15 Costly Box Office Flops from Major Hollywood Studios

Big studios have every advantage imaginable—massive budgets, famous actors, endless marketing campaigns, and globally recognized franchises. These elements create an expectation of guaranteed box office success. Yet even with all that power behind them, some movies still failed spectacularly when they reached theaters.

A few became financial disasters so large that they changed studio strategies for years afterward. Hollywood history is filled with expensive reminders that no company is completely safe from producing a massive flop.

15 of the Biggest Box Office Flops from Major Studios

• The Marvels — Marvel Studios
  The Marvel Cinematic Universe experienced its first major box office collapse after years of near-automatic success.
• The New Mutants — 20th Century Studios
  Years of delays and production problems drained excitement for this X-Men spinoff before its release.
• Tomorrowland — Walt Disney Pictures
  Disney invested heavily in original blockbuster storytelling, but audiences showed little interest in the final film.
• Battlefield Earth — Franchise Pictures
  This heavily criticized sci-fi movie became one of the most infamous studio-backed disasters ever released.
• Cats — Universal Pictures
  The bizarre visual effects and awkward adaptation instantly turned Cats into one of the internet’s favorite punching bags.
• Cutthroat Island — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
  The pirate adventure lost so much money that it helped destroy the studio behind its production.
• Green Lantern — Warner Bros.
  Warner Bros. planned a major superhero franchise, but weak reactions destroyed those plans almost immediately.
• John Carter — Walt Disney Pictures
  Disney hoped John Carter would become a giant sci-fi franchise before the movie disappeared quickly at the box office.
• Jupiter Ascending — Warner Bros.
  This ambitious sci-fi epic struggled under its confusing story and overwhelming visual style.
• Lightyear — Pixar
  This Toy Story spinoff surprisingly failed to generate the audience enthusiasm Pixar normally receives.
• Mortal Engines — Universal Pictures
  Despite huge visual ambition and blockbuster scale, audiences never connected with the post-apocalyptic adventure.
• Solo: A Star Wars Story — Lucasfilm
  Production chaos and franchise fatigue hurt what was expected to be another easy Star Wars hit.
• Strange World — Walt Disney Animation Studios
  Disney’s animated sci-fi movie quietly became one of the company’s largest theatrical failures in years.
• The Flash — Warner Bros.
  Warner Bros. spent years developing this superhero film only for it to become one of DC’s biggest financial disappointments.
• The Lone Ranger — Walt Disney Pictures
  This expensive western failed badly despite the studio hoping it would repeat the success of Pirates of the Caribbean.