5 Recent Movies That Deserved Better Than a ‘Box Office Disaster’ Label
Even the best directors’ most anticipated flicks can become a major money loss, and here’s the proof.
We’re kinda used to the idea that most prominent filmmakers always get away with a handful of accolades from critics and viewers, though it might have become a pretty questionable statement in the industry of today.
One of the recent examples that definitely had everyone talking several months ago is Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis whose theatrical run was nothing short of a disaster, not reaching even a half of the multimillion budget the director had saved for his passion project.
Coppola’s star-studded drama isn’t the only one to stand out though, and a bunch of movies coming from other highly acclaimed directors has had big troubles in the box office in the past couple of years. However, they might have got it for no reason at all.
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Guillermo del Toro is one of the boldest Hollywood directors whose movies always find someone to appeal to, but even they can fall short because of, well, an unfortunate release date.
Led by big stars like Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe and Rooney Mara, Nightmare Alley received praise from both critics and audiences, but bombed dramatically in the box office, grossing a little less than $40 million against the budget of $60 million.
The reason was simple though: the movie arrived in theatres worldwide at around the same time as the MCU ’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, so no wonder why del Toro’s masterpiece was quickly surpassed by yet another blockbuster.
The Suicide Squad ( 2021)
One of James Gunn ’s first steps into the DC universe, The Suicide Squad was definitely one of the top choices when asked about the most anticipated releases of 2021, though things went wrong as soon as the superhero movie premiered in theatres.
Despite kicking off quite well, the film soon went into disgrace, eventually not breaking even with its impressive budget of $185 million.
Just like with Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, it might have been a wrong timing that did its trick, with that being a slow revival of cinema theatres after the 2020 pandemic and a general lack of interest in the sequel after 2016’s Suicide Squad.
West Side Story (2021)
2021 was definitely a big year for many prominent directors who had their new movies ready to make floods of viewers in theatres again, but it also meant significant financial failures even for filmmakers like Steven Spielberg.
The director had a complete trust of his audiences until he decided to tackle the musical genre, releasing a remake for a 1961 Broadway classic West Side Story.
For some reason, the movie’s box office results didn’t quite match with what success it had during the awards season; with a budget of $100 million, West Side Story grossed only $76 million.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Both Ridley Scott and Denis Villeneuve are considered some of the greatest movie directors these days, which is why no one couldn’t hide their excitement when the latter came up with an idea for a remake of the former’s sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner.
Starring Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas, Blade Runner 2049 is a visually stunning cinematic experience that has become a decent continuation of the famous story, despite underperforming in the box office.
With a budget estimated as $185 million, the film was able to get only $276 million in total.
Babylon (2022)
Another love letter to Hollywood’s classic cinema from La La Land ’s director Damien Chazelle, Babylon is an energetic and visually stunning cinematic experience the worthiness of which was acknowledged after the movie left the theatres.
With a star-studded cast and a powerful message about how things are done in the industry, Babylon should have become one of the most memorable movies of the last decade; sadly, it soon went into oblivion, becoming notorious for grossing around $65 million against the budget of $80 million.
