Some movies do extremely well at the box office, thanks to their star-studded casts, fleshed-out smart marketing and hype built on social media, and perhaps an amazing production team. But it’s only after they’ve landed in theaters that the audience begins wondering if the ticket was really worth buying. Sure, the theatrical momentum might keep blowing up well after the honeymoon period, but when the ball rolls into the viewers’ court, weak storylines and paper-thin character arcs begin getting pointed out in public forums. I’ve also been guilty of spending money (and worse, precious hours) on hyped-up blockbusters, only to leave wishing I had just rewatched an old classic instead. So, here’s my list of those big, disastrous blockbuster movies that raked in millions but failed to win my heart.
10
‘Fifty Shades Darker’ (2017)
Sequels are supposed to raise the bar of an existing story and reward the audience for showing up again, but Fifty Shades Darker did the absolute opposite. The movie was released in 2017 as a follow-up to the famously erotic Fifty Shades of Grey, and tried to cash in on the global frenzy around E. L. James’ novels, but ended up sinking into lazy writing and completely bland execution.
Though the film earned a massive $381 million worldwide, it was a critical disaster that holds a measly 11% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience also did not love the movie too much and gave it a 48% score. Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson had absolutely no chemistry to save it, and even admitted in later interviews how some of the scenes that they shot together were challenging, even. Technically, the movie was a hit, but the numbers only proved the power of hype, not the quality of what was shown on screen.
9
‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ (2016)
Independence Day: Resurgence was one of the most disappointing sequels of all time. The original Independence Day (1996) was cheesy, patriotic, and over-the-top, but it worked only because Roland Emmerich made a beautiful story and featured the star power of Will Smith. Fast-forward 20 years, and Resurgence arrived with the promise of a bigger battle, but what it forgot was to bring a heart to the film.
The film did well at the box office, but clearly, Smith’s absence was so glaring that even Jeff Goldblum‘s charm couldn’t fill the void. It grossed only $389 million worldwide, less than half of what the original earned, despite being released in a much bigger global market. There were other popular cast members, such as Liam Hemsworth and Micah Monroe, whose wooden exchanges made their connection feel awkward and forced.
8
‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ (2008)
The first two Mummy films (1999, 2001) were pure popcorn fun, which starred Brendan Fraser at his peak, Rachel Weisz balancing wit and wonder, and enough Indiana Jones energy to make the audience cling to it. But by the time Tomb of the Dragon Emperor rolled around, the magic had already evaporated. Weisz didn’t return, and her absence was noticeable. Instead, Maria Bello stepped in, but the chemistry that held the series together was gone.
The film swapped Egyptian mythology for Chinese lore, cast Jet Li as the new villain, and brought Michelle Yeoh into the mix. But even those heavyweight names couldn’t save a paper-thin plot. The movie pulled in almost $403 million worldwide, which sounds decent. But comparing it with earlier films’ profitability, while keeping in mind marketing costs, it lagged behind its predecessors.
7
‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ (2017)
The Last Knight rolled into the theaters when Michael Bay‘s Transformers saga had already exploded into a billion-dollar franchise. This fifth installment was supposed to push the story forward in a new direction, but it collapsed under the weight of its own noise. The movie starred Mark Wahlberg, who is a great actor and a proven action star, but The Last Knight wasted his charisma on an underdeveloped character.
The plot was also borderline incoherent. Optimus Prime returns evil, then good again, then the Autobots somehow tie back to King Arthur’s round table, and moving forward, Anthony Hopkins shows up just to shout “Dude!” at the robots. This sequel completely ruined the Transformers franchise, even though the numbers looked strong, with a worldwide $605 million on worldwide grossing. The film was one of the lowest-grossing Transformers films at that time. Paramount Studios also realized that the franchise’s formula had run dry, which forced them to scrap base continuity and pivot to the far better-received Bumblebee (2018).
6
‘Pearl Harbor’ (2001)
With all the good ingredients required for an unforgettable war epic, including a strong story about one of the most defining events in American history, and a cast led by Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, and Kate Beckinsale, Pearl Harbor failed to be received well. It was a glossy three-hour soap opera and a big-budget bomb.
The first attack sequence itself was technically brilliant and showed Bay at his best, but the story turned out to be melodramatic and shallow. Moreover, it sidelined a historically important angle for a clumsy love triangle that was completely out of taste. Financially, the film was a hit and scraped together almost $449 million worldwide, but the audience got a bloated blockbuster that couldn’t carry the weight of the story and earned only a 24% critics score and a 66% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
5
‘Jurassic World Dominion’ (2022)
I remember sitting in the theater and waiting for a trailer of Jurassic Park‘s magic to spark again, but instead I left with the same emptiness you get after a microwaved meal. When Jurassic World Dominion was announced as the grand finale of the franchise, everyone turned to theaters to see dinosaurs running wild in the modern world for the last time. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum returned alongside Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard with the chance to finally tie six films together.
