From big-budget blockbusters to passion projects, 2024 saw its fair share of box office disappointments. Join us as we explore the films that failed to recoup their investments, examining why these highly anticipated movies struggled to connect with audiences and what factors contributed to their financial downfall.
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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.