Biggest Box Office Bombers

Cafe Society
1
  1. Kevin Coster
  2. Oliver Stone
  3. Stallone
  4. Ahhnold

I’m thinking of people who’ve achieved somewhat critical success but have really fallen off in the last 5-10 years.

Maybe Costner never was really there to begin with. Rumors are that he didn’t really direct Dances With Wolves.

Stone was somebody worth listening to at one point but JFK really did him in. That movie is unwatchable. After that, anything he says is very suspect.

Stallone and Arnold were box office mainstays and I include them for that. Too big for their breeches, if you ask me.

2

Demi Moore.
My own personal peeve. Terrible actress, every movie she’s been in sucks sideways, yet she is (or was) one of the highest paid people in Hollywood. Thankfully, she seems to be fading away. Don’t know if she fits your “critical success” req though

Others:

Madonna - Evita was liked by some critics; Swept Away has probably ended her movie career

Tarantino - Where’s he been lately? Still riding his Pulp Fiction coattails

3

Auh-nuld had box office success, but did he ever have “critical” success?

4

Woody Allen
Eddie Murphy - may be a stretch with the Dr. Doolittles, but given the amazing crater Pluto Nash left this summer…

5

Oh, I don’t know about that–she does pretty good as long as she sticks to cameos. Cameii?

6

He’s currently filming what appears to be a kung fu/blaxplotation movie in Bejing called Kill Bill. It’s due out next November. From what I’ve garnered, the final action sequence is taking several months to shoot.

The basic plot is that Uma Thurman is a woman who was almost killed, went into a coma, and woke up seeking revenge against the man who tried to kill her (apparently his name is Bill).

I’m excited about it because it will be a cheesey kung fu movie with Tarantino’s interesting dialouge (I assume) and quirky directing.

–greenphan

7

Behold!! The Steven Seagal!!

A couple of decent movies, then reams of crap. Thankfully, his latest bomb may just finish him off. A great negative Ebert review can be found here.
[sub]Slide personal hijack - I’d like to give myself a nice round of applause for post #1000. Huzzah!! My boss would be so proud.[/sub]

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jk1245:

I thought Ghost was a great movie.

As for the OP, I suggest Robin Williams. Since his star turn as the Genie in Aladdin, what’s he done that hasn’t sucked? Toys? Jumanji? Father’s Day? Suck, Suck, Suck.

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One Hour Photo didn’t suck. Williams was really impressive in that.

Oliver Stone lost me with The Doors. What the hell was he on when he made that?

10

Robin Williams is a great pick.

Jim Carrey, while not necessarily making bombs, has disappeared.

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Robin Williams? C’mon - he’s made some great movies since Alladin - both critical successes, (Insomnia, One Hour Photo), and box office successes (Mrs. Doubtfire, The Birdcage). Sure, there’s been some bombs in there, but fer Chrissakes, what about his Oscar in Good Will Hunting?

I maintain Steven Seagal is ten times worse. Check out the success/bomb ratio: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Seagal,+Steven. By my count, he’s made one good movie - Under Seige. And that was only b/c Tommy Lee Jones was a great bad guy, and Erika Eleniak got naked for no reason whatsoever. :slight_smile:

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Pauly Shore

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Sean Connery— Nothing much since The Hunt for Red October (well; Entrapment was good, but not because of him. :wink:

Harrison Ford— Six Days and Seven Nights…enough said

14

From a paycheck-to-profit point-of-view, what about Brad Pitt?

Since his breakout hit “Thelma & Louise” (which, obviously, was a box-office hit without HIS name above the title), his movies since have been:

Cool World (1992) Bomb.

River Runs Through It, A (1992) Not sure about the box-office, but
I don’t imagine it was much of a
blockbuster.

Kalifornia (1993) Bomb.
Interview with the Vampire: (1994)
Definitely a hit, but it was based
on a hugely successful book. The
crowds would’ve shown up for
this one no matter WHO was in it.
And don’t forget: Most people
considered this a ‘Tom Cruise’
movie anyway.
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Se7en (1995) Both bona-fide hits at the box-office.

Twelve Monkeys (1995) A hit, but more of a ‘Bruce Willis’ movie
as far as audiences were concerned.

Sleepers (1996) Disappointing box-office, if I recall correctly.

Devil’s Own, The (1997) Huge bomb.

Seven Years in Tibet (1997) Bomb.

Meet Joe Black (1998) Bomb.

Fight Club (1999) Cult hit, disappointing box-office.

Snatch. (2000) Barely a blip at the box-office.

Mexican, The (2001) VERY disappointing business for a
Brad/Julia pairing.

Spy Game (2001) Did OK, not a huge hit.

Ocean’s Eleven (2001) A hit, but hardly attributable to Pitt alone.

In fact, one has to wonder if Brad Pitt, huge star that he is, can actually “open” a major motion picture at the box-office. It would certainly appear that, based on this list, he is not in the same league as, say, Tom Cruise. Just my two cents…

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Don’t count her out quite yet. She’s playing the bad girl in the next “Charlie’s Angels” movie so expect to see stories about her “comeback” all over the media next summer.

Still, I agree with you about her being a rather unimpressive actress. For some reason, she never had much appeal to me. I think her success and popularity in the early 1990’s was due to a lucky streak in picking roles in movies and effortlessly being able to play the Hollywood publicity machine. She wasn’t able to become a critic’s darling like Meryl Streep or Emma Thompson or an “audience favorite” like Julia Roberts. However, for a time, she certainly knew how to stay on magazine covers.

16

Whoopi Goldberg?

From critical acclaim in The Color Purple to box office poison.

17

Alicia Silverstone.

Has she been in anything lately?

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Patrick Swayze, Bill Murray, Jennifer Lopez, Gwyneth Paltrow,

19

What about What Lies Beneath?

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And yet, you can’t swing the proverbial dead cat without hitting this waste of space. She’s even on a BBC America show fer cryin’ out loud.

Whoopi, you suck. Go away!