Bad Blockbusters? What does that mean? Well I will tell you. A Bad Blockbuster is a movie that made a boatload of money ….yet …. received bad reviews from critics and audiences. We got the idea of listing the biggest box office hits with the worst reviews after reading some recent comments on our Charlton Heston page.
Our movie data base has almost 29,000 movies. Woc (Wife of Cogerson) created a query that listed all movies that had an adjusted domestic box office gross of over $200 million. Why $200 million? Because in our Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) movie rating formula that is the ceiling for earning points in the box office part of our equation. The query showed 814 movies that had reached the $200 million box office mark.
Next we filtered out any movie that had a critic/audience score of 50% or higher. Of those 814 movies, 764 movies had a critic/audience rating over 50%. That left exactly 50 movies (which was a perfect number for us)….with less than a 50% critic/audience rating. Those remaining 50 movies are listed in the following table.
Bad Blockbusters Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Bad Blockbusters movies by the stars of the movies.
- Sort Bad Blockbusters movies by actual domestic box office grosses
- Sort Bad Blockbusters movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Bad Blockbusters movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Bad Blockbusters movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Bad Blockbusters movie won.
- Sort Bad Blockbusters movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
| Rank | Movie (Year) | UMR CoStar Links | Domestic Actual B.O. (mils.) | Domestic Adjusted B.O. (mils.) | Critic Audience Rating | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) | Jason Lee & Justin Long | $219.61 | $246.80 | 32.50% | 00 / 00 | 45.60 | |
| Flintstones, The (1994) | Elizabeth Taylor & Halle Berry & John Go | $130.53 | $269.70 | 34.50% | 00 / 00 | 47.22 | |
| Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part One), The (2011) | Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson | $281.29 | $299.00 | 34.50% | 00 / 00 | 47.22 | |
| Twilight Saga: New Moon, The (2009) | Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson | $296.62 | $333.40 | 36.00% | 00 / 00 | 47.92 | |
| Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) | Sally Field & Burt Reynolds | $66.13 | $214.40 | 36.00% | 00 / 00 | 47.92 | |
| Fantastic Four (2005) | Chris Evans | $154.70 | $203.80 | 37.00% | 00 / 00 | 48.39 | |
| Wild Hogs (2007) | John Travolta | $168.27 | $206.20 | 37.00% | 00 / 00 | 48.39 | |
| Anthony Adverse (1936) | Olivia de Havilland & Claude Rains | $5.94 | $200.40 | 39.50% | 07 / 04 | 57.76 | |
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) | Shia LaBeouf | $402.11 | $452.00 | 39.50% | 01 / 00 | 49.96 | |
| Holiday in Mexico (1946) | Walter Pidgeon | $10.18 | $245.20 | 40.00% | 00 / 00 | 49.80 | |
| Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) | Jason Lee & Justin Long | $217.33 | $266.30 | 40.00% | 00 / 00 | 49.30 | |
| Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) | Julia Roberts | $101.60 | $203.40 | 40.50% | 00 / 00 | 50.04 | |
| Pearl Harbor (2001) | Ben Affleck | $198.54 | $296.20 | 41.00% | 04 / 01 | 52.47 | |
| 3 Ring Circus (1954) | Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis | $11.14 | $204.20 | 42.00% | 00 / 00 | 50.74 | |
| Any Which Way You Can (1980) | Clint Eastwood | $70.69 | $229.20 | 42.00% | 00 / 00 | 50.74 | |
| Patch Adams (1998) | Robin Williams & Philip Seymour Hoffman | $135.03 | $242.70 | 43.00% | 01 / 00 | 52.23 | |
| Airport 1975 (1974) | Charlton Heston & Myrna Loy | $76.68 | $345.70 | 43.00% | 00 / 00 | 51.21 | |
| Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) | Mark Wahlberg & John Goodman | $245.44 | $253.20 | 43.50% | 00 / 00 | 51.44 | |
| Hook (1991) | Robin Williams & Dustin Hoffman | $119.65 | $239.60 | 44.00% | 05 / 00 | 53.68 | |
| Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) | Sylvester Stallone | $150.42 | $357.20 | 44.00% | 01 / 00 | 52.08 | |
| Da Vinci Code, The (2006) | Tom Hanks | $217.54 | $278.70 | 44.50% | 00 / 00 | 51.92 | |
| Waterboy, The (1998) | Adam Sandler & Dan Patrick | $161.49 | $290.30 | 44.50% | 00 / 00 | 51.92 | |
| Funny Lady (1975) | Barbra Streisand & James Caan | $58.52 | $240.70 | 45.00% | 05 / 00 | 54.77 | |
| Indecent Proposal (1993) | Robert Redford & Woody Harrelson | $106.61 | $217.10 | 45.00% | 00 / 00 | 52.15 | |
| Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) | Macaulay Culkin & Joe Pesci | $173.59 | $352.60 | 45.00% | 00 / 00 | 52.15 | |
| Cannonball Run, The (1981) | Dean Martin & Burt Reynolds & Roger Moore | $72.18 | $218.90 | 45.50% | 00 / 00 | 52.38 | |
| Earthquake (1974) | Charlton Heston & Ava Gardner | $102.58 | $462.40 | 45.50% | 04 / 01 | 55.20 | |
| Twins (1988) | Arnold Schwarzenegger | $111.94 | $229.60 | 46.00% | 00 / 00 | 52.62 | |
| Main Event, The (1979) | Barbra Streisand | $69.47 | $233.30 | 46.00% | 00 / 00 | 52.62 | |
| Every Which Way But Loose (1978) | Clint Eastwood | $85.20 | $306.90 | 46.00% | 00 / 00 | 52.62 | |
| Bodyguard, The (1992) | Kevin Costner | $121.95 | $247.70 | 46.50% | 02 / 00 | 53.16 | |
| Longest Yard, The (2005) | Adam Sandler & Burt Reynolds | $158.12 | $208.30 | 46.50% | 00 / 00 | 52.36 | |
| 101 Dalmatians (1996) | Glenn Close | $136.19 | $259.70 | 47.00% | 00 / 00 | 53.09 | |
| Cleopatra (1963) | Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton | $57.78 | $566.40 | 47.33% | 09 / 04 | 62.13 | |
| Raintree County (1957) | Elizabeth Taylor & Montgomery Clift | $17.04 | $256.50 | 47.50% | 00 / 00 | 53.32 | |
| Karate Kid Part II, The (1986) | Ralph Macchio | $115.10 | $261.50 | 47.50% | 01 / 00 | 53.72 | |
| Men in Black II (2002) | Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones | $190.42 | $276.80 | 47.50% | 00 / 00 | 53.32 | |
| Shark Tale (2004) | Will Smith & Angelina Jolie | $160.86 | $218.40 | 47.50% | 01 / 00 | 53.72 | |
| Armageddon (1998) | Bruce Willis & Owen Wilson & Ben Affleck | $201.58 | $362.30 | 48.00% | 04 / 00 | 55.16 | |
| Valley of the Dolls (1967) | Susan Hayward | $50.00 | $348.30 | 48.00% | 01 / 00 | 53.96 | |
| Doctor Dolittle (1998) | Eddie Murphy | $144.16 | $259.10 | 48.00% | 00 / 00 | 53.56 | |
| Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) | Jim Carrey | $108.39 | $210.00 | 48.00% | 00 / 00 | 53.56 | |
| Suicide Squad (2016) | Will Smith | $323.88 | $323.88 | 48.00% | 00 / 00 | 53.56 | |
| Adventure (1945) | Clark Gable & Greer Garson | $11.81 | $292.70 | 49.00% | 00 / 00 | 54.03 | |
| Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) | Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson | $300.53 | $321.10 | 49.00% | 00 / 00 | 54.03 | |
| Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) | Ben Affleck & Amy Adams | $330.36 | $330.40 | 49.00% | 00 / 00 | 54.03 | |
| Batman Forever (1995) | Jim Carrey & Tommy Lee | $184.03 | $356.60 | 49.00% | 03 / 00 | 55.23 | |
| National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (2007) | Nicolas Cage | $219.96 | $269.50 | 49.00% | 00 / 00 | 54.03 | |
| Runaway Bride (1999) | Julia Roberts & Directed by Garry Marshall | $152.26 | $253.70 | 49.00% | 00 / 00 | 54.03 | |
| Night and Day (1946) | Cary Grant | $10.81 | $260.40 | 49.67% | 00 / 00 | 54.34 |
(Visited 1,216 times)
I got to say that Airport ’75 is actually very entertaining. That is the one in which stewardess Karen Black has to fly the plane and good ol’ pilot Chuck Heston has to transfer down into the plane from another one. Hysterically over the top, of course, (and satirized in Airplane) but a cult favorite with a lot of folks.
My picks as a dog that did well at the box office. Samson and Delilah. I like some DeMille’s, but many, like this one, are just long and boring, with questionable old-fashioned filming techniques (outdoor scenes on obviously fake sound stage sets) and campy acting.
