South Korean director Kim Jee-woon made his American directorial debut with The Last Stand, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Johnny Knoxville. But Schwarzenegger's box-office muscle isn't what it used to be: The actioner opened in 10th place domestically with $7.2 million for the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. The pic earned $48.3 million worldwide.
Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg in an action thriller about political corruption in New York City didn't make for a pleasantly surprising January hit. Instead the film, directed by Allen Hughes and budgeted at $35 million, received generally poor reviews and grossed a soft $30.7 million worldwide in total.
Released shortly after Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand, Sylvester Stallone's actioner Bullet to the Head similarly failed to bring in audiences. Released in the U.S. by Warner Bros., the Walter Hill-directed film failed to crack the top five at the box office in its first weekend and ended up grossing only $9 million domestically and $4 million internationally.
Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer failed to kill at the box office, debuting to $27.2 million domestically in March. Starring Nicholas Hoult, the fantasy pic's dismal opening drew comparisons to 2012's Battleship and John Carter. The blow was especially hard because of the film's high cost — all told, the price tag was nearly $300 million when factoring in the film's $190 million production budget and hefty marketing spend. It earned $197.7 million worldwide.
Beautiful Creatures, based on a popular YA novel, had all the makings of another hot YA film franchise in the vein of Twilight or The Hunger Games. But instead, the film fizzled at the box office, grossing just $8.9 million in its North America four-day debut and finishing the weekend in sixth place. The pic went on to earn only $60 million worldwide.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, starring Steve Carell and Jim Carrey, wasn't able to make magic at the box office when it opened in North America on March 15. The Warner Bros. pic opened to a dismal $10.2 million at the domestic box office, trailing both Oz the Great and Powerful and Halle Berry's thriller The Call. The magician comedy went on to earn just $24.3 million worldwide to date.
Another YA adaptation vying to be the next Twilight or Hunger Games franchise-starter, The Host didn't live up to the Open Road Films hopes when it debuted stateside this past March. The film, adapted from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer's novel and starring Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons, grossed $48 million worldwide.
Will Smith and his real-life son Jaden starred as father and son in Sony’s sci-fi film, which was a box-office flop when it opened in the U.S. in the No. 3 spot in May (behind holdover Fast & Furious 6 and newcomer Now You See Me). With an estimated budget of $130 million, After Earth earned $27.5 million in its debut, and an 11 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. It went on to earn just $243.8 million worldwide.
Two movies about the White House being under siege turned out to be one too many. Sony's White House Down — starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx — opened just three months after FilmDistrict's Olympus Has Fallen to a dismal $24.9 million. Roland Emmerich's White House Down cost a pricey $150 million to produce and went on to make just $205.4 million worldwide.
Disney's The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, was a big-budget production, costing $250 million to make. But it was a train wreck when it hit theaters in July, opening domestically to a disappointing $29.2 million. When the dust finally settled, the film had earned a sad $260.5 million worldwide. Just two months after the film flopped in theaters, producer Jerry Bruckheimer parted ways with Disney after a longtime partnership, but Bruckheimer didn’t blame the film. “We have a full body of work with them. It's not about Lone Ranger. It's more about the types of movies Disney is making, and the types of movies we want to make.”
Headline writers had a field day with the Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds action film when the $130 million title tanked in its July debut. The Universal film, directed by Robert Schwentke, was panned by critics and in September even Bridges admitted to GQ that "the studio made some, uh, choices that I wouldn't have made." The film wound up grossing $78 million worldwide.
This high-concept corporate thriller thudded with critics prior to its mid-August release date. A cast featuring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Liam Hemsworth and Amber Heard wasn't enough to convince late summer moviegoers to pay for a ticket — the film failed to crack the top ten at the U.S. box office in its debut, ultimately grossing less than $15 million worldwide.
Screen Gems and Constantin Film were so confident in the promise of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones that the producers announced that work would already begin on the sequel before the first film had hit theaters. But after City of Bones opened to a lackluster $14 million over the course of its five-day opening, producers of the $60 million YA adaptation had to delay a follow-up.
Released without fanfare in late August, Getaway didn't gain any traction with moviegoers. The car-chase film, starring Ethan Hawke, Jon Voight and Selena Gomez, received a C+ CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences in the U.S. and ultimately grossed less than $11 million worldwide.
Brad Furman's Runner Runner, starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake, had a dismal $7.7 million U.S. debut. While there's no doubt that the $30 million film was hurt by Warner Bros.' Sandra Bullock–George Clooney space epic Gravity, which debuted to $55.6 million, Runner Runner was expected to open ahead of where it did, even considering the competitive marketplace. It earned a weak $62.7 million worldwide.
Despite a cast that boasted Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks origin story failed to capture the interest of American or global moviegoers. Assange had publicly expressed his displeasure at his portrayal in the film. And the Bill Condon-helmed title, which debuted at the Toronto Film Festival, grossed less than $9 million worldwide theatrically.
A political thriller written by Cormac McCarthy, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Michael Fassbender and Cameron Diaz had plenty of potential. The resulting film, The Counselor, failed to make waves with critics or audiences in its October debut. The film grossed less than $17 million domestically and did a little better internationally, giving the title a worldwide gross of $63 million.
There was plenty of buzz when it was announced that Naomi Watts would be taking on the iconic role of Princess Diana for an upcoming film. But when the pic eventually hit theaters, it grossed only $67,754 from 38 theaters for a bleak location average of $1,708. Diana opened a month earlier in the U.K., where it also bombed (one British reviewer called it "car crash" cinema).
A remake of Park Chan-wook's 2003 thriller, the Josh Brolin starrer had garnered some degree of fan interest prior to its release. But middling reviews didn't help as the film launched in limited release over Thanksgiving weekend and failed to make a dent against juggernauts like The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen. The Spike Lee-directed title has currently grossed $4 million worldwide.