Top 10 Movies That BOMBED in 2023 So Far

Full title “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant,” this one actually generated some positive marks, but the days of war movies grossing hundreds of millions of dollars are starting to fade. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as US Army Master Sergeant John Kinley during the War in Afghanistan. When he’s injured and dead to rights, his ex-Taliban interpreter Ahmed makes the grueling journey to get him home. But returning the favor proves even harder. Debuting to a weak $6.3 million in April, “The Covenant” couldn’t draw in older audiences while younger ones saw “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Evil Dead Rise.” And it was director Guy Ritchie’s second bomb in back-to-back months, with “Operation Fortune” doing little better in March.

You’re probably thinking, “A Robert Rodriguez movie starring Ben Affleck? Did I get hypnotized into forgetting this even came out?” Well, you probably weren’t aware to begin with, seeing as the studio barely promoted this one. Its premise surrounding people with the ability to control others through sheer will could’ve made for a mind-bending thriller. But as it stands, it feels more like an extended episode of a rote crime procedural with even worse acting, making us understand the lack of faith behind the scenes. It couldn’t even make back 10% of its $65 million budget. And while we’re talking about bombs you’ve never heard of, the adaptation of the “Knights of the Zodiac” manga put up almost identical numbers in the same release date.

April was not the month for sports biopics, as “Big George Foreman” didn’t even make back a fifth of its budget. But while “Air” got way more eyeballs, it also cost a lot more. The production budget and theatrical gross are both around $90 million, meaning you can pretty much copy and paste its advertising costs right into the loss column. Another underperformer for director-star Ben Affleck, this one conversely has found its audience on streaming, who’ve taken to the story behind Nike signing Michael Jordan in the 1980s. And if there’s any further consolation, it’s that “Air” could have a longer shelf life come awards season.

Fans finally got the “D&D” movie they’d been waiting for with this fun, hilarious blast. Unfortunately, the numbers dictate it might be the last one for another long while. While a $208 million worldwide haul is nothing to sneeze at, its $150 million price tag means it’s probably a cool $100 million in the red. Granted, we knew this one had an uphill battle from the get-go. And it probably did better than it would have had it not gotten rave reviews. But in the numbers game that is Hollywood, taking a risk following up what was already a risk is a fool’s errand. So it might already be time to say goodbye to this band of thieves.

More than any other genre, horror gives the greatest return on investment, seeing as the audience is sturdy and movies cheap to produce. But while the familiar ones have prospered this year, it’s the wildcards that have suffered. Take for instance “Beau Is Afraid,” a three-hour surrealist enigma that didn’t come close to matching writer-director Ari Aster’s previous successes. Meanwhile, “Renfield,” a modern update on the “Dracula” story, couldn’t even pull in half of its $65 million budget. While mixed reviews didn’t help, this can be chalked up to audiences simply not understanding its satirical slant, preferring to see the more standard “Pope’s Exorcist,” which came out the same day. Like many Nicolas Cage films, perhaps “Renfield” has a future in cult viewings.

2023 has been very unkind to DC, and not just at the box office. Warner Bros. hasn’t done their new offerings many favors, either, with new management basically telling fans that current releases don’t matter in the wake of the iminent DCU reboot. And it doesn’t help when “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” gets called inferior to its predecessor in just about every way. Box office projections were already low for this one, so you knew it was in trouble when it still underperformed with $30 million in its first weekend. Even with that low opening, it still managed to drop 69% in weekend two, at which point it was all but forgotten. We hope that Skittles product placement at least paid out some.

Unless you’re “Guardians of the Galaxy,” it’s rough out there for live-action superhero flicks this year. While Ant-Man has never been a top-tier Avenger in terms of dollars and cents, that hasn’t stopped Marvel from putting down big bucks for the little guy. In fact, “Quantumania” was supposed to be the groundbreaking debut for the MCU’s Phase Five. And while it more than doubled its production budget - where conventional wisdom says you should be to break even - added costs have many reporting this as one of the MCU’s few financial misfires. Despite a strong $120 million four-day holiday weekend opening, it too suffered a 69% drop in its second weekend, and it didn’t get better from there, its receipts shrinking faster than its titular hero.

Perhaps more than any other studio, Pixar hasn’t rebounded well from the pandemic. Despite their consistent quality, they saw a few offerings go straight to Disney+. They returned to theaters in 2022 with “Lightyear,” which bombed against a $200 million budget. Almost exactly one year later with the exact same budget is “Elemental,” and already we’re seeing history repeat itself. Though the romance of a fire gal and a water guy has drawn positive marks, it likely won’t be enough to put out the box office flames. Meanwhile, the summer hasn’t been any kinder to Pixar’s bitter rival DreamWorks, as “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” floundered out the gate with a meager $5.2 million opening.

We know, this is a new release as of this video. And believe us, if it makes back even $1 theatrically, we’ll be happy to eat crow. But the numbers are already painting a bleak picture. To put things in perspective, Dr. Jones’s last outing has a reported budget of $250 to $300 million. Even on the low end that’s a steep climb. But some estimates even have it as high as $325 million. Unless you’re James Cameron, that makes it exceedingly difficult to make bank, let alone a profit. It opened worldwide to $130 million, and considering that was a day and date release internationally, don’t expect Indy to snag a wad of cash at the last second like it’s a fedora.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few costly dishonorable mentions.

“65” (2023)
This One Couldn’t Even Make $65 Million

“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” (2023)
Prayers for Profitability Weren’t Answered

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (2023)
Good Old Mike Just Couldn’t Rake in the Singles on This One

“Book Club: The Next Chapter” (2023)
Its Totals Don’t Have a Nice Ring to It

“About My Father” (2023)
Sebastian Maniscalco’s Stand-up Reputation Couldn’t Draw in Audiences

This one goes beyond superhero fatigue, as a confluence of factors seemingly led to a disaster for “The Flash.” For one thing, star Ezra Miller’s tumultuous 2022 didn’t do the movie any favors. Couple that with the big shakeups at WB, and the studio could be looking at a loss of $200 million. The film already cost that much and more to produce, and seeing as it’s already petering out around $250 worldwide, the Scarlet Speedster would be wise to go back in time and fix what went wrong. Even if the movie turned out to be one of the greatest superhero movies of all time like DC promised, it still would’ve had its work cut out for it.