10 Box Office Bombs From The 2010's That Are Actually Good
It's inevitable that, every year, a number of big-budget blockbusters are bound to flop at the box office. Whether this be because they were poorly made, misunderstood, or mis-marketed, these films all still end up with the same "flop" distinction when all is said and done.
However, just because a movie can't perform well commercially doesn't mean it's inherently "bad." Sometimes, a film's audience was simply too niche, or it took a bit longer for its fanbase to form. That's the case for ten movies in particular that were released during the 2010s that, despite being decent or outright fantastic films, found themselves unable to recoup their budget during their theatrical run.
10 Mortal Engines
Produced by The Lord of the Rings' Peter Jackson, Mortal Engines was imagined to be a successor-of-sorts to that fantasy franchise, being based off the popular book series of the same name and directed by Oscar-winning LOTR visual effects supervisor Christian Rivers. Sadly, the film only made $83.7 million worldwide against its $100-150 million budget, and critics were equally unkind, as it received a 26% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 44 on Metacritic.
Respectfully, this is one of the times critics missed the mark. With a story that is set in a post-apocalyptic world where entire cities have been mounted on wheels and motorized, leading to glorious guerilla warfare, the film is a sci-fi spectacle reminiscent of Mad Max: Fury Road, and its resonant story about protagonist Hester Shaw's mission to avenge her mother's death at the hand of the terrifying Thaddeus Valentine (played here by Hugo Weaving) is mightily moving.
9 The Good Dinosaur
After an infamously troubled production, Pixar's The Good Dinosaur couldn't catch a break in theaters either, earning $333.2 million against a budget of $175-200 million. While critics weren't too harsh on the prehistoric picture - with the film earning a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 66 on Metacritic - they were still quick to dismiss it as "too simple a story," and, as a result, it's become known as one of the most underrated Pixar movies.
Sure, it may not be as conceptually complex as something like Soul or Inside Out, but the film - which follows an Apatosaurus named Arlo as he befriends a human boy named Spot and struggles to make his way home after an accident involving the death of his father sends him down a river miles away - is emotionally effective and features some of Pixar's most vibrant visuals to date.
8 Rise of the Guardians
On paper, Rise of the Guardians sounded like a smash hit. A movie about Santa Claus, Jack Frost, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman teaming up to stop a villain from engulfing the world in darkness and dashing children's dreams? How could that not be a commercial success? Sadly, it seems too few viewers appreciated its more action-oriented tone (compared to DreamWorks Animation's usually lighter fare), as it only earned $306.9 million worldwide on a $145 million budget.
Critics were semi-mixed on the film - as it earned a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes but a 58 on Metacritic - although its fanbase has grown exponentially in recent years thanks to sites like Tumblr spreading fan-fiction and edits about the characters. And who could blame them? Thanks to a valiant voice cast (comprised of Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, and Jude Law), these personalities leap off the screen and imbue the fantasy adventure enormous energy and excitement.
7 Solo: A Star Wars Story
Solo: A Star Wars Story's problems were two-fold. For starters, it shouldn't have opened a mere five months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as it was clear that "Star Wars fatigue" was starting to set in amongst the general audience. However, there was no way the creators could've seen the intense fan backlash to that film coming, and that also brought Solo's box office down, with it only earning $393.2 million against a budget of $275-300 million.
Critics were almost entirely ambivalent towards the film - and it earned an "okay" 70% on Rotten Tomatoes and 62 on Metactritic - but, years removed from its release, it remains a rock-solid sci-fi adventure on its own, with an all-star cast headlined by an excellent Alden Ehrenreich who, while not as naturally charismatic as Harrison Ford, turns in terrific work in the story of his rise as a smuggler nonetheless. And who couldn't appreciate Donald Glover's charming performance as the lively Lando Calrissian?
