It’s that time of year where we see which films were the biggest box office flops of 2019.
2019 has come to a close, so now we can see what films were sure to have gotten at least a few executives yelled at.
A few notes on the table, the vast majority of those listed are obvious to have not turned a profit, but those that appear to have a total higher than their budget doesn’t mean they made any money. The rule of thumb is take the global gross, divide it by two and then subtract the budget to figure out if a film made a profit. This takes into account marketing costs, the higher percentage distributors take overseas and so on.
(All financials current through Jan. 3, 2020.)
| Movie | Domestic | International | Gross | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ad Astra | $50,188,370 | $74,077,865 | $124,266,235 | $80,000,000 |
| Anna | $7,743,794 | $23,174,297 | $30,918,091 | $30,000,000 |
| Arctic Dogs | $5,801,249 | $3,148,426 | $8,949,675 | $50,000,000 |
| The Beach Bum | $3,502,600 | $765,208 | $4,267,808 | $5,000,000 |
| Captive State | $5,958,315 | $3,192,087 | $9,150,402 | $25,000,000 |
| Cats | $22,950,935 | $20,600,000 | $43,550,935 | $90,000,000 |
| Charlie’s Angels | $17,700,607 | $41,376,959 | $59,077,566 | $48,000,000 |
| Cold Pursuit | $32,138,862 | $30,460,297 | $62,599,159 | $60,000,000 |
| Doctor Sleep | $31,494,813 | $39,700,000 | $71,194,813 | $45,000,000 |
| Gemini Man | $48,546,770 | $118,076,935 | $166,623,705 | $138,000,000 |
| The Goldfinch | $5,332,621 | $4,097,528 | $9,430,149 | $40,000,000 |
| Hellboy | $21,903,748 | $18,882,732 | $40,786,480 | $50,000,000 |
| The Kid Who Would Be King | $16,790,790 | $11,506,193 | $28,296,983 | $59,000,000 |
| The Kitchen | $12,180,032 | $3,599,621 | $15,779,653 | $38,000,000 |
| Long Shot | $30,316,271 | $23,054,333 | $53,370,604 | $40,000,000 |
| Lucy In The Sky | $319,976 | $5,967 | $325,943 | $27,000,000 |
| Midway | $56,369,920 | $66,407,171 | $122,777,091 | $100,000,000 |
| Miss Bala | $14,998,027 | $366,605 | $15,364,632 | $15,000,000 |
| Missing Link | $16,649,539 | $8,285,825 | $24,935,364 | $100,000,000 |
| Playmobil: The Movie | $1,063,213 | $13,562,447 | $14,625,660 | $75,000,000 |
| Poms | $13,631,124 | $2,829,212 | $16,460,336 | $10,000,000 |
| The Professor and the Madman | $0 | $5,675,649 | $5,675,649 | $25,000,000 |
| Replicas | $4,046,429 | $4,990,998 | $9,037,427 | $30,000,000 |
| Serenity | $8,547,045 | $4,461,759 | $13,008,804 | $25,000,000 |
| Terminator: Dark Fate | $62,253,077 | $188,651,398 | $250,904,475 | $185,000,000 |
| Tolkien | $4,535,154 | $4,432,377 | $8,967,531 | $20,000,000 |
| Ugly Dolls | $20,150,241 | $7,995,339 | $28,145,580 | $45,000,000 |
| Wonder Park | $45,216,793 | $69,899,191 | $115,115,984 | $100,000,000 |
| X-Men: Dark Phoenix | $65,845,974 | $180,510,921 | $246,356,895 | $200,000,000 |
Despite 2019 setting box office records, 28 films flopping to this degree is a rather significant.
What can be said is there doesn’t seem to have been any one style of film that took the most hits. Although we will point out it appears to have been a rough year for animated films. Playmobil, Missing Link, Ugly Dolls, and Wonder Park were slaughtered and it does make you wonder why kid-fare doesn’t appear to be working quite as well currently.
And we’re not quite sure what happened with Lucy in the Sky. As flops go, that one is fairly amazing.
As for actors, Matthew McConaughey had it the worst with The Beach Bum and Serenity both making the list.
On a final note, some films such as Cats are still in the theater, but it’s obvious that they will be flops.
2020 is just kicking off, and now we see what this year’s flops will be.
