Top 10 Movie Bombs That Deserved It

#10: “Green Lantern” (2011)

Befitting his name, this intergalactic DC hero left everyone green in the face. In fact, the only type of green this movie didn’t have was the kind that helps Warner Bros.’s wallet. You can’t exactly blame audiences for rejecting “Green Lantern,” though. Ryan Reynolds is always a charming presence, but he’s buried beneath a thinly plotted script overstuffed with bland characters and ugly CGI. Most embarrassing of all is that this was supposed to kickstart DC’s own cinematic universe. But, due to the bad reviews and even worse box-office, those plans were quietly kicked to the curb.

#9: “Inchon” (1981)

For a movie about the Korean war, making the thing was the biggest battle of all! Due to severe weather and the untimely death of a cast member, “Inchon’s” original budget more than doubled by the time it finally wrapped. Not that the team had anything to show for it. The final cut is a haphazard, laughable mess that’s more akin to an ambitious B-movie than an actual war epic. Audiences weren’t convinced “Inchon” was worth a trip to theaters, and the movie’s expensive production ended up costing the studio upwards of 40 million dollars. Then again, what else would you expect from what is often called one of the worst films ever made?

#8: “Morbius” (2022)

On paper, a vampire superhero movie sounds awesome! Sadly, “Morbius” is not awesome. At all. Truly, the only good thing about it was all the “it’s Morbin’ time!” memes. And they aren’t even in the actual movie! That didn’t stop Sony from putting “Morbius” back in theaters to capitalize on its memeification, though. However, even with a whole second chance at the box-office, “Morbius” still failed to fill seats. It’s just that awful, and not even in a “so bad it’s good” way. After all, it takes a special kind of movie to flop not just once, but twice!

#7: “Dolittle” (2020)

Look, we’re all for Robert Downey Jr. pursuing some passion projects after his lengthy tenure at Marvel. But, for Universal’s sake, he should probably experiment with films that don’t have production budgets over 100 million dollars. Especially when, like “Dolittle,” they’re about as entertaining as dragon feces. Downey Jr.’s natural screen presence is nowhere to be found in this ill-advised reboot, which thinks potty humor and gross-out gags are all you make a movie. Critics hated it, audiences hated it, and Universal’s accountants definitely hated it, too. We’d say it’s sad, but quite frankly, “Dolittle” had it coming.

#6: “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1990)

How in the world do you screw up a movie with Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, and Morgan Freeman? Heck, they even had a bestselling novel to base it off of! Despite everything going in their favor, “The Bonfire of the Vanities” ended up just that - a bonfire of wasted potential. Casting the picture was allegedly controversial, tense, and left no one fully happy. Pair that with a lot of questionable changes to the source material, and “The Bonfire of the Vanities” justifiably bombed in theaters. What’s more, the production was so troubled, it inspired its own book. If that’s not proof of karma, we don’t know what is.

#5: “Joker: Folie à Deux” (2024)

Following up the billion-dollar, Oscar-winning success of 2019’s “Joker” should have been a slam-dunk. Especially with Lady Gaga joining the fray. But, in a baffling creative pivot, “Folie à Deux” went out of its way to condemn its own fanbase. This angle alienated new viewers, and belittled old ones, leaving precious few people left to see “Joker 2” in theaters. Those that did brave the multiplex were left with a head-scratching courtroom musical. Not quite the sophisticated crime drama people expected. By jettisoning everything that made the original a hit, it’s really no surprise “Folie à Deux” ended its franchise on a low note.

#4: “Fantastic Four” (2015)

Reshoots. Casting quarrels. Major studio interference. This maligned movie has it all, and the poor returns to prove it. But, even if production had gone smoothly, it’s hard not to feel like 2015’s “Fantastic Four” was doomed from the start. Abandoning the team’s colorful mythos for all things grim and gritty completely misses why the foursome have remained fan-favorite’s for decades. But, at least that would’ve been a coherent vision. The final version of the movie is a hodgepodge of ideas and tones that more than earns its rotten legacy. This movie is not “fantastic” in the slightest - and you can say that again!

#3: “Battlefield Earth” (2000)

When a terrible script meets terrible acting on a terrible set, you get something like “Battlefield Earth.” It’s no exaggeration to say there’s nothing of quality to be found in this sci-fi dud. Unless, of course, you want to point and laugh at poor John Travolta’s over-the-top attempts at villainy. Rumors say “Battlefield Earth” had people getting up and leaving the theater in its opening weekend, and we can see why. It’s a traffic jam of bad filmmaking decisions that will leave you wondering how it ever got made, let alone saw the light of day. If there’s any mercy, it’s that the poor box-office saved us from the planned franchise.

#2: “Gigli” (2003)

Whoever says there’s no such thing as bad publicity wasn’t around for “Gigli.” When news broke of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’'s scandalous onset romance, it sucked all the air out of the actual movie. Which, in hindsight, may have been for the best, since “Gigli” is a total stinker. The movie’s gangster love story is so hilariously out of touch, we have to wonder if it was only made as an excuse to get Affleck and Lopez together. Love doesn’t pay the bills, though, and reviews were so toxic, everyone with a dollar to their name knew to stay far away from “Gigli.”

#1: “Cats” (2019)

All alone in the moonlight… or in the movie theater, if you were one of the few duped into seeing this on the big screen. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of you. One of the few justices in Hollywood is how thoroughly the public rejected this Broadway adaptation. You can tell “Cats” is a travesty with just one look - and that’s no hyperbole. The CGI is really that bad. To say nothing of the wasted cast and butchered soundtrack. After becoming the complete laughing stock of the film industry,“Cats” ended up earning exactly what it deserved at the box-office. And that wasn’t much.

Did we miss any other cinematic dumpster-fires? Let us know in the comments below!