6 The Lone Ranger
In the years since its release, The Lone Ranger's reputation has been tainted even more by the falls from grace of stars Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer - to say nothing of its already questionable depiction of the character of Tonto at the time - and it certainly wasn't a hit with critics or crowds way back when either, earning a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes and 37 on Metacritic and grossing $260.5 million against a budget of $225-250 million.
While certainly overlong, The Lone Ranger is an undeniably entertaining blockbuster spectacle, as is to be expected from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski, who is one of the best helmers of big-budget action working at the moment. The third act - almost entirely set on a runaway train - is chock-full of skillfully choreographed stunt work that offers considerable cinematic excitement.
5 John Carter
Like The Lone Ranger, John Carter was another attempt by Disney to create an original franchise that fell flat on its face. With a budget that ballooned to $300 million+, this proved impossible to recoup, as the film could only earn $284.1 million worldwide. Critics were unimpressed as well, with the movie receiving a 52% on Rotten Tomatoes and 51 on Metacritic.
Though John Carter was intended to be the first in a trilogy about the iconic Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, plans for sequels were shelved immediately after the film's underperformance, which is a shame given the world's wondrous world-building, sumptuous storytelling (centered around the titular Civil War vet John Carter becoming the hero of the people of Mars) and dynamic direction from Andrew Stanton in his live-action debut.
4 The Man From U.N.C.L.E
For every Guy Ritchie film that becomes a hit at the box office (Aladdin), there's another that flat-out bombs (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword). Sadly, despite decent reviews (a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 56 on Metacritic), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. fell in the latter group, as its $107 million worldwide cume was not sufficient for its $75-84 million budget.
It's a shame that such a terrific throwback thriller couldn't catch on with the masses, as, alongside its charming cast (with Henry Cavill and Alicia Vikander being the star standouts), it has one of the sharpest scripts Ritchie has ever written (despite using a stereotypical "save the world from nuclear weapons!" plot structure), and the action mixes silliness with suspense to sensational effect.
3 Hugo
Martin Scorsese took a break from gangster films to helm this audacious adaptation of Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret, simply titled Hugo. Critics adored the child-centric adventure, with the appropriate balance of thrills and terror, and it earned a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 83 on Metacritic. Audiences, however, were slightly less enamored, as the film only grossed $185.8 million against a budget of $150-170 million.
It's such a shame, as Scorsese took a big risk working outside of his usual sandbox with this story, and, assisted by John Logan's stirring script about Asa Butterfield's Hugo's mission to solve a mystery left behind by his late father, he makes the rare big-budget period epic that can please viewers of any age.
2 Cloud Atlas
The Wachowskis are household names thanks to their work on the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, but, outside of those films, they've sadly had far less success. Take Cloud Atlas for example, a sweeping sci-fi epic that earned mixed-to-positive reviews from critics (a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 55 on Metacritic) and passionate defenders the world over, but mainstream audiences turned their noses up at the time-hopping tale, with it only grossing $130.5 million worldwide on a $100-150 million budget.
One of the most ambitious movies released by a major movie studio, Cloud Atlas seeks to survey the ways our lives intertwine over the course of human history, taking place over six different eras in time as its cast (comprised of Oscar-winning stars like Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and Jim Broadbent) performs in different roles in each era. For an adaptation of a famously "unadaptable" book by David Mitchell, it's a monumental achievement.
1 Blade Runner 2049
In cinephile circles, director Denis Villeneuve is a god among men, having giving us genre classics like Prisoners and Arrival and daring to make a sequel to sci-fi classic like Blade Runner with his rapturously received Blade Runner 2049 (which earned an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 81 on Metacritic). Most moviegoers were less enamored with this epic than hardcore film fans though, as it only grossed $260.5 million worldwide against a $150-185 million budget.
Regardless, there's no way around it - Blade Runner 2049 is a miracle of a movie, constantly redefining what spectacle production designers and visual effects supervisors are even capable of creating, and coupled with a stunning script that raises new questions about the line between Replicants and humans, this is the rare sci-fi feature that offers thrills and makes you think, in equal measure.