The Ten Most Expensive Hollywood Flops of All Time

Times when Hollywood got it so wrong it made records.

Making a movie, any movie, can be a gamble. The higher the budget, the bigger the bet on that movie, and the more it has to succeed to avoid bankrupting the studio. As seen with such notorious historical Hollywood flops as Cleopatra (1963) and Heaven’s Gate (1980), a big enough flop can take down careers, studios, and threaten the industry. Just because a film fails on the financial front doesn’t make it a bad movie, but it does make a flop. And a flop is an orphan in Hollywood.

There are ways to lessen the risk; a famous property, a well-known actor, a sequel to a beloved film. But as this list shows, none of that is a sure thing.

Here are ten times Hollywood spent millions, but in the end, went bust.

 10: Pan. (2015)       

Starring Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, and Garrett Hedlund, this prequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan was directed by Joe Wright (Darkest Hour, Atonement) on a budget of approximately $150 million. The plot tells how Peter came to be an orphan, his meeting up with the lost boys, and the beginnings of his feud with Captain Hook.  

The film was panned by critics on release for its at times incomprehensible storyline and uneven acting. While the movie was praised for its visuals, they seemed an attempt to distract from wooden acting and a plot that is missing motivations and buildups. Many were also the questioning of the need for another telling of Peter Pan, even if it was framed as an origin story.

9: Tomorrowland (2015)

Disney’s Tomorrowland has a much-anticipated collaboration between Disney, director Brad Bird (Incredibles, Iron Giant) and star George Clooney, with co-stars Britt Robertson and Hugh Laurie. The film was based loosely on the Disneyland attraction ‘Tomorrowland’ and it was hoped it would preform as well as the franchise Pirates of the Caribbean, also based on a park attraction. The plot of the film involves a your science prodigy (Robertson) seeking out a former science wiz-kid to find a place that only seems to exist in their shared consciousness; ‘Tomorrowland’. The film was produced by Disney Studios, their first of several appearances on this list.

Tomorrowland went on to perform poorly on release, losing a good chunk of its 190 million budget. It would gross some 209 million worldwide, but that could not offset the massive amount of money used to market the film.

Critical reception was mixed, applauding the production design and performances, but mostly disappointed by the movie’s third act. It did go on to win the Ohio Film Critics ‘Most Disappointing Film’ award.

8: Mars Needs Moms (2011)

Mars Needs Moms was a (2011) Disney co-produced film, directed by Simon Wells (Prince of Egypt, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West), based on the book by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, and starring Seth Green, Joan Cusack, and Dan Fogler.

The movie is about Milo (Green) who gains an appreciation for his mother (Cusack) only after Martians come and take her away. Made on an estimated budget of 150 million, the film made only a worldwide gross of 39 million at the end of its theatrical run. A huge blow to Disney at the time, the failure of Mars Needs Moms would directly affect other Disney films in the future.

7: Battleship (2012)

Battleship was a 2012 movie directed by Peter Berg and starring Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, and Liam Neeson. Based on the old Milton Bradley board game ‘Battleship’, the plot of the film involves the US Naval fleet fighting a war game, when they are challenged by an alien armada and are forced to fight to save the world.  

The film cost an estimated 209-220 million to make and debuted to a mild 25 million in ticket sales. The film also took a critical drubbing for its thin story and clichéd characters, the fact it was based on a board game was also not a help. Worldwide grosses hit 303 million, not enough to earn back its massive budget and marketing costs.

It did win co-star Rhianna a ‘Razzie’ award as worst actress for her film debut.

6: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)    

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas was an animated film by Dreamworks released in 2003, starring the voices of Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Joseph Fiennes, directed by Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson.

The film is about the famous Persian sailor, Sinbad (Pitt) who is framed for the theft of the ‘Book of Peace, by the evil goddess Eris, (Michelle Pfeiffer). Sinbad must retrieve and return the book to save his friend, Prince Proteus.

The film was made by Dreamworks on a budget of 60 million. On opening weekend, it made $6,874,477 and would only go down from there, grossing a little over 26 million domestically and 80 million worldwide ultimately losing 125 million.

It would be Dreamworks’ last hand-drawn animated film.

5: Cutthroat Island (1995)

 Cutthroat Island (1995) is notorious in Hollywood for its runaway budget of 98 million, and its loss of an estimated 105 million, leading to the bankruptcy of the studio Carolco Pictures six weeks before the film debuted. And for ending the star power of actress Gena Davis. Until recently Cutthroat Island held the Guinness record for a film losing the most amount of money.  A documentary should be made about it.

The film stars Gena Davis and Matthew Modine and is directed by Davis’ then-husband, Renny Harland (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2). The plot of the film involves Davis as a female pirate, with Modine as her companion, in a race to beat other pirates (Frank Langella, Oliver Reed) to find a hidden island with a fabulous treasure.

