# What if a movie were so bad... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746 "2006-01-26T20:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mrunlucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/41 "2006-01-27T19:57:30Z")
Some people, surprisingly, live in small towns, with only one theatre. Sometimes, there will only be something like two movie options at any one time. So if you want something to do, if you want to go out and see a movie, you take what you can get. Another thing that happens, in a large city with a high number of theatres, which I’ve seen happen countless times is, people go to see one movie, and when the movie is sold out, or they’ve arrived late, they’ll pay to see just any old movie instead, and that movie might be quality or it might be utter garbage. Some people, hard to imagine, are just not particular about how they spend their time or money. Also, Hollywood really banks on the under-24 crowd, more than ever before. So remakes can just go on forever, and will sell to the people who didn’t even know there was a version that existed beforehand. And don’t forget DVD rentals, and cable movie channels, where there’s always a return on the investment, to some degree. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/42 "2006-01-27T20:30:02Z")
Does onyone else think that this movie would be infinitely improved by Steve Martin and Kevin Kline trading roles? I could see at least the potential of Kline pulling off the character. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/43 "2006-01-27T20:52:00Z")
> [@Crusoe](#): > > **Two** , really bad movies attract attention just because of the reputation. People will go and watch an awful film just to confirm how bad they’ve heard it is, or for some kind of bizarre bragging rights. Hence, the totally undeserved longevity of _Caligula_, a movie people feel they **must** see and then hate themselves for sitting through afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/44 "2006-01-27T22:49:20Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > _Bowfinger_ was sophisticated and/or artistic? I must have dozed off during those bits. I thought it was a very sophisticated satire of the entertainment industry and of Scientology. Sure, it had some goof ball moments, but I thought most of the comedy was pretty heady stuff. It is an unappreciated gem! ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/45 "2006-01-27T23:43:35Z")
Apparently, the movie that lost the most money in the U.S. was _Cutthroat Island_, costing somewhere around 90-100 million to make and taking in a grand total of $10 million. As for _The Pink Panther_, the audience for remakes always seems to be a generation which wasn’t born when the original was made. Our local theater chain has a before-film message that ties in with _The Pink Panther_ featuring Inspector Clouseau as an annoying theater patron. It’s kind of juvenile, but the young kids in the theater always laugh out loud. I think it’s gonna be a hit with the younguns. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/46 "2006-01-28T01:25:11Z")
With my luck it will be the inflight movie the next time I travel. Last time I was on a plane we got (can’t / don’t want to remember the title) the sequel to “The Whole 9 Yards”… even though I was bored out of my skull, I didn’t make my way more than 10 minutes through that “film”. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/47 "2006-01-28T01:51:54Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > I thought it [_Bowfinger_] was a very sophisticated satire of the entertainment industry and of Scientology. > > Sure, it had some goof ball moments, but I thought most of the comedy was pretty heady stuff. > > It is an unappreciated gem! I agree wholeheartedly. It might not necessarily have been cutting edge satire, but I thought it was a remarkable return to form for both Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy who’ve both made an ungodly amount of crap over the past decade. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/48 "2006-01-28T08:56:05Z")
> [@vl\_mungo](#): > > With my luck it will be the inflight movie the next time I travel. Last time I was on a plane we got (can’t / don’t want to remember the title) the sequel to “The Whole 9 Yards”… even though I was bored out of my skull, I didn’t make my way more than 10 minutes through that “film”. I’d only watch that movie just to see Bruce Willis shoot at matthew perry. But then again, for that, I can just watch the trailers. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/49 "2006-01-28T15:06:06Z")
mobo85 writes: \> Apparently, the movie that lost the most money in the U.S. was Cutthroat \> Island, costing somewhere around 90-100 million to make and taking in a grand \> total of $10 million. No it’s not: [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.html](http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.html) It’s only the #6 money-loser based on amount of money lost. Based on return of investment, it doesn’t even come close to being one of the top money-losers. Incidentally, not all the movies on those lists are that terrible. A few are even fairly good. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/50 "2006-01-28T16:52:59Z")
> [@vl\_mungo](#): > > With my luck it will be the inflight movie the next time I travel. Last time I was on a plane we got (can’t / don’t want to remember the title) the sequel to “The Whole 9 Yards”… even though I was bored out of my skull, I didn’t make my way more than 10 minutes through that “film”. When I was stuck on a 14 hour flight once, the movie was _ **Operation Dumbo Drop** _. Game, set, and match. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/51 "2006-01-28T17:08:26Z")
The list **Wendell Wagner** showed listed worldwide grosses. My source was [this site](http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/billion.htm), which cited [this article](http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=131067&mpc=2). ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/52 "2006-01-28T18:04:28Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > **Rufus** , there would be an automatic exemption for those under the age of 12. But seriously, would you take her to see it, knowing you would have to see it as well? And by the way, I think it’s rated PG. Suggestion: take her to see the Steve Martin version; then spend the next week showing her the Sellers movies (all readily available, IIRC). BTW, if they were bound and determined to do a Clouseau remake, they could have done far worse than Steve Martin, IMHO. I’ll probably see it, but it’ll definitely be a DVD rent (and judging from the advance buzz, that should be somewhere around the third week in February 😛 ). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/53 "2006-01-29T08:03:56Z")
mobo85, your claim that _Cutthroat Island_ is the biggest money loser of all time isn’t true even according to the article you cite. The article says that _The Adventures of Pluto Nash_ lost more money than _Cutthroat Island_. Furthermore, the article lists _Heaven’s Gate_ as being number 5 on its list of money losers. _Heaven’s Gate_ only lost $40 million, which is no longer anywhere close to being the largest amount lost. The article doesn’t mention what criteria it uses to determine the largest money loser. It’s possible that the article was claiming that, if you only use U.S. gross and if you adjust for inflation, the biggest money losers are the ones on its list. There are many ways to determine the biggest money losers, and it’s probably not worthwhile to argue which is the most useful method. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746/54 "2006-01-29T23:47:28Z")
> [@flight](#): > > Does onyone else think that this movie would be infinitely improved by Steve Martin and Kevin Kline trading roles? I could see at least the potential of Kline pulling off the character. Heh. They should do that in the sequel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-a-movie-were-so-bad/341746.md?page=2)