World of KJ :: View topic - Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA?

Mr. R wrote:

BK wrote:

BOM mentioned the Island and Stealth back from 2005. (Damn I'm old) I don't remember following BO of these films back then so I can't be sure if they're in the same boat or not.

I was around when these two bombed. That was shocking. Some were sceptical about The Island, because Bay departed from Bruckheimer and there was little starpower, and also the curse of clone films. Stealth was tracking higher, had Cohen after Fast and Furious and XXX, Foxx after an Oscar win and Biel rising to stardom.
2005 was probably the worst year for wannabes: Robots, Sahara, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, XXX: State of the Union, House of Wax, Kingdom of Heaven, The Brothers Grimm, The Great Raid, Doom, Serenity, A Sound of Thunder, Oliver Twist, King Kong.

Author:	BK [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:37 pm ]
Post subject:	Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA?
I wanted it to do well on paper. It sounded intriguing and the cast seemed tight, even if Depp always seemed miscast. Sci-fi, produced by Nolan, you'd think it couldn't go so bad, but it has. So Transcendence joins the elite club of films that wanted to be great, but just sputtered into oblivion before they even got started. I think on paper was the best it ever got for this film. The trailer was nothing special, the posters looked like they belonged in the 90s or DTV and then the reviews completed the sinking. 50% on Flixster after one day is another sign this is in for a very short run, plus it was kind of a joke how the estimates continued to fall throughout the day. So, what other films can you remember that just stalled before they even made it out of the blocks? I remember Jonah Hex didn't even make $10m OW but I think the writing was on the wall long before that. Someone mentioned the Host; I never thought it'd be big, but I think it could fall into the same boat as Transcendence. BOM mentioned the Island and Stealth back from 2005. (Damn I'm old) I don't remember following BO of these films back then so I can't be sure if they're in the same boat or not.

Author:	Bradley Witherberry [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:42 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
Godzilla (2014).

Author:	Dr. Lecter [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:04 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
The Island sure as hell was in the same boat. Up until then Michael Bay was delivering blockbuster after blockbuster. Obviously another one is R.I.P.D.

Author:	David [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:08 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
The Island may be the best comparison for Transcendence in regard to content, scope, and eventual financial performance. But just in general: maybe The Sorcerer's Apprentice? A 150-million-dollar Disney fantasy epic which opened to around 17 million and was completely overshadowed by Inception.

Author:	Thegun [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:19 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
Big Trouble in Little China The Phantom The Rocketeer The Shadow Judge Dredd Most recently the majority of YA films (Vampire's Assistant, Ender's Game, etc) It's usually the adaptations that end up on this list. But late 90s Stallone, Costner, Murphy as well.

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Author:	Thegun [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:46 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
I'll see that and raise you Poseidon and The Wolf Man. Also Josh Lucas in general.

Author:	Dr. Lecter [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:52 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
John Carter too, I guess. Though most of us saw it coming.

Author:	David [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:53 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
For the record, The Wolfman opened extremely, extremely well. If only they did not spend such an absurd amount of money on an R-rated werewolf movie.

Author:	Mr. R [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 2:39 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
[quote

Author:	Dr. Lecter [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:12 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
David wrote: For the record, The Wolfman opened extremely, extremely well. If only they did not spend such an absurd amount of money on an R-rated werewolf movie. That is true, but I am not sure if would have opened this big otherwise anyway. It opened that big because Universal pushed it HARD as an effects-laden event film.

Author:	Dr. Lecter [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:14 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
Mr. R wrote: BK wrote: BOM mentioned the Island and Stealth back from 2005. (Damn I'm old) I don't remember following BO of these films back then so I can't be sure if they're in the same boat or not. I was around when these two bombed. That was shocking. Some were sceptical about The Island, because Bay departed from Bruckheimer and there was little starpower, and also the curse of clone films. Stealth was tracking higher, had Cohen after Fast and Furious and XXX, Foxx after an Oscar win and Biel rising to stardom. 2005 was probably the worst year for wannabes: Robots, Sahara, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, XXX: State of the Union, House of Wax, Kingdom of Heaven, The Brothers Grimm, The Great Raid, Doom, Serenity, A Sound of Thunder, Oliver Twist, King Kong. I was around and following b/o as well and while, yes, all those were bombs or disappointments financially, I also remember that Sahara actually outdid expectations most had around here. I think most expected it to make no more than $40-45 million because the marketing was so terrible. And I don't think Serenity ever was a wannabe. If anything, it was an underdog.

