The 2010s was a pretty impressive decade for film, dishing up some of the biggest box office blockbusters of all time and giving us some much beloved franchises that remain huge to this day.
It was the decade which gave us the likes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens – the series’ biggest film to date – as well as Jurassic World, The Lion King, Black Panther and the Frozen franchise, with the first film sparking a phenomenon when it dropped on to screens in 2013.
And let’s not forget The Avengers series, which has no less than four films from the 2010s in the all-time top 20 for box office success: the 2012 original, 2015’s Age Of Ultron, 2018’s Infinity War and 2019’s Endgame — the second biggest movie of all time behind Avatar.
But every decade always brings with it disaster,- and for every film which turned a profit in the 2010s there’s a whole host of other movies which promised so much and delivered so little, costing their studios a fortune.
And while some were out and out stinkers which collapsed at the sight of a cinema screen, others were films which at first glance might have made a fair whack of cash, but which cost so much in terms of production and marketing that they lost money anyway.
So grab a comfy chair and some cinematic snacks as we take a look at some of the most notorious flops of the 2010s…
John Carter (2012)
Kicking off with one of the most notorious flops of all time, it’s hard to imagine any film losing as much money as John Carter. However no list of the decade’s biggest losers would be complete without it.
Based on the Barsoom series of novels by Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burrough, the film had been in development for decades under the title A Princess Of Mars, where the action takes place, with the film adapting the first of those books. It should have been a recipe for success.
Only it wasn’t. Reviews were lukewarm (it holds a 52% Rotten Tomatoes rating) while the film remains one of the most expensive ever made, costing a massive $263millon (£211.3m), and that’s before you take marketing costs into account.
It took $284m worldwide (£214.7m) which resulted in an enormous loss of $255m (£205m) — a higher deficit than any other film in history.
And money wasn’t the only thing lost. Disney chairman Rich Ross, who greenlit the project, resigned from his job just a month after the film’s release, saying the role was ‘no longer the right professional fit for me’.
47 Ronin (2013)
Here’s one which should definitely have worked. Aside from a cast led by Keanu Reeves (who of course is no stranger to blockbusters), 47 Ronin has some cracking source material, inspired by the story of a group of samurai in 18th Century Japan avenging the death of their feudal lord.
The project was first announced in 2008, with the screenplay making the annual Black List of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood, and Variety saying it promised ‘a stylised version of the story’ with comparisons to The Lord Of The Rings and Gladiator.
However the film underwent reshoots in London in 2012, which were delayed by the Olympics, as well as Reeves working on another project, while post-production issues also led to the release date being pushed back several times.
It was originally meant to be released in November 2012 but ultimately arrived on Christmas Day 2013, a time when it faced box office competition from the likes of The Wolf Of Wall Street, Anchorman 2 and The Desolation of Smaug — not to mention Frozen.
The reviews didn’t help either with the film scoring a mere 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ultimately it’s estimated to have lost around $173m (£131m) on a budget of $225m (£170.1m).
The Lone Ranger (2013)
On paper this sounded like a dream project. Johnny Depp reuniting with Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski to bring the legendary Texas ranger to the big screen.
With Armie Hammer – prior to the abuse allegations which led to the collapse of his career -playing the title character, and Depp as Tonto, it was widely tipped to be a winner.
However, the production was hit by problems. Notably that it went so over budget it was almost cancelled completely at one point, while the plot grew steadily weirder, taking in massacres of indigenous natives as well as a scene involving cannibalism.
None of which is the stuff of family-friendly blockbusters to be fair.
In the end the movie was finally released in the summer of 2013, five years after it was first announced, and went on to lose an eye-watering $240 million (£192.8m).
It did have one notable ‘success’, however, at the Golden Raspberry awards, where it received five nominations including worst film.
Pan (2015)
How many more times can the story of Peter Pan be told on the big screen? Well too many, if this 2015 effort is anything to go by.