Yes, the film made over $1 billion worldwide, but money does not equal respect. It was panned for being overstuffed and directionless and was called one of the weakest entries in the saga. Even diehard fans admitted that the nostalgia bait couldn’t save it. A shallow story that gave the legacy trio little to do beyond nods and winks. The dinosaurs, on the other hand, only felt like background extras in the film that was actually made about them. Although there is more to come in the Jurassic Park franchise, this movie could not have been a more disappointing conclusion to the trilogy.
4
‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker’ (2019)
Star Wars prequels are pretty much infamous for being universally despised, but The Rise of Skywalker made us realize that we paid actual money to go see one of the most beloved film franchises ever made, only for it to be ruined in front of our eyes. It was an insulting conclusion to the nine-part Skywalker saga that completely deprived characters of any depth and interesting storylines. The film was directed by J.J. Abrams and earned over 1 billion dollars worldwide, yet its critical reception was tepid with a 51% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes it one of the lowest rated live-action Star Wars movies ever made.
Emperor Palpatine was resurrected without explanation, Rey’s parentage was retconned, and entire story arcs were bent out of shape only to undo the previous film’s risks. As someone who grew up with Star Wars, I walked out of the theater with a strange ache of knowing that I had just seen the end of an era, but not the ending it deserved. It wasn’t terrible in the sense of craft, but it was a disaster because it betrayed the weight of previous films.
3
‘The Last Airbender’ (2010)
M. Night Shyamalan‘s The Last Airbender was a collective disappointment. The movie is based on Nickelodeon’s beloved animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008), but it had a built-in fan base and a chance to bring one of the best modern fantasy stories to the big screen. However, the movie could not have disappointed more. Shyamalan had gotten his filmmaking career back on track thanks to the excellent 2017 thriller Split, but with The Last Airbender, everything went to the drain.
Even though the movie did well at the box office and earned $319 million worldwide, it was propped up only by overseas revenue. It cost around $150 million to make, but domestically it collected only $131 million. This is also one of the lowest-rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes, where critics only give it an extremely disappointing 5% score. The casting also sparked controversy for its whitewashing of central roles, the script butchered character arcs, and the mispronunciation of names like ‘Aang” and “Sokka”, which only showed how much no one was involved and truly understood the source material.
2
‘Battlefield Earth’ (2000)
There are bad movies, and then there is Battlefield Earth. The movie was based on L. Ron Hubbard’s 1982 sci-fi novel, directed by John Travolta. This was supposed to be the next Star Wars, but it became a textbook example of how a blockbuster can implode at every possible level. Battlefield Earth swept the Razzies in 2000 and won eight awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor, and Worst Screen Couple. If there were more such awards, it would have probably received them too.
Honestly, I couldn’t find much to defend, and for me it stays unwatchable, and a crime against cinema. Although Travolta poured years into getting the film made, and believed he was bringing a sci-fi epic to life, we, as an audience, got two hours of incoherent storytelling and a high-profile flop.
1
‘Jupiter Ascending’ (2015)
Jupiter Ascending turned out to be one of the decade’s most notorious box office disasters, and it burned through nearly $200 million before anyone even saw it. It is directed by the Wachowskis after their talents peaked when they created The Matrix trilogy, but Jupiter Ascending failed to land on anyone’s heart. On paper, the premise of the movie sounded quite ambitious, with the story following Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), a Russian immigrant who discovers that she is actually intergalactic royalty destined to inherit Earth. Alongside her protector, Caine (Channing Tatum), she gets caught in a cosmic and heightened battle between three squabbling alien siblings.
This alone sounds like it should have been enough to guarantee late-night meme culture, but in theaters, instead, it played like a messy collage of ideas. Mila and Channing had no on-screen spark between them, and it looked weird to watch them speak incomprehensible dialogue on screen. The worst part of the movie was Eddie Redmayne‘s whisper-shout villain performance, even though he got the Best Actor award for The Theory of Everything. It’s only sane to assume that not many people saw Jupiter Ascending, because after watching it, one might question his abilities to act since his performance was so reprehensible.
Jupiter Ascending
- Release Date
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February 6, 2015
- Runtime
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127 Minutes
