The 10 biggest cinematic failures and disappointments of 2023

Although the post-pandemic recovery is slower than many in the film industry had hoped, more people went to the movies in 2023 around the world than in 2022. And audiences are proving they are more than willing to return to the cinema. Let's do it. What seems to be changing is his cinematic preferences. Superhero movies and their sequels have never done well In the treasuries for the year ended. For the first time in decades, the three biggest movies of the year — “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and “Super Mario Bros.: The Movie” — are not sequels. This says a lot.

Let's see them then The 10 biggest failures and disappointments of 2023 In terms of the films' performance at the global box office, according to what was compiled by the film website SlashFilm.

10. Renfield

On paper, his idea Nicolas Cage as Count Dracula With Nicholas Hoult by his side as his loyal slave/assistant, she was very good. But the news from the box office was not what Universal Pictures expected. “Renfield” by Chris McKay, At a cost of $65 million And I managed to get by just 26.7 million dollars around the world. Most critics panned the film, while Kiss' performance was controversial. It could become a huge success in the future and have a better career on streaming and VOD platforms, but as far as 2023 is concerned, it has been a miserable failure.

9. The Creator

Gareth Edwards' The Creator was a high-concept, high-budget sci-fi epic, the kind of film that's difficult to make outside of big franchises. The director has put in honorable efforts to make a film Budget: $80 million, to look like a 200 million movie. But no $104 million in global gross product It wasn't enough for New Regency and Disney to tie.

8. Hypnotists

With “Hypnotic” Robert Rodriguez wanted to enter the fields of Alfred Hitchcock and Christopher Nolan, and even though he had at his disposal a star like him Ben Affleck, failed miserably at the box office. The evil began since filming, as production was halted due to the pandemic and began several times. This brings the budget to $65 million. Then poor programming on the part of the studio led to her being placed in the “arena” alongside films like “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” “Super Mario Bros: The Movie,” and “Evil Dead Rise,” which “swallowed” her body. And the result was It grossed $15.7 million worldwidea small fraction of the production cost, not even accounting for marketing.

7. The Haunted Mansion

It's not every day for… Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney tried (for the second time since 2003) to turn it into a hit movie again Disneyland attractionBut he made a lot of wrong decisions when it came to the Haunted Mansion. Despite a strong cast that included Rosario Dawson, Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson, Jared Leto, Lakeith Stanfield, A.J. Budget: $150 millionN, the film barely managed to get through $117 million in global gross product. The studio's choice to release it in July was wrong for two reasons. First, he found this phenomenon “Barpenheimer”With the films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” monopolizing the audience’s attention. Second, this family ghost movie would be much better in October, the month of Halloween, than in late summer.

6. I hope

2023 was not the year of Disney… The animated film “Wish” was chosen to celebrate the New Year 100 years of studioAlthough it is still practiced in some countries of the world, it is impossible to extinguish excessively high amounts Budget: $200 million. It has happened so far Revenues 106 million The only hope for something better is for it to “fire up” when it hits Disney+, like “Encanto” did in 2021.

5. Independent

John Cena and Alison Brie's action-adventure comedy “Freelance” hit theaters in late October with minimal promotion, and so far It grossed just $8.8 million worldwide, after costing $40 million to produce. A 7% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is certainly no incentive to watch the film, which is already available on VOD and will soon make its way to streaming platforms. Relativity Studio seemed to know that He had a “rotten egg” on his hands.Therefore, it was released in theaters with minimal marketing to reduce losses to some extent. However, some people lost a lot of money with this movie.

4. Indiana Jones and the Disc of Destiny

Disney spent years and years developing the fifth Indiana Jones film after Lucasfilm bought the studio in 2012. The project has gone through several different writers, with director Steven Spielberg departing and being replaced by James Mangold. 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' has finally hit theaters this year, after costing a whopping Rs. 300 million dollars, not counting marketing. the 384 million collected in coffers It is considered a critical failure, as only half of the money from ticket sales goes back to the studios. Even the previous Indiana Jones movie “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”Despite the lukewarm reviews it received $790 million 15 years ago.

3. Wonders

Even the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the most successful franchise in cinematic history, seems to be collapsing in recent years. This year, despite the success of “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum of Solace” disappointed while “The Marvels” scored. Negative record. with Budget: $220 million had won $202 millionwhere is he The lowest-grossing Marvel movie of all time. We are talking about a sequel to a movie that made $1.12 billion 4 years ago. A Marvel movie with so little revenue would have been unthinkable a few years ago, but this is the new reality that Disney has to deal with.

2. Consumables 4

Lionsgate had a good year, with successful additions to three of its biggest franchises: “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Saw X,” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.” But the same did not happen with the fourth movie in the Expendables series, titled Expend4bles. with Budget: $100 millionThe film (which was also filmed in Thessaloniki) It only made $51 million Worldwide, of which the studios will see half. Since Lionsgate is not a big studio, Such failure costs more What would it cost for example. At disney. Sylvester Stallone leading a team of action heroes like the Avengers was a good idea at the beginning of the last decade, but today he is tired and people are clearly not looking for more.

1. DC World

The reboot planned by Warner Bros. The exploration of the DC Cinematic Universe, starting with Superman: Legacy in 2025, comes after a disastrous 2023 in which all three DC films failed: It's Shazam! “Wrath of the Gods”, “The Flash” and “Blue Beetle”. A few days ago, the last show of the year was shown, “Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom” But the forecasts are not optimistic. the “Shazam! Wrath of the Gods” (budget 125 million, gross 133 million) It “hurt” a lot because it was the sequel to a very successful film for the studio, The “The Flash” (budget 200 million, total 270 million) He even unsuccessfully recruited Michael Keaton's Batman, instead “Blue Beetle” (budget 100 million, total 129 million) It was headed straight to streaming, so in its case one could argue that any box office result is better than no box office result. Things are tough for Marvel, but DC isn't going to back down at all…