This particular adaptation, by Pride and Prejudice director Joe Wright, is actually a prequel to the classic story, taking its inspiration from JM Barrie’s 1911 novel Peter and Wendy.
And yes, of course it should have worked, especially given a cast which included Hugh Jackman as a fictionalised version of the pirate Blackbeard. None of it was enough to draw the crowds though.
Pan was released in October 2015 – midway between summer blockbuster season and Christmas – and suffered in the face of poor reviews, landing a paltry 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mail On Sunday called it ‘an un-magical affair, weighed down by flashy visual effects and a cumbersome, over-complicated story.’ Ouch.
Ultimately, Pan quickly flew out of movie theatres with a loss of around $185 million (£148m).
Mars Needs Moms (2011)
Animation isn’t always a licence to print money, and that was certainly the case with 2011’s Mars Needs Moms, a sci-fi comedy about a young boy whose mother is abducted by Martians.
The movie, a 3D venture which used CGI performance-capture technology to bring its characters to life, was a colossal flop costing $150m (£112.7m) to make, and ultimately grossing a mere $39.2m (£29m) worldwide.
It’s not quite clear what went wrong here, although everything from the subject matter through to the animation looking just a bit too realistic for its own good might have put viewers off.
It also, unfortunately, was the death knell for Disney-backed animation company ImageMovers Digital – which came to us courtesy of Back To The Future supremo Robert Zemeckis. Mars Needs Moms was only their second movie, the first being 2009’s A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey.
However the film flopped hard enough for them to shut their doors for good, depriving us of the chance to see their other planned projects which included a Who Framed Roger Rabbit? sequel and a remake of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
A Star Wars movie bombing at the box office? Who’d have thought it? That. sadly, was the case for this 2018 spin-off, the second Star Wars anthology movie following 2016’s Rogue One.
This one is an origin story which introduces us to a younger Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and Chewbacca as they join a criminal underworld heist, a decade before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope.
Despite all of its credentials the film got off to a rocky start. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller exited the project in June 2017 amid talk of ‘creative differences’ with LucasFilm, and Ron Howard stepped in to finish the movie off.
When it landed on screens in 2018 it was to some strong critical praise – the film has a solid 69% Rotten Tomatoes rating – but this didn’t stop Solo from becoming the first Star Wars film in the Disney era not to turn a profit.
Ultimately it cost an estimated $275m (£207m) and took a worldwide gross of $392.9m (£296.9m) which, like many of the films on this list sounds like a lot. But when you take marketing into consideration it still came up short, with a loss of around $150-$200m (£113-£151m).
All of which led to LucasFilm shelving plans for any further standalone spin-offs.
Cats (2019)
Finally, we couldn’t let any list of 2010s flops go without mentioning one of the most notorious of all time.
Cats was the 2019 take on Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s iconic stage musical, which has been playing at theatres across the world since it debuted in 1981.
The film version? Not so much. The cast was stellar with the likes of James Corden, Dame Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift and Rebel Wilson all lining up to show off their feline side and sing their way through such modern classics as The Jellicle Ball and Memory.
However, the movie swiftly fell foul of critics when it landed on screens in late 2019.
The mix of motion capture CGI with real-life actors proved unpopular with critics, and even an attempt by makers Universal to release an updated version with redone special effects made no difference.
It has a mere 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the Los Angeles Times saying it was ‘as uneasy on the eyes as a Hollywood spectacle can be’.
Admittedly the film didn’t lose as much money as some of those on this list, with a budget of around $95m (£71.8m) and another $90-100m (£68-£75m) in marketing, it ultimately made $73.7m (£55.7m) worldwide, losing around $110-$125m (£83-£94m).
However, its notoriety more than earns it a place in the flops hall of fame. And while it may not have been nominated for any Oscars, it made up for it by cleaning up at the 2020 Razzies, with prizes for worst picture, worst director for Tom Hooper, worst screenplay and worst supporting actor prizes for Corden and Wilson.