Xillix Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 (edited) Every year dozens of tentpole pictures are released, and there's only so much space in the market. Something's gotta give, and give these pictures did. Let us take a moment to commemorate the dead franchise-starters and shattered multimillion-dollar dreams. Note that these are based on my own calculations and estimates and aren't official in any way. If you wanna make a sequel to one of your films on this list, well, nothing's stopping you. For the purposes of the thread I've defined "big-budget" rather loosely as $50 million and up. The Artificial Age The first major box office bomb of the year, this generic robot war sci-fi pic from schlockmeister Paul W.S. Anderson collapsed at the domestic box office much in the way his Three Musketeers and Pompeii did. Unfortunately for him - and for Gold Crescent Pictures, with this being their first release ever - this time around foreign audiences didn't provide his usual safety net, staying away in droves and letting this picture's cold metal body form a crater in the ground. BraveStarr The first casualty of the war between 80s and 90s cartoon adaptations that overloaded multiplexes last year, BraveStarr got surprisingly strong reviews that weren't able to salvage its financial prospects considering its little-remembered source material and lack of marketable stars. Runaway: A Road Adventure Based on a video game no one has ever heard of and apparently intended to start a franchise, Runaway was savaged by critics and disappointed audiences who expected more laughs and less convoluted plotting and lame action from director Paul Feig. Jim's Adversity Jim Eisenreich was famous, yes, and his story is worth telling - but he's not a historical icon like Jackie Robinson or a superstar like Mohammed Ali, and very few people outside of the US care about baseball. So why anyone decided to spend $50 million on what was essentially a glossed-over TV movie of the week about him is anyone's guess. Chrono Trigger The game this is based on is a cult classic, and you certainly can't fault this film adaptation for being unfaithful. But if anything it's TOO faithful to a title that's not well-known to mainstream audiences, trying to cram so much lore and fanservice into its runtime it became a chore to watch and was ripped a new one by reviewers. Go Go GoBots Yes, it's a ripoff of the Transformers movies based on a ripoff of the Transformers cartoon, and yes, it was very bad. But the elephant in the room here is the ludicrous all-star cast, most of whom are shoved into thankless voice roles or don't show up until the last act. The $135 million budget is big, but not big enough to ape the Bayhem it's going for successfully, and audiences worldwide gave this one a hard pass. Worse, the evidently unscrupulous and possibly criminal methods MV Pictures used to secure the marquee names could cause their whole operation to come tumbling down. Lucky I still don't know who the intended audience was for this vulgar movie which otherwise seems written for six-year-olds. That it got made at all is surprising, that it was funded to the tune of $55 million is astonishing. That it bombed, however, was a foregone conclusion. Apocamance A quirky post-apocalyptic romantic comedy from the guy behind (500) Days of Summer didn't sound like a bad idea, but it probably didn't need a $100 million blockbuster budget. What really killed this movie at the box office, though, was the sudden swerve it takes in plot and tone partway through - which turned off critics and audiences alike. Dino-Riders Probably the single most obscure cartoon brought to big screens in Y1 - the show only lasted 14 episodes back in 1988 - the ludicrous sci-fi flick couldn't overcome its lack of a built-in fanbase with its C-list cast, mediocre special effects, and by-the-numbers plot. Dishonorable Mentions These flicks were hard to call and may have broken even, but were still financial disappointments Captain Planet Operation Megasquad Edited October 29, 2017 by Xillix 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
