Most extreme examples of movies with bad to mediocre reviews that had great box office success?

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@Miller

I think it’s less about the studio for those two films, and more about the formula. Sandler made his fortune on juvenile, lowest-common-denominator gross out comedies. Punch Drunk Love and Spanglish were his attempts at being a “legitimate” actor. Including them in a discussion of the popularity of his Happy Gilmore stuff is a bit like trying to include Bo Jackson’s baseball stats in a discussion about his football career.

But, again, he couldn’t break even with LITTLE NICKY or THAT’S MY BOY, either. It’s not just that he fails when he tries to go outside his formula; it’s that he fails with his formula, and then tries to go outside. (He’s still got a better average than plenty of guys, but – with or without the formula – a guarantee it ain’t.)

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

Speaking of guys with a fine average but occasional stinkers, there’s Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code: RT is less than Passion of the Christ, down at 25% – it contains “a series of dull and unengaging episodes” and “a miasma of nonstop exposition”; it has “a lot of explaining to do, which it does, endlessly, while we wait for an actual movie to break out”; it is “about as fun as watching your parents play Sudoku” – but it grossed well over three-quarters of a billion, the biggest hit of the year other than a Pirates of the Caribbean flick back when that actually meant something.

[Dale_Sams]

@Eddie The Horrible

Well I was beaten to it on the Micheal Bay and Adam Sandler flicks front.
I’d like to add most flicks by M. Night Shyamalan.
Tons of sequelled franchises like “Porky’s” should also qualify.

Without looking up grosses…if i recall the studio knock on MNS was that his films were NOT going to return the kind of figures that warranted greenlighting a film featuring him prominently and about some kind of water nymph. I assume it’s only been downhill from there for him.

I’ll look them up now.

*9/11/15 The Visit Uni. $65,206,105
5/31/13 After Earth Sony $60,522,097
7/1/10 The Last Airbender Par. $131,772,187
6/13/08 The Happening Fox $64,506,874 2
7/21/06 Lady in the Water WB $42,285,169 *

So…yeah. Airbender unsurprisingly did ok. After Earth did ok internationally (figure not seen)

But he’s no Michael Bay.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

For what it’s worth, Alice: Through The Looking Glass is currently tracking lower on RT than Passion of the Christ, and the first Alice grossed over a billion, so…?

[adaher]

I think Bay’s only real misstep was Pearl Harbor. And that’s not his fault, he made a good Michael Bay film. It’s just that the story deserved more sensitivity than that. The fault was in whoever hired him for that job. All of Bay’s other films deliver what he’s known for, action, in spades. I love his work and spend a lot of money on his movies.

[Dale_Sams]

@adaher

I think Bay’s only real misstep was Pearl Harbor. And that’s not his fault, he made a good Michael Bay film. It’s just that the story deserved more sensitivity than that. The fault was in whoever hired him for that job. All of Bay’s other films deliver what he’s known for, action, in spades. I love his work and spend a lot of money on his movies.

Put in disk 2 and enjoy a short fictional romp of the Dolittle Raid and its a fine film.

[adaher]

IT’s not bad at all, actually, but Michael Bay should never go anywhere near true stories. Pearl Harbor should have been Spielberg or no one. Would have made a nice duology, Saving Private Ryan/Pearl Harbor.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

Bumping because (a) Suicide Squad is out breaking box-office records with an RT score in the 20s, and so may soon qualify for this thread; and (b) as a Jew, it cracks me up that an answer to “What Is Like Unto The Passion Of The Christ?” may well be “Suicide Squad”.

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@The_Other_Waldo_Pepper

Bumping because (a) Suicide Squad is out breaking box-office records with an RT score in the 20s, and so may soon qualify for this thread; and (b) as a Jew, it cracks me up that an answer to “What Is Like Unto The Passion Of The Christ?” may well be “Suicide Squad”.

…and it’s official. Well, semi-official; Box Office Mojo now has the estimates in for this weekend, and after starting with the best August opening weekend ever (yes, even adjusted for inflation) and then following up with a second weekend at #1 and a third weekend at #1, Suicide Squad has now slipped to a respectable #2; but in doing so has outgrossed Passion of the Christ despite having a much lower RT score.

(Heck, Suicide Squad has an even lower RT score than Batman v Superman. It has a lower RT score than the all-new all-different Ben-Hur. Could you imagine if it had a lower RT score than that Kevin-Spacey-Is-A-Housecat movie? No, of course you can’t; I’m still not a hundred percent sure that’s not just a joke trailer.)

[astro]

@Jim_s_Son

Max Baer Jr became very rich, not by playing Jethro Bodine on “Beverly Hillbillies” (sad that he is the sole surviving cast member) but by producing low budget films aimed for a certain audience (drive ins) such as “Macon County Line” and “Ode to Billie Joe” (based on the Bobbie Jo Gentry song). If they were reviewed, they probably weren’t very well received. But enough people saw them to make them profitable. But Baer does have a college degree in business administration so he never was a real Jethro

He is also the son of noted boxer Max Baerwho beat Adolph Hitler’s champion Max Schmeling.

In June 1933, Baer fought and defeated (by a technical knockout) German heavyweight and former world champion, Max Schmeling, at Yankee Stadium. Schmeling was favored to win, and was Adolf Hitler’s favorite fighter. The Nazi tabloid Der Stürmer publicly attacked Schmeling for fighting a non-Aryan, calling it a “racial and cultural disgrace.”[16]

Hitler summoned Schmeling for a private meeting in April, where he told Schmeling to contact him for help if he had any problems in the U.S., and requested that during any press interviews, he should tell the American public that news reports about Jewish persecution in Germany were untrue. However, a few days after that meeting, Hitler put a national ban on boxing by Jews along with a boycott of all Jewish businesses. When Schmeling arrived in New York, he did as Hitler requested, and denied problems of anti-Semitism existed, adding that many of his neighbors were Jews, as was his manager.[17]

Although the Great Depression, then in full force, had lowered the income of most citizens, sixty thousand people attended the fight.[16] NBC radio updated millions nationwide as the match progressed. Baer, who was one-quarter Jewish, wore trunks which displayed the Star of David,[18] a symbol he wore in all his future bouts. When the fight began, he dominated the rugged Schmeling into the tenth round, when Baer knocked him down and the referee stopped the match.[19] Columnist Westbrook Pegler wrote about Schmeling’s loss, “That wasn’t a defeat, that was a disaster”, while journalist David Margolick claimed that Baer’s win would come to “symbolize Jewry’s struggle against the Nazis.”[16]

Baer became a hero among Jews, those who identified with Jews, and those who despised the Nazis.[20] According to biographer David Bret, after the war ended, it was learned that Schmeling had in fact saved the lives of many Jewish children during the war while still serving his country.[21] Swedish film star Greta Garbo considered Baer’s defeat of Schmeling to be a “mini-victory” over German fascism, and she invited him to visit her while she was filming Queen Christina in Hollywood, which led to a romance. Their relationship lasted until he had to return to New York to train for his next fight, against Primo Carnera.[21]