Author Topic: Box-office disasters in your DVD collection (Read 9394 times)

av_phile1 · « **on:** Nov 08, 2005 at 11:57 AM »

Talk about disasters, I only have the Liz Taylor starrer CLEOPATRA said to be the biggest bomb in cinema history. Any other title?

MAtZTER · « **Reply #1 on:** Nov 08, 2005 at 04:29 PM »

I just got the urge to buy Catwoman. I heard it was a box office disaster, but for P299.00, bahala na.

Havent watched it yet though.

vp_ortiz · « **Reply #2 on:** Nov 08, 2005 at 08:22 PM »

i have Speed 2: Cruise Control, for a $100 million movie that made only $15 million, THIS is a bomb!

av_phile1 · « **Reply #3 on:** Nov 09, 2005 at 09:56 AM »

Here are the top 10 biggest film bombs according to MSN:

10. Howard The Duck, taking in $16M out of $37M film cost
9. Hudson Hawk, 17.2M out of 60M
8. Ishtar, 12.7M out of 55M
7. Inchon, 1.9M out of 50M
7. Battlefield Earth, 21.5M out of 73M
6. Cleopatra, 26M out of 44M
5. Heaven's Gate, 3M out of 44M
4. The Postman, 17.6M out of 80M
3. Town & Country, 6.7M out of 85M
2. Cutthroat Island, 9.9M out of 100M
1. The Adventures Of Pluto Nash, 4.4M out of 100M

So Cleopatra isn't the all-time bomb I thought it was.

More details here:
http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=131054

And there's more arranged alphabetically at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_office_bomb#A

Another here
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-films-u-s-box-office-bombs

The list doesn't seem to be complete. But looking at them, I actually have a lot of those bombs in my collection:

Around The World In 80 Days
Babe, Pig In The City
Cleopatra
The Core
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Gods & Generals
The Iron Giant
Osmosis Jones
Hulk
Lost In Space
Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow
Treasure Planet
Troy

When Alexander is released locally, I think that would add to it.

classicman · « **Reply #4 on:** Nov 09, 2005 at 09:01 PM »

Quote from: av_phile1 on Nov 09, 2005 at 09:56 AM

Here are the top 10 biggest film bombs according to MSN:

6. Cleopatra, 26M out of 44M

good thing i only have this in my collection......

av_phile1 · « **Reply #5 on:** Nov 10, 2005 at 09:58 AM »

Quote from: classicman on Nov 09, 2005 at 09:01 PM

good thing i only have this in my collection......

Yup, out of the 10 biggest bombs, that's the only one I have too. But did you check the other listings?

classicman · « **Reply #6 on:** Nov 10, 2005 at 11:01 AM »

after double checking your other lists, i found out that i also have the ff. in my collection:

1. Final Fantassy: The Spirits Within
2. Gods & Generals
3. The Majestic
4. The Iron Giant
5. Troy

but i really woudn't mind even if these titles didn't make it big at the U.S. box-office, for me they're good movies worthy of inclusion in my humble collection especially Gods & Generals, The Iron Giant & Final Fantassy: The Spirits Within.......

av_phile1 · « **Reply #7 on:** Nov 10, 2005 at 12:35 PM »

Ofcourse, our collection reflects our personal preferrences. I happen to like some of those titles even if they're box-office flops. This thread is just anther inquiry much like those that ask which titles you have that are oscar winners, or top box office draws, among the top 100 AFI list, etc.

classicman · « **Reply #8 on:** Nov 10, 2005 at 12:56 PM »

Quote from: av_phile1 on Nov 10, 2005 at 12:35 PM

Ofcourse, our collection reflects our personal preferrences. I happen to like some of those titles even if they're box-office flops. This thread is just anther inquiry much like those that ask which titles you have that are oscar winners, or top box office draws, among the top 100 AFI list, etc.

i totally agree w/ u

......BTW, although Final Fantassy: The Spirits Within was a flop at the U.S. box-office, it was a hit worldwide

Pilosopo · « **Reply #9 on:** Nov 11, 2005 at 08:04 PM »

My only DVD found in the list of Box-office flops is Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

workshy · « **Reply #10 on:** Nov 14, 2005 at 11:49 PM »

Pluto Nash.
Read that Eddie Murphy gets rashes at the mere mention of this title

Bought this when I was still new in dvd collecting , am probably a more educated buyer now .
thanks to pinoydvd.

vtec3 · « **Reply #11 on:** Nov 15, 2005 at 02:31 PM »

Quote from: MAtZTER on Nov 08, 2005 at 04:29 PM

I just got the urge to buy Catwoman. I heard it was a box office disaster, but for P299.00, bahala na.

Havent watched it yet though.

Bought this title at regular price and for me it is indeed a disaster

vtec3 · « **Reply #12 on:** Nov 15, 2005 at 02:43 PM »

Have the following :

a. Catwoman
b. Hulk
c. Home on the Range
d. Iron Giant
e. Treasure Planet

The last three I like and have watched several times with my kids. The first two movies I regret buying it

stannum · « **Reply #13 on:** Nov 15, 2005 at 02:51 PM »

The only flop I've got is The Iron Giant. Hit na hit naman siya sa bahay.

barrister · « **Reply #14 on:** Nov 19, 2005 at 11:30 AM »

Charlotte Gray (Cate Blanchett, 2001)

ranran · « **Reply #15 on:** Nov 23, 2005 at 07:16 PM »

so far i only have these bombs at home..

