to redeem the movie after watching them argue for most of its runtime.
01:16 The drab, dreary camera filter also turns Neverland into the most boring place to be.
01:21 Peter Pan and Wendy attempts a new spin on the 1953 film,
01:26 at the cost of robbing the story of any sense of fun.
01:30 "This is Neverland, and where nothing ever changes, least of all me."
01:34 Number 9. Life Upside Down
01:38 A movie that essentially misses the mark,
01:41 Life Upside Down is about couples trapped during COVID-19 lockdown.
01:45 "Do you like it?"
01:46 "Yes."
01:50 "I wonder when I'll be able to continue my nutrition training."
01:54 Forced to spend most of their time together,
01:57 they start to feel stifled in their individual lives.
02:00 While the choice to direct the film with a low-key camera style is interesting,
02:04 it starts to feel just as limited as the characters' personalities.
02:08 "Why don't you deal with your dog, and we can talk about this later?"
02:11 "Is everything okay?"
02:14 "You sound different."
02:19 Despite the well-known cast, it's hard to root for the protagonists
02:23 when they keep behaving in shallow, superficial ways.
02:27 Instead, we're left waiting for some genuine character development that never comes.
02:31 With previous lockdown movies like Malcolm and Marie treading similar themes,
02:36 Life Upside Down just doesn't add much.
02:39 "You're supposed to be with your family, and this is just a mistake."
02:43 Number 8. Ant-Man and the Wasp - Quantumania
02:47 The MCU's heyday saw the franchise deliver one hit after the next.
02:52 However, Ant-Man and the Wasp - Quantumania hit a critical low,
02:55 garnering pretty much the worst reviews of the franchise until that point.
02:59 "Like that. You see what I did? You see what I did?"
03:02 "No. You're like this small."
03:04 "I jumped into half."
03:05 It's easy to see why, as the film removes everything that made the earlier Ant-Man films great.
03:11 Rather than fun-filled sequences like Luis's quirky recaps,
03:15 Quantumania features boring scenes tacked on for the sake of exposition.
03:19 "She didn't tell you about me? I guess that's not a surprise."
03:27 Despite being billed as a Thanos-level threat, Kang's plans are easily thwarted.
03:33 Main characters Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne are a shell of their former selves,
03:37 with little on-screen presence.
03:39 While the MCU's tried-and-tested template has been successful,
03:43 Quantumania's failure is another piece of evidence that suggests it really is time for a revamp.
03:49 "What the hell?"
03:50 "What the hell?"
03:50 "What the hell?"
03:51 "What the hell?"
03:52 "What the hell?"
03:53 "What the hell?"
03:54 Number 7. You People.
03:57 Back in the day, films like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner offered social commentary
04:01 wrapped in a comedic blanket. But far more recent releases like You People take this
04:06 formula and make it more offensive than enlightening.
04:09 "And I'm saying that, like, he's mixed race, and then if Amir and I had a kid,
04:14 that kid would be mixed race, and it would be a very nice baby. Maybe not as
04:19 important as Malcolm X, but maybe, maybe."
04:22 The relationship between Jonah Hill and Lauren London's characters hits a snag
04:26 because of culture clashes. Their parents' objections are played for laughs,
04:30 but most of the jokes fail to land.
04:33 "Well, this koofy that I'm wearing right now was actually a gift from the Honorable Louis Farrakhan."
04:38 "Mm. Love Farrakhan."
04:41 "You love Farrakhan?"
04:45 Despite being a romantic comedy, the lack of a solid dynamic between the cast means
04:50 You People isn't really romantic or funny. Uneven pacing saddles the film further,
04:56 failing to justify its runtime long before the finale arrives. A talented set of actors only
05:01 go so far, as shoddy execution of a weak script brings You People down big time.
05:07 "Couldn't have said it better myself."
05:09 Number 6. The Expendables 4. A sequel almost a decade too late,
05:14 with a glorified cameo from the series star, doesn't exactly hype things up.
05:19 "I think you're a moron."
05:22 "You don't believe that."
05:23 "With every cell in one body."
05:25 But that's how it is with The Expendables 4, which arrived far after audiences stopped
05:31 really caring about the franchise. The early exit of Sylvester Stallone's Barney Ross
05:36 makes things worse, robbing The Expendables 4 of a solid hook.
05:40 "So this might be our one and only chance to learn of his true identity."
05:44 "Or her."
05:44 "What's her?"
05:45 "Could be a her."
05:47 While Jason Statham does well in the lead, there's little to no substance in the story.
05:53 The group looks to prevent World War 3 in what is a generic outline for an action movie.
05:57 "That ain't budget."
05:58 "No shit, it's gotta get wet."
06:00 In the end, the true villains are the mindless violence,
06:04 unfunny one-liners, and poor special effects that almost every scene carries in abundance.
06:10 With no support from fans and critics, The Expendables 4 becomes one of 2023's biggest flops.
06:16 "So, enjoy the show."
06:18 Number 5. Knights of the Zodiac
06:21 Stories about an average person finding their true destiny aren't too fresh anymore.
06:26 Still, effective plot execution goes a long way if done right.
06:30 Unfortunately for The Knights of the Zodiac, the storytelling is basically non-existent.
06:35 "She knew what you were to become, a warrior of Athena, the Pegasus Knight."