Hey John….it has been awhile since I saw Airport 75….but I remember enjoying that one as a kid…..I wonder what I would think if I see it through these smarter and wiser eyes. As for Samson and Delilah…..let’s see how close it came to making this list……looking in database….it got a 63.5% rating….which would keep it safely away from this list. But it falls in the blockbuster status for sure. DeMille was just taking a break before making Greatest Show on Earth and 10 Commandments…lol.
“It’s a mad house… a mad house!” Nice of you to include Charlton Heston in your page of low-rated blockbusters Bruce. 🙂
I thought Armageddon was one of your favorites, how could you? [sobs]
A good list of badly reviewed but reasonably successful films. I would have replaced Batman Forever with Batman & Robin which had some really bad reviews and nearly killed the franchise.
I’ve seen 39 of the 50. And I’ve bought 30 of them on DVD and Blu-ray, he shamelessly admitted.
Michael Bay’s Transformers films are guilty pleasure visual extravaganzas I deafen the neighbors with occasionally.
Bob, Cleopatra was the most successful film of that year but it was so costly it failed to turn a profit until the early 70s when it was sold to TV. The reviews were mostly nasty, but they did like Rex Harrison’s Caesar. Liz Taylor was quoted as saying she ran to the toilets and threw up after viewing the film for the first time. I wrote about ‘Fox’s great debacle’ at Hubpages. But the film has far more fans now than it did back then.
I still haven’t seen Suicide Squad, can’t be that bad surely? Worse than Batman v Superman?
Vote Up!
HI STEVE:
1 I familiar with some of the bad reviews that Cleo received and realise that within the criteria that Bruce set for himself he had little option but to include Cleo in his list but my point was that for ME the matter was not so clear cut and that is why I said I was ambivalent about its inclusion. For example: (1) The New York Times regarded it as “one of the great epics of our time” (2) Variety said “It is a super-colossal eye filler that is a remarkable literate creation of an historic epic period” (3) As part of the Classics Section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival a special screening of it was held to commemorate its 50th Anniversary. (4) Your own 11th position and 72% rating in the Liz video [ I owe you a post on that ] and IMDB’s 70% add to my quandary about whether it deserves to be included with the other movies in Bruce’s table.
2. It has been suggested that many of those who originally maligned it had their perceptions coloured by its reputation as a financial catastrophe whereas it not only eventually turned a profit as you suggest but reportedly those profits were in the end so lucrative that Fox kept them hidden so that it would not have to share them with persons who were entitled to a % According to Lee’s Movies the ACTUAL stats for Cleo were as follows:
Production Cost and Promotion $44,1 mil
Domestic Gross/ $57.8 mil
Foreign Gross/$64.8 mil *
Eventual Domestic Video Sales/$70
Domestic TV Sales $7 mil
Plus Eventual Overseas Video and TV sales.
*For a long time Fox claimed this figure was only $14 mil
3 In summary I am not saying that BRUCE should not have included Cleo but am only voicing MY OWN two minds about the matter and as you have rightly pointed out it would be very dull if we all thought as clones in these matters. Indeed I am overall relieved that he went after Cleo and Chuck and left Mumbles on the Bounty alone as along with Cleo it used to be a joint target for the detractors though recently I read that it too eventually went into tiny profit.
Nice to have had these exchanges with you BOB
Hey Bob….thanks for the detailed response to Steve’s question.
1. As for Cleopatra….if 60% is good….then it’s 47% puts it in a reasonable area…there are plenty of movies in that range in my database…if it was Roger Ebert 5 star review….it would be near a 2.5 star rating…..which seems pretty reasonable.
2. Personally I thought Cleopatra was a decent movie…..very slowly paced….but once Rex is vanquished the movie loses all of it’s steam…even with Liz and Dick still standing.
3. If you were only to look at the box office grosses (one of the biggest hits of all-time) and the Oscar love….9 nominations and 4 wins (and that does not even include the best performance in the movie…R. McDowall’s….who because of Fox not following the correct Oscar rules…failed to not get a nomination because he was not allowed on the ballot)…..you would think this is one of the greatest movies of all-time….my critic/audience rating is the only thing that lets you know that there was “trouble in paradise” when it comes to Cleo.
4. Good stats in your comment. I know I set the criteria for my rankings….but the rest is just data entry….and the results that get spit out…have no influence from me….as you said before…”it is what it is”….and based on that Cleopatra has a place here and on the Golden Turkey Movie Awards…which lists some of the worst movies ever made.