Troy
Iron Giant
Kingdom of Heaven? - i heard somewhere that this movie didn't quite make a hit, then again i could be wrong. still i like this one anyway.

ViolentDream · « **Reply #16 on:** Dec 12, 2005 at 10:37 AM »

Mission to Mars --it bombed (dunno how much they spent tho) pero ok naman sa akin, naiyak ako in several scenes! hahaha

-Troy (ok pa rin ang battles a)
-Gods & Generals

I read the DVD review of Alexander, ok naman daw ang features (such as a featurette detailing na Oliver Stone had very serious budge/production/deadline problems...but anyway will still get the DVD

av_phile1 · « **Reply #17 on:** Dec 12, 2005 at 12:39 PM »

It can be interesting to learn why a certain title bombed at the tills. Owning some of these titles can be a learning experience too. Some got rave critical reviews but where underwhelming or didn't have enough distribution reach in cinemas. Some, like Cleopatra, had overspent beyond its budgets and had stars with love lives or secrets that turned off the prospective audience, or like Iron Giant, didn't get enough promotional mileage to drum up sales. Some like Troy just had overblown budgets to begin with. But some like Gods and Generals, the pacing just wasn't there to excite the audience and word of mouth dislike spread to limit its showing calendar. Whatever reason a film bombed, it has little to do with personal preferences for this title when it comes to DVD collecting.

viperkid · « **Reply #18 on:** Jan 12, 2006 at 01:23 AM »

Sad to say but I think I have a lot of bombs basing on the wikipedia.org research namely:
Ali
The Avengers (Sean Connery was a badass in the film not to mention Uma in leather)
Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever
THe Chronicles of Riddick
Cleopatra
The Core
Event Horizon
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Gods and Generals
The Iron Giant
Jersey Girl
The Last Castle
The Majestic
Man on the Moon
Sahara
Treasure Planet
Wing Commander

Blu-Ray · « **Reply #19 on:** Jan 12, 2006 at 02:31 PM »

Yes, Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within.

With a total of $167M Production and Marketing Costs, only $85M Gross Sale around the world ($32M from US and $53M from Rest of the World.

Blu-Ray · « **Reply #20 on:** Jan 12, 2006 at 02:36 PM »

Another is Windtalkers from my collection.

With $77.6M Gross Sales around the world compare to its Production and Marketing Cost of $150M.

fredrk · « **Reply #21 on:** Jan 13, 2006 at 12:33 PM »

The Avengers.

av_phile1 · « **Reply #22 on:** Jan 13, 2006 at 12:50 PM »

Just bought another bomb lately: Stealth

Disney's Home On The Range which I earlier got on sale is also on the list. Sometimes it's stretching the imagination a bit for a cartoon to be made at $100M.

aszamora · « **Reply #23 on:** Jan 13, 2006 at 03:15 PM »

As far as I know:

Underworld-grossed only $51 million in the US b.o. so I guess, it's a flop even though there's a sequel already.

Stealth

Find them OK though and I have more tolerance when it comes to DVDs than when watching in a cinema. Am looking forward to Underworld: Evolution.

Mr. Hankey · « **Reply #24 on:** Jan 13, 2006 at 03:56 PM »

I really wouldn't consider Underworld a disaster, since it was only filmed at a (relatively) modest budget of $22M. The film more than doubled its production cost with its US release alone, and as you pointed out, was considered strong enough for a theatrical sequel to be made.

Of those in the top 10 list, I also only have Cleopatra, as well. But I will pre-order Ishtar immediately the second I see it listed at Amazon.

"Telling the truth can be dangerous business..."

av_phile1 · « **Reply #25 on:** Jan 13, 2006 at 04:02 PM »

The net often classifies a film as a flop using different standards. Some would use the US domestic box office even though based on worldwide receipts a film may have made money. Interestingly, Cleopatra was the highest grossing film of 1963 based on US domestic BO receipts, but it is still classified a classic flop because the investment was not recouped domestically in its first theatrical run. (I read somewhere it eventually made money after world distribution and video sales. ) A lot of films classified as bombs did make money after consolidating global receipts. Underworld could be one of these. So sequels are made.

aszamora · « **Reply #26 on:** Jan 13, 2006 at 04:31 PM »

Just checked IMDB and indeed Underworld can't be considered a flop given its production budget. Sorry for the lack of research. I guess, I just got used to $70 mil to more than $100 mil blockbuster movies. Anyway, I like Underworld(mostly because of Kate in that black suit) and I'm glad to have the unrated edition in my collection and will definitely watch Underworld:Evolution.

bodol · « **Reply #27 on:** Jan 13, 2006 at 04:46 PM »

Don't forget WATERWORLD.

This was a Kevin Costner movie that cost somewhere around 200M to make.

aszamora · « **Reply #28 on:** Jan 16, 2006 at 11:23 AM »

Just added The Island to my list. I actually prefer this one over the more successful Bad Boys 2.

nerveblocker · « **Reply #29 on:** Jan 19, 2006 at 01:42 PM »

Maybe War of the Worlds can be added to the list....