Sunday, August 30, 2015

Top Ten Movies That Bombed

Movie bombs are not always terrible. By the same token not all good movies do well in the box office. In fact there are quite a few movies that have had reputations for being box office bombs. If the box office were an accurate display of what was good or not many more Oscar winning movies would be chosen by the public over summer blockbusters.

10. Treasure Planet
Budget $140 million
Box office $109.6 million
Disney’s Treasure Planet is a fun take on the Treasure Island story. Adding a sci-fi theme to the story it melds hand drawn animation with computer animation. The movie is creative and lovely. Maybe the science fiction element scared off folks. Any family with kids should give it a try.

9. Heathers
Budget $2 million
Box office $1.1million
Heathers is a dark and sardonic look at the high school experience. The movie is about school students killing each other so perhaps the subject material was just a bit too harsh for audiences. I certainly couldn’t imagine this movie getting greenlit today. If you are a high school senior this is a must watch.

8. Big Trouble in Little China
Budget $20 million
Box office $11.1 million
Director John Carpenter has collaborated with actor Kurt Russell on multiple occasions. This movie is big on laughs and high on slapstick action. Kurt Russell brings his A-game as reluctant hero, trucker Jack Burton, who gets his truck stolen in Chinatown and must retrieve it from a mystical foe. It is a fun movie that must not have found the right audience.

7. Sunshine
Budget $40 million
Box office $32 million
Sunshine is a suspenseful sci-fi movie about a crew attempting to re-start a dying sun. The cast is great and the story is gripping. My guess is that not a lot of people heard about it because it is considered a British film. This is a worthwhile movie for anyone who enjoys a dark or thought-provoking cinema with a mix of slasher elements for good measure.

6. Highlander
Budget $19 million
Box office $12.9 million
Highlander is a beautiful movie. Full to the brim with lovely landscape shots and decapitating action. I imagine that the constant time shifting between the scenes caused confusion with some folks. Still, this movie is enjoyable, quotable, and has a great soundtrack. See it if you are in the mood for a modern fantasy.

5. Children of Men
Budget $76 million
Box office $70 million
Children of Men tells the story of a dystopian society where children are no longer born. Suddenly a refugee brings hope because she is pregnant. The world that is created is depressing but well constructed and had some impressive shots and a very memorable chase scene. There are few movies like it but it is worth seeing since the director has since moved onto much bigger scale movies like Gravity.

4. Grindhouse
Budget $53 million
Box office $25.4
Two great directors put forth a fantastic movie. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino both direct different features and yet Grindhouse bombed. Why? My guess is the incredible length of the two films combined with the fake trailers really scared off a lot of people. Three hours was still considered a long sit for 2007. Now it is almost a normal expectation.

3. Ed Wood
Budget $18 million
Box office $5.9
Ed Wood tells the story of a notoriously bad director and his dreams of making movies. It is possibly one of Tim Burton’s best films. If there were a couple of reasons this movie didn’t do well it would probably be because it was shot in black and white and people don’t really know who Ed Wood is.

2. The Iron Giant
Budget $70 million
Box office 31.3 million
The Iron Giant is a fantastic movie. The animation is wonderful, the story is original and the characters are likable. It didn’t do well at all in the box-office but has gained a following that is growing and the director Brad Bird has gone on to making many Pixar classics like Ratatouille and The Incredibles. If you are young or old you should check out The Iron Giant.

1. Dredd
Budget $45 million
Box office $41.5
This action packed siege movie caught many by surprise. It has gained a lot of good publicity since coming to DVD but it didn’t do well at the box office at all. If I had to guess it would be because people thought it would be a lot like the previous version that Sylvester Stallone starred in. The effects and the script are solid for this movie and it is a lot of fun. If you are an action fan this movie is right up your alley.

If anything this shows that the public as a whole is not always right about the quality of a film. All of these movies are completely worth seeing. The best policy is just using your best judgment. What is popular is not always going to be good and what is good is certainly not always going to be popular.

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