Summary
Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic, and Top Gun Maverick are just four of the highest-grossingmoviesever made. While the critical reception of “box office smashes” may vary, if a movie makes $800 million, $900 million, or even a billion dollars, that’s nothing short of a tremendous accomplishment.
Regrettably, not all movies are so fortuitous. In fact, there is a torrent of films with substantial marketing and production budgets that flopped hard. Even good movies can sometimes miss the mark regarding box office numbers. Whether it be from abysmal reviews or a general lack of enthusiasm, these movies are evoked in infamy as box office duds.
Updated on July 29, 2025, by Mackenzee Hardyk:It’s always interesting to see what movies perform well in the box office and what doesn’t. For example, Joker: Folieà Deux, which has underperformed enough to be one of the biggest box office flops in 2024. So, we’ve decided to update this list and add a few more entries of some of the biggest box office flops of all time.
17Wonder Woman 1984
Estimated $118-161 Million Loss
Initially, there was excitement aroundWonder Woman 1984, as the first movie was considered a success and performed amazingly well at the box office. That excitement quickly died down upon the release of Wonder Woman 1984.
Wonder Woman 1984 did not have a traditional theatrical run due to COVID and many theatres being shut down. It grossed only $16 million through ticket sales, but, a lot of people consider the movie to be a flop in general, as it was not well received at all.
16Tomorrowland
Estimated $120 - $150 Million Loss
While Disney is best known forits animated projects, the company has also made some successful live-action movies. Tomorrowland can’t be considered one of the successful ones. It’s a sci-fi movie with a very impressive cast that includes George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Kathryn Hahn, and more. That cast was also likely a bit of an expensive one, and it likely contributed to the movie’s high cost.
Yet, those expenses wouldn’t have been too bad if the movie made a lot of money. It grossed $209 million worldwide, but more was needed to offset the large production and marketing costs. Therefore,according to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie ended up losing an estimated $120 to $150 million. That isn’t accounting for inflation, either.
15Joker: Folie à Deux
Estimated $150-200 Million Loss
Another sequelthat has majorly flopped is Joker: Folie à Deux, which is also unfortunate. Joker, the first movie, set records in the box office, while the sequel has become one of the biggest box office flops in 2024.
The movie’s flop is likely attributed to the fact that it was not well received or appreciated by audiences. People were expecting the same grittiness and intensity the first movie had, while Joker: Folie à Deux strayed from the plot and is a musical, which is a genre shift not many people were expecting nor was it wanted.
14Jungle Cruise
Estimated $169 Million Loss
Jungle Cruise is another Disney movie that had the unfortunate fate of flopping. The movie itself is based off of the Jungle Cruise ride in Disneyland and is exactly what it sounds like, a boat ride in the jungle. It also features a few big actors such as Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.
The movie was released in 2021 and did not perform well in the box office. Whether it was because of the mixed reviews it received or that it was released on Disney+ while simultaneously being shown in theatres, this has not stopped a second movie from being developed.
13Turning Red
Estimated $174 Million Loss
Turning Red, like a lot of the other animated films on this list, cost a pretty hefty amount to produce, but unlike the other animated films, it never had a traditional theatre run upon its release.
Turning Red went immediately to streaming services upon its release in 2022 and only showed in a few countries. Because of this, it lost a lot of revenue it could have made if it had a full theatrical run. It did have a brief rerelease into theatres during February of 2024 but did not gross enough to make up for the initial loss.
12Pan
Estimated $170 - $180 Million Loss
Everyone knows the tale of Peter Pan. The fable of the titular flying boy’s adventures in Neverland has seen sundry different film adaptations. 2015’s Pan tried taking the legend of Peter Pan and giving it a blockbuster makeover.
Despite big-named star power and excessive budget, Pan earned poor reviews and grossed $128.4 million worldwide. While that’s not chump change, when measured to its estimated $300 million costs, suffice to say, Pan didn’t breathe new life into the Peter Pan character.
11Mars Needs Moms
Estimated $180 - $190 Million Loss
When 2004’s The Polar Express came out, many people saw its computer animated style as cutting edge. With its success came other movies trying to utilize the visual technique. Mars Needs Moms is just one of those films, but is also the biggest fiasco of them all.
Much like The Polar Express, Mars Needs Mom’s animation was expensive, so it was even more paramount for the movie to find great monetary prosperity. Alas, the film lost an estimated $180 - $190 million, more than enough to see this animation aesthetic fade away.
10King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword
Estimated $183 Million Loss
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is about, of course the adventures of King Arthur finding Excalibur and what follows. While the movie grossed $148 million in the box office, which is better than some of the other movies on this list, it still lost a lot of money.
Due to a lack of interest, mixed reviews, as well as the movie not following the story of King Arthur correctly, it was not well received. This film was supposed to become a series, though it was put to rest after the first movie did not perform as expected.
9Battleship
Estimated $191 Million Loss
During the late 2000s and early 2010s, The Transformers movies were Hollywood’s premiere blockbuster franchise. It didn’t matter that the films were mostly terrible; each entry was a dependable box-office smash. So Hasbro sought to turn another of its toys into agreat action feature film.
Battleship might’ve had the look of a sci-fi action summer flick, but looks are all it had. Between its dreadful writing, poor direction, and nonsensical plot, Battleship was both a massive critical and commercial failure, losing nearly $200 million for Hasbro and Universal Pictures.
8Strange World
Estimated $197 Million Loss
It’s fair to say that Disney’s animated productions aren’t what they once were. Even if you ignore the soulless live-action remakes of its beloved classics, many of its original animated films just don’t hold a candle to its best pictures from prior decades.
2022’s Stange World seemed like a harken back to Disney’s glory days, but it was just another piece of Walt Disney Animation’s downward spiral. Despite positive reviews, the film grossed a meager $73.6 million worldwide, not even in the ballpark of its estimated cost.