06:40 "The Pegasus Knight? You're really out of your mind."
06:45 Main character, Saia, discovers he's the Pegasus Knight and guards the reincarnated
06:50 form of the goddess Athena. Although based on a popular anime, the film goes for a standard
06:55 zero-to-hero outline without fleshing out any characterizations.
06:59 "Your sister sacrificed herself because she believed in what you really are."
07:02 "I never asked to be a knight."
07:04 It's an entirely predictable film, all the way from the lackluster performances to the standard
07:09 Sean Bean death scene. Knights of the Zodiac tries to dazzle audiences with visual effects,
07:15 but these fall flat due to a lack of substance.
07:19 "You don't know when to quit. People keep telling me that."
07:22 Number 4. The Exorcist - Believer
07:28 By this point, it's clear this franchise won't be allowed to rest,
07:31 as another sequel tries and fails to replicate the 1973 film.
07:35 "The body and the blood? The body and the blood? The body and the blood? The body and the blood?
07:42 The body and the blood?"
07:45 Exorcist - Believer features original cast members Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair,
07:50 but wastes their presence with limited screen time. For the most part, we watch new characters
07:55 go through what is essentially a louder take on the original entry's premise.
07:59 Instead of one, two girls are possessed this time. And rather than being subtle with its horror,
08:10 characters and believers simply scream at the screen, hoping it scares the audience.
08:20 Marketed as the first in a trilogy, the ending is just as soulless as the rest of the film,
08:26 failing to spark any hint of genuine interest.
08:29 "What do you think evil is?"
08:30 Number 3. 65 - Adam Driver vs Dinosaurs in the Past?
08:36 That sounds promising on paper. It's a shame then that 65 is just so boring.
08:42 "Navigation system is gone. I don't know where we are. It's uncharted."
08:45 The protagonists have a few hours before the cataclysmic asteroid ravages Earth.
08:50 "Catastrophic asteroid detected.
08:52 Assessing proximity risk."
08:58 With a minimal cast and a survival story, the film needed some incredible thrills to captivate
09:05 viewers. But what we get is Driver's character meandering along with another survivor in
09:10 repetitive sequences. "You okay?"
09:13 Although the actors do their best, they're hampered by a simplistic script that doesn't
09:17 really take chances with its narrative. It's entirely clear where the story is headed from
09:22 the get-go, and the absence of any plot twists hurts 65 further.
09:26 "This... it's coming here."
09:30 Despite its potential, the film flubs its premise and ends up as a sci-fi thriller that's
09:36 easy to forget.
09:38 "I lied to you and I'm sorry."
09:39 Number 2. Ghosted
09:41 Formulaic and lacking in charm, Ghosted settles for surface-level entertainment that's been
09:47 seen many times before.
09:48 "Thank you for this."
09:49 "No, I was just thinking how happy I am to have an electrified hockey puck stuck to my
09:54 neck with what, 50,000 volts ready to go into my sorry ass."
09:56 "You really need to shut up."
09:58 "Wow, you two should get a room."
10:00 There's nothing wrong with a breezy action-comedy, but throwing together half-hearted jokes,
10:06 pointless cameos, and a thin plotline insults the audience's intelligence.
10:10 "You are unbelievable!"
10:12 "What? What?"
10:13 Ghosted shamelessly borrows from films like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and True Lies, in hopes
10:19 no one would notice.
10:20 Chris Evans' character is stuck in a comedy of errors after a brief romance with Ana de
10:26 Armas' character lands him into trouble.
10:28 "It was the same people that stole Aztec."
10:31 "What's Aztec?"
10:33 "A biochemical weapon. Very nasty, deadly enough to wipe out the eastern seaboard."
10:37 "That's classified."
10:39 "They're going to sell it."
10:40 "Thank you for filling me in."
10:43 The rest of the film sees the main characters jumping from one place to another, evading
10:47 their enemies.
10:48 And that's pretty much it.
10:49 If you've seen any action-comedy, you've already seen Ghosted, making it unnecessary
10:54 to begin with.
10:56 "You look amazing in that dress."
10:57 "And you should wear more suits."
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11:15 Number 1.
11:18 Winnie the Pooh - Blood and Honey
11:20 No matter what, Winnie the Pooh will never be scary.
11:23 This bizarre slasher film leaves no doubt about that.
11:26 "Why are you doing this?
11:28 I would have never left, I swear, I swear."
11:33 In a plot that's still hard to believe, Pooh and his friends become savage killers after
11:38 Christopher Robin abandons them.
11:40 Pooh's group gets revenge by tormenting Christopher and some college students.
11:44 Textbook slasher kills and over-the-top acting does the film no favors.
11:48 "You need to calm down, you ain't making no sense."
11:51 It's as ridiculous as it sounds.
11:54 Yet the film keeps trying to be anything but the satire it should have been.
11:58 While it's unintentionally funny in places, it's more absurd than anything else.
12:03 "Now this is for that poor woman that you mauled."
12:08 Despite bombing with critics, Blood and Honey's commercial success
12:11 probably means we're in for more of this silliness in the future.
12:15 "I know I caused you a lot of pain, just let her go, please."
12:20 Which 2023 film did you think was the worst?
12:23 Let us know in the comments.
12:24 "This isn't fun anymore."
12:26 Did you enjoy this video?
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