It was a troubled production at a troubled studio, and when the film died at the box office, it took careers and the studio with it. Critical reception praised the production values and the action, but panned the much re-written script and lead acting.

The movie did get a video game version, released by Acclaim Entertainment for the Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy platforms, which can be easily found today inexpensively.

4: Mortal Engines (2018)

2018’s Mortal Engines is an example of having a well-known property not guaranteeing a financial success. The film was adapted from Phillip Reeves’s SF Young Adult series, directed by Christian Rivers, and starred Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, and Hugo Weaving. The book was adapted by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, who both have experience with adapting long and complicated book series. 

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where predatory cities roll across the landscape on wheels, the film follows the mysterious Hester Shaw (Hilmar), the only woman who seems to know how to stop a ravenous city from destroying everything in its path. 

The premise is an ambitious and potentially expensive one, and the film was estimated to be budgeted at over 100 million. It ended up making only 174 million, worldwide, taking a huge enough hit to kill the talk of sequels and franchises.

Critical reception was soundly negative, and fans of the book were confused by the many changes in story and character made by Jackson and Walsh. Even at a 128-minute running time, enough was left out that the plot ended up hard to follow and some characters went by so fast the audience never got to know them, much less care. Production design was widely praised though, even by the series author Reeves.

3: The 13th Warrior (1999)           

 1999’s The 13th Warrior started out as a somewhat less expensive film, Eater of the Dead, directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator) and based on the novel by Michael Crichton. The film underwent many re-edits after negative test screenings, with Crichton taking over as director for reshoots, causing the budget to balloon.

The film stars Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, and Dennis Storhøi. Banderas plays a Muslim ambassador who is exiled from his homeland for falling in love with the wrong woman. He ends up joining a Viking clan and helping them defend their homeland from The Wendol, creatures of the Mist.

The film was originally budgeted by Touchstone Pictures at around 85 million but rose to around 110 million by the time the shoot wrapped. With rewrites, reshoots, and even recasting, that figure became 160 million. The 13th Warrior did 10, 267,756 opening weekend, and went on to a domestic take of 32,698,899 and 61,698,899 worldwide.

There are no announced plans to release McTiernan’s original.

2: The Lone Ranger (2013)

The Lone Ranger was a character created for radio in 1933, and created and developed for that medium by Fran Striker and George Trendle. The radio series ran until 1956, racking up 2956 episodes, many available online. The Ranger and his friend Tonto would appear in hundreds of books, comic books, cartoons, comic strips, movie serials, feature films, and 221 episodes of the Lone Ranger TV series.

After a few years in development hell (and at least two failed reboots in the 80s and 90s) Disney tried to bring the Ranger back to a 21st Century where he had slipped from everyday conscious. Johnny Depp, their Pirates franchise star was set to appear as the Native American Tonto, and Armie Hammer was cast to put on the mask as John Reid/Lone Ranger. Directing would be Pirates director and frequent Depp collaborator Gore Verbinski.

Even before cameras rolled though, many criticized the budget of the movie and the fact that Depp was not Native American, though he did claim some native genealogy on his grandmother’s side. Production problems such as shooting locations, bad weather, the death of a crew member, plus the growing budget, nearly got the film cancelled mid-shoot. After these struggles, the filming wrapped in September of 2012.

The Lone Ranger opened on Jul 7, 2013 with middling to negative reviews, earning a weekend total of $29,210,849. The movie would go on to gross $260,502,115 worldwide on a budget of an estimated 225 million.

It would be one of Disney’s biggest flops, except for the next entry.

 1: John Carter (2012)         

John Carter was a long-promised project that had been put in turnaround, and in and out of development in Hollywood in one form or another, since the early sound era. The film is based on the novel ‘A Princess of Mars’ by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs which featured the first appearance of John Carter. Carter is a former soldier in the Civil War who stumbles into a cave in the West and is mysteriously transported to Mars. Once on Mars, due to the lesser gravity, Carter becomes a near superman, able to leap great distances with muscles like steel. He teams up with Dejah Thoris (the Princess of the title) and helps her fight a battle to free her kingdom.

There were several of John Carter books after that, which appealed to studios looking for a new franchise to exploit, and since most of the original novels were in the public domain that made it even more attractive (the books are PD, but the name is trademarked by the Burroughs estate). Produced by Disney Studios and directed by writer/director Andrew Stanton (A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo) the film stars Taylor Kitsch as Carter, Lynn Collins as Thoris, and Willem Dafoe in a motion-capture performance as Tars Tarkus.

 The final budget of the film came to an estimated 250 million, some of which include the millions used for versions that never made it to screen. It opened domestically at 30 million, grossing $284,139,100 worldwide. While doing better outside the states, and getting some decent reviews, the film flopped and next year Disney also hit the wall with The Lone Ranger.