Hollywood had a rough year in 2023 with moviegoers sending a strong message to entertainment powerhouses like Disney, DC Studios, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Paramount Pictures: We are not interested in what you are making.
These studios all struggled at the box office this year making them an easy add to our list of The Biggest Box Office Bombs of 2023. And nowhere was that more clear than in the superhero genre.
“The Flash”
IMDB. Ezra Miller as The Flash. © 2023 – Warner Bros.
The first movie on our list of box office bombs is “The Flash.” The film had a $200 million budget and underperformed expectations on its opening weekend, earning just $55 million domestically.
The superhero movie starred troubled-actor Ezra Miller, which some say could’ve led to the movie’s dismal numbers. Warner Bros. had a challenging time promoting the film due to controversies involving Miller in the months leading up to the release after he faced multiple accusations of criminal activity. The studio partially relied on word of mouth to publicize “The Flash” and the then-inherent popularity of the superhero genre.
In the end, “The Flash” earned $270 million globally, but needed to earn hundreds of millions more to recover all the costs from promoting the film, CBR noted.
“Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantamania”
IMDB. Jay Maidment/Jay Maidment – © 2022 MARVEL.
Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe struggled numerous times this year in the superhero category, first with “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania.” The same cast from the popular 2015 “Ant-Man,” like Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Michael Douglas, returned for a third time and missed the mark. The third film in the “Ant-Man” franchise made history, at the time, for the worst dropoff from opening weekend a Marvel movie ever had, a 69% drop.
The movie sought to explain the “Quantum Realm” where Scott Lang [Rudd] and Hope Van Dyne [Lilly] are dragged into “along with Hope’s parents and Scott’s daughter Cassie. Together they must find a way to escape, but what secrets is Hope’s mother hiding? And who is the mysterious Kang?” a description on IMDB read.
“The Marvels”
IMDB. Photo by Laura Radford/Laura Radford – © MARVEL 2023
The female-led sequel “The Marvels“ lands in the fourth spot in our list of bombs after the movie suffered the worst opening weekend in MCU franchise history, pulling in just $47 million. It also suffered the worst second-weekend drop of all time for Marvel Studios, beating out the previous holder “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantamania.”
“The Marvels” is a sequel to the 2019 film “Captain Marvel.” The Brie Larson-led film fell 78% in box office performance for its second weekend out and had the worst-ever box office drop for any modern day Hollywood superhero film, the Hollywood Reporter reported.
Ahead of the movie’s release, Marvel attempted to lower expectations, with estimates dropping from $75-$80 million in projected ticket sales to just $60-$65 million. Only two other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have opened to lower than $60 million: “The Incredible Hulk” in 2008, which brought in $55.4 million, not adjusted for inflation, as previously reported, and “Ant-Man” in 2015, which earned $57.2 million domestically, not adjusted for inflation.
“Elemental”
IMDB. Elemental. Photo by Pixar/PIXAR – © 2023 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
The Disney – Pixar animated film “Elemental,“ with a ‘non-binary’ lead character, struggled out of the gate in June when it hit theaters, opening with just $29.5 million in its debut. It managed over time to make a decent showing of it, but analysts say its massive $200 million budget made its eventual recovery look weak.
Disney CEO Bob Iger talked about “Elemental” and the “Ant-Man” sequels’ poor performance, chalking it up to offering too much content on the Disney+ streaming site.
“Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny”
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Another highly-anticipated summer blockbuster from Disney that fizzled out was the fifth installment in the “Indiana Jones” franchise. Harrison Ford was back for another action-packed adventure in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” The movie had a decent opening in June of $60 million but wasn’t able to sustain the momentum as the weeks went on. The film had a massive budget of $295 million, not counting marketing. In the end, the film grossed $383 million, but needed no less than $600 million just to break even, CBR noted.
Poor reviews of the film are believed to have not helped matters, with many struggling to ignore the reality that Ford is 81-years-old and can’t really play a man of action anymore.
One review read, “[Y]ou either die an intellectual-property hero trapped in amber, or you live long enough to see yourself riding a fake horse against a green-screened subway background when most of your peers have slowed down.”
“Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One”
IMDB. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Photo by Christian Black – © 2023 Paramount Pictures.
In recent years, Tom Cruise has been golden with the “Top Gun” sequel winning over and over again at the box office in 2022. However, his latest installment in the “Mission Impossible” franchise failed to gain footing. Released over the summer, “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One” is considered a financial disappointment. It had a budget of $300 million and has earned $567 million worldwide to date.
Following the dismal performance, Paramount announced a much later release date for the next installment in the franchise, which will now not hit the big screen until 2025. The studio cited the writers and actors strikes, at the time, for the later release, Yahoo.com noted.
“Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken”
IMDB. Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken. Photo by Courtesy of Universal Pictures – © Universal Pictures
DreamWorks thought their animated film about teenagers would be a smash hit over the summer, but “Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken” ended up being in and out of theaters quickly. With a $70 million budget, the film got completely lost over the summer and has barely cracked $45 million in gross sales at the box office to date.
“Wish”
Mike Marsland/WireImage
Ahead of the Holidays, Disney tried once more to score some movie magic when it released its nostalgic animated movie “Wish.” The film, however, wasn’t a hit with moviegoers. In November, the movie’s opening weekend managed to pull in just $19 million, with a $200 million production budget.
Reviews of the film have panned it as life-less and more. One review read, “The movie is so busy referencing the classics, it makes itself an afterthought.” “Wish” currently has a 49% critics review on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the lowest of any Disney movie. Currently, the film has earned $50 million domestically and $56 million worldwide.