Author:	David [ Sat Apr 19, 2014 5:16 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
Yes, Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist was trying so hard to be a blockbuster.

Author:	Mr. R [ Sun Apr 20, 2014 3:50 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
[quote

Author:	Bradley Witherberry [ Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:29 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
There's always Wiki's List Of Box Office Bombs. Some interesting titles include: - Bryan Singer's solid *Jack The Giant Slayer* at #8 - Scorcese's overrated *Hugo* at #23 - Jack Nicholson's last movie, the underrated *How Do You Know* at #24 - the fantastic 2003 live action version of *Peter Pan* at #34 - archetypal bomb *Heaven's Gate* at #52.

Author:	Bradley Witherberry [ Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:26 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
Strangely enough, many of the examples listed in this thread are actually very good movies - - one only need view the top ten BO winners in recent years to confirm that there is a very low correaltion between finacial success and artistic success.

Author:	BK [ Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:07 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
For summer, Jupiter Ascending, TMNT and Hercules look like bombs. I would say Jupiter has a chance of joining the legion of legendary bombs. Tatum looks like he regressed from that and Kunis is no star, plus, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, sci-fi...crappy reviews and it's going the way of Transcendence.

Author:	TServo2049 [ Fri Apr 25, 2014 10:02 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
I had actually been thinking about Mars Needs Moms at some point while reading this thread, but I wasn't sure if it was a "wannabe blockbuster" or not. Obviously, I had forgotten about the $150m budget. (And I was going to say that its failure killed Zemeckis' animation studio, but then I looked up and was reminded that its closure was actually announced a year earlier - almost to the day.)

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Author:	TServo2049 [ Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:53 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
Would The Golden Compass count? Yes, it was a hit overseas, but New Line saw virtually none of that money because they had pre-sold all foreign territory rights (IIRC, to pay for the cost overruns?), and its domestic failure basically killed NL as an autonomous entity within Time Warner. And even with the religion controversy, I always got the feeling that it tanked in the States more because audiences just didn't give a shit about it (a la Ender's Game).

Author:	TServo2049 [ Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:22 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
I had thought Jack Ryan was already brought up in this thread, but then I remembered that was in the Paramount thread, so I'll throw it out here too. Another one I completely forgot about: Speed Racer. Its OS performance was also quite pathetic - if it had been made a few years later, it would have been in 3D (and maybe IMAX) and would have likely made at least twice as much. (Though it would have still been a flop domestically...) And can we save a spot on this list for The Seventh Son?

Author:	BK [ Mon Apr 21, 2014 4:14 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
Good points. That reminds me of Eragon too. Though most of these films still didn't do as badly as Transcendence. I think some of them even adjust to "respectable" totals in today's dollars, but then again, so do their budgets. Transcendence opening below Stealth, Island from 10 years ago is really a putrid performance.

Author:	SolC9 [ Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:10 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
I only liked the special effects in The Golden Compass. Ender's Game was quite good, I'm frustrated that one didn't catch on so we could see more of them. Eragon is a travesty of a book adaptation. I hope someday they will do it over right. The first movie that came to mind for me for this list though was actually the aforementioned The Island.

Author:	Webslinger [ Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:48 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
To echo the sentiments from earlier in this thread, The Island and Stealth made for two of the more interesting weeks of summer box office tracking when they bombed back-to-back (those were also my first two weeks on the BOM forum). If you look back at it, however, the summer of 2005 was a bit atypical in that it had a good number of relatively risky big-budget productions rather than the usual roundup of safe sequels (I mean, when you start with a 2.5-hour Crusades drama in the leadoff spot...). The sad piece about The Island is that it was actually rushed into and through production just so that it could be DreamWorks's big summer hit for 2005. Then, of course, it ended up effectively being the final nail in their coffin when it bombed.

Author:	Jack Sparrow [ Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:26 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Transcendence: Which other wannabe blockbusters were DOA
Another one from animation that no one (rightfully) remembers is Mars Need Moms. That was a $150m Disney animation that opened less than $7m even more embarrassing was its OS gross of $17m.