The 10 biggest box office flops of all time

Whether it’s down to sky-rocketing production costs, off-screen controversies or lukewarm reviews, movies performing badly at the box office is nothing out of the ordinary in Hollywood.

However, every now and then a film comes along which takes a total nosedive commercially and ends up recording staggering losses. These failures can hamper stars' careers and in rare cases even threaten the closure of film production studios altogether.

From John Carter to King Arthur, these are the biggest box office flops of all time.

Cutthroat Island - 143

Hopes were high for 1995’s pirate romp Cutthroat Island, which starred Geena Davis and Matthew Modine and cost upwards of $98m to make. However, the film recouped just $18m at the box office and losses when adjusted for inflation are thought to be around $143m ($89m in 1995), earning the Guinness World Record for “largest box office loss". That’s a lot of buried treasure.

The 13th Warrior - 101-190

Antonio Banderas’s epic 1999 drama The 13th Warrior seems to have been almost totally forgotten by film fans in recent times, which isn’t particularly surprising given the film’s reception. The grand production values and expensive set pieces meant the film cost upwards of $100m to produce, but a poor performance in theatres meant the film racked up losses anywhere up to $130m. Ouch.

47 Ronin - 103 - 158

Not all of Keanu Reeves’ films can be as successful as the Matrix. In fact, his 2013 period drama 47 Ronin, which tells the story of a group of 18th century samurai, proved to be a real stinker. Despite a huge budget upwards of $220m, the end result was an overblown and underwhelming film which proved a total bomb at the box office and the losses are thought to be anything up to $150m.

John Carter - 130-213

Disney experienced something of a mini-blip in the early 2010s, with a number of movies like Prince of Persia and The Sorcerer's Apprentice performing poorly. It was their bombastic sci-fi effort John Carter from 2012 that represented a low point for the studio in terms of critical and commercial reception though. Not only was the action adventure set on the surface of Mars a total mess and slammed by critics everywhere, but the film failed to recoup its huge $260m production costs and its losses total upwards of $130m.

The Lone Ranger - 100-200

2013 western The Lone Ranger from the creatives behind Pirates of the Caribbean was pretty much doomed from the off, with the casting of Johnny Depp as a native American attracting controversy. The backlash almost certainly impacted on box office performance, with overall losses on the film estimated between $100m and $200m.

Mars Needs Moms - 109-117

After watching the garish trailer for Mars Needs Moms you’d be forgiven for thinking the film was a forgotten 90s or early 00s film, made before the major technological breakthroughs that transformed the look of more recent animations. Amazingly though, the film was actually released in 2011 and remains one of the biggest flops of the decade so far. The film’s losses are thought to be anywhere from £109m to $117m, which makes this a serious misstep for Disney.

Monster Trucks - 113-117

Monster Trucks came and went in the blink of an eye in 2016, managing to make just $64m worldwide against its $125 million budget. The spectacularly stupid movie follows a high school kid who discovers a monster living inside his truck. Monster trucks - get it? The entire film is built entirely around this weak premise, and due to rising production costs the studio announced before the film was even released that they expected to make a loss.

Pan - 96-155

Hugh Jackman’s Pan proved to be one of the most notorious flops of recent years when it came out with a whimper in 2015. The movie was a flawed take on the Peter Pan story, with a selection of baffling set pieces, including a cringeworthy reinterpretation of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. The movie was slated by critics everywhere and the film’s losses are estimated anywhere between $96m and $155m.

King Arthur: legend of the sword - 150

Even David Beckham couldn’t save Guy Ritchie’s medieval romp King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. The former footballer’s cameo in the film was hyped online in the lead up to the release, so it was something of a surprise to see the movie perform so poorly at the box office. Terrible reviews and spiralling production costs only added to the problem and the film ended losing a total of $150m.

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas - 125

Dreamworks Animation were nearly forced out of action completely in 2003 after Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas flopped in emphatic fashion. Michelle Pfeiffer and Brad Pitt provided voices for the film but their star power wasn’t enough to ensure the movie’s success. The fact it was released soon after Disney Pixar’s Finding Nemo certainly didn’t help the cause and the studio ended up making a staggering loss of $166m on the project.