5. As for Mutiny on the Bounty…starring Mr. Brando…..it actually was not even close to making his page….his Desiree was actually in a Top 10 spot…..before I realize I had screwed up the ratings on that one….need to fix that on the Brando page.
Thanks for the great movie thoughts.
Thanks for the further explanations BRUCE
You are welcome…..I still need to fix Desiree…..so Brando’s stats will be improving…trying to make up for the Julius Caesar downgrading….lol.
Hey Steve….your Heston video….and Earthquake are the parents of this baby….I like that I correctly got that Armageddon (yes it saddens me too!), Earthquake and some of the Transformers movies made the list. Plus son #1 is happy to see Alvin making the list…he seems to get really mad when a new Alvin movie comes out and breaks the bank at the box office.
As for Batman and Robin….it would have replaced Alvin in the top spot…if it had another $3 million in box office….probably the next adjusted gross will put George’s Batman on the list. So I am at 43 movies watched…I have not seen Suicide Squad either….but it will soon be on home entertainment. Actually shocked you were able to stay away from this movie….seems to be right in your wheel house (a baseball sports reference)
As for Cleopatra….if 60% is good….then it’s 47% puts it in a reasonable area…there are plenty of movies in that range in my database…if it was Roger Ebert 5 star review….it would be near a 2.5 star rating…..which seems pretty reasonable.
Thanks for checking out our latest page.
HI BRUCE
1 I have said in other posts that I consider Clint Eastwood to be a contender for the accolade of greatest box office star of the modern ear and I do enjoy most of his movies, but the two movies that I personally am glad to see on the list are Clint’s “Which Way” mini franchise. One critic scathingly accused Clint of giving us a pair of flicks that were designed to appeal to “the lowest common denominator”. I thought that a bit harsh and even condescending to audiences but nonetheless I was sad to see him in those two movies given the fine and highly acclaimed artistic work that he has done elsewhere as director and/or star that Clooney might well envy.
2 The one in the middle is Cleopatra in that I am ambivalent about its inclusion. All of its reviews have not been bad and although your chart lambastes it and it has never been a fave of mine IMDB for example gives it a respectable 70% rating and it is just outside Steve’s Liz Top 10 with a 72% rating. Indeed its notoriety usually derives from its perception as a financial disaster but some movie accountants have since challenged that assertion saying that massive worldwide grosses, TV showings ,videos etc made it ultimately break even
3 It is often bracketed with Brando’s Mutiny on the Bounty [and I’m surprised that you didn’t include that one but who am I to argue with you !] as the two great flops of Old Hollywood, but Richard Harris claimed that it lost nowhere near the money alleged and movie accountants again have suggested that MGM charged up to its production costs expenses that they did not really incur. in that for example the ship used in the original Clark Gable film was used again at no cost to MGM but still listed in the ledgers as a production cost. Historians have since speculated that failings on the part of studio executives were primarily responsible for the Cleo/Bounty fiascoes but the executives thought probably correctly that Brando and Taylor were becoming too temperamental and financially demanding and that if they were “driven out of Hollywood” it would make an example of them for all to see and deflect blame for the executives. The Cleo spin-off of the Taylor/Burton scandals and the public’s fascination with those saved Liz but as we know Brando was never a’ happy bunny, again until Godpop
4 Turning now to the movie that I would least like to have seen on the list and it is The Bodyguard. Generally it didn’t get good reviews on its release but although it was undeniably not high art I thought it a good entertaining action yard that was underrated though I see that IMDB at least gives it a 61 % rating.and I mention it again in my upcoming Costner post.
5 Other than to say that I see that you got stuck into poor old Chuck again I can not quarrel with your selections and indeed I think that you have demonstrated once more your research skills and perceptive flare for categorising movies, so that you have succeeded in producing an overall intelligent and highly comprehensive list that provides food for thought.in relation to your latest chosen subject, and it’s possible W o C agrees with me. I say “possible” because she uttered just one word in her post “Beautiful” and I was not sure whether she was referring to the list or its author. Indeed her brevity kind of reminded me of the parting “Rosebud” utterance in Citizen Ladd.
I totally understand the Twilights. That’s a cult following if there ever was one. Proud to see no Harry Potters up there! Armageddon’s on the list????
Hey Katie….your Harry Potters were safely far far far away from making this list. I notice that your rarely re-watch Twilight….and your Twilight posters are no longer hanging up in your room….I think that shows how quickly is fading away. Yes sadly Armageddon has a spot on this list…..it is a good popcorn movie….but critics hated it….I mean hated it with a passion. Thanks for checking out our latest.
Beautiful
Thank you WoC….and thanks for the help in getting this information out of the database.