Major Box Office Flops of the 2010s That Revolutionized the Film Industry

The 2010s were a vibrant tapestry of culture, characterized by the rise of “Party Rock Anthem,” the memeable appeal of Dat Boi, Netflix’s foray into TV programming, and the phenomenon of Vine stars. Amid these cultural shifts, a multitude of cinematic releases emerged, reshaping the film industry. Colossal blockbusters like “The Avengers” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” made significant impacts, while critically acclaimed films such as “Carol,” “Shoplifters,” and “You Were Never Really Here” have since been hailed as masterpieces. During this decade, movie enthusiasts found plenty to celebrate, although it often presented challenges for studio executives navigating treacherous financial waters.

The period was marked by high-stakes financial risks, as major studios veered away from mid-budget projects to focus on high-cost franchises, often budgeted over $200 million. This shift opened the door for monumental failures at the box office. Among these, five notable flops not only suffered heavy financial losses but also left a lasting impact on Hollywood. These movies prompted reevaluation within the industry, leading to shifts in strategy, such as moving away from certain adaptations or contributing to the downfall of independent studios.

These five cinematic failures from the 2010s transcended mere box office disappointments, with their impacts spreading far beyond initial release weekends. While “Party Rock Anthem” set the tone of the decade, it certainly wasn’t the soundtrack to these financial disasters.

In January 2008, just months after the “Transformers” franchise achieved box office success, Hasbro and Universal Pictures forged a promising first-look deal to adapt various Hasbro properties for the big screen. Universal aimed to replicate the triumph of “Transformers” by launching similarly successful franchises. However, within four years, the collaboration unraveled, leaving potential projects abandoned and signaling a dire warning for their premier co-production, “Battleship,” which would not hit theaters until May 2012.

Universal seemed to anticipate the troubles that awaited “Battleship.” As expected, the film became a classic example of a predictable box office flop, amassing only $313.47 million worldwide, including a disappointing $65.23 million in domestic sales, against an enormous $220 million budget. Save for additional “Transformers” sequels and a couple of “Ouija” films, “Battleship” deterred Hollywood from investing in expensive toy-based movies for the decade that followed. The trend leaned heavily on comic book adaptations, with films like “The Avengers,” released just two weeks prior, overshadowing Hasbro-themed titles.

The failure of “Battleship” also inspired Universal to not prioritize $200+ million tentpoles just for the sake of having those titles. As early as 2014, Universal instead embraced cheaper yet more lucrative movies like “Neighbors” that were the antithesis of the bloated bomb “Battleship.”

“Battleship” tilted Universal towards more mid and low-budget offerings (save for the occasional “Jurassic World”), but the siren song of tentpoles couldn’t be resisted forever. Five years after that watery flop, Universal plunked down an enormous amount of cash into a 2017 reboot of “The Mummy” meant to kick off a Marvel-style shared continuity of Universal Monsters. Universal had tremendous confidence in both “The Mummy” and this franchise, named the Dark Universe. But “The Mummy” immediately became a box office flop that killed its planned cinematic universe.

Costing $195 million to make, “The Mummy” grossed only $409.95 million worldwide, including an abysmal $80.1 million domestically. One of the biggest flops of 2017, “The Mummy” halted all future Dark Universe movies. The studio subsequently overhauled its approach to those classic Universal Monsters with lower-budgeted efforts like 2020’s “The Invisible Man.” Meanwhile, “The Mummy” made Hollywood hesitant over shared universes being the de facto approach of blockbuster movies. Even Warner Bros. announced that its DC films would emphasize standalone stories above interconnected narratives just a few months after “The Mummy” cratered.

“The Mummy” also signaled a shift in what audiences wanted out of horror movies. This expensive PG-13 flop was drastically outgrossed in 2017 by infinitely cheaper R-rated horror films “It” and “Get Out.” Immense scale doesn’t immediately produce immense scares. 

DreamWorks Animation has had its fair share of box office flops even before “Rise of the Guardians” arrived in November 2012. However, this was an impactful dud whose financial losses proved a turning point for this outfit. Costing $145 million to make, “Rise of the Guardians” only grossed $306.94 million worldwide. DreamWorks eventually reported an $87 million loss on the title, the kind of failure that the studio’s shift away from 2D animation to towards CG animated titles was supposed to prevent.

Worse, “Rise of the Guardians” started a streak of box office flops that diluted the DreamWorks Animation brand. In the following two years, “Turbo,” “Mr. Peabody and Sherman,” and “The Penguins of Madagascar” all lost immense amounts of cash for the studio. Less than four years after “Guardians” premiered, NBCUniversal bought DreamWorks Animation. This sale led to the demise of various original DreamWorks titles in development and constricted the world of American feature animation. DreamWorks lives on, but as a more cost-sensitive Universal label rather than an independent entity.

In hindsight, “Rise of the Guardians” was like the first domino whose tumbling began a chain effect that drastically altered the American animation landscape. At least its director, Peter Ramsey, would eventually land on his feet by being one of the “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” helmers.

“Transformers: Age of Extinction” was easily the biggest movie of 2014 worldwide with a whopping $1.1 billion globally. It didn’t matter if it contained some of the most egregious and questionable moments in the Transformers franchise, audiences still came out in droves to see it. With that kind of box office haul, it would seem like Paramount Pictures would’ve had nothing to worry about when it came to the long-term viability of the Transformers movies. Three years after “Age of Extinction,” though, “Transformers: The Last Knight” only grossed $602.89 million worldwide. 

That number sounds large on the surface, but given that $229.4 million of that sum came from China, “The Last Knight” actually made under $400 million worldwide discounting Chinese ticket sales. Domestically, “The Last Knight” only grossed $130.1 million while its total budget was a whopping $260 million. Losing $100 million for Viacom, “The Last Knight” put all American tentpoles on notice. If Transformers could produce a box office failure, no saga was safe. 

Since “The Last Knight,” Paramount has repeatedly tried reviving its cash cow franchise with titles like “Bumblebee” or “Transformers One.” Yet, nothing from this near-decade of reconfiguring Transformers into something new-ish yet profitable have come close to “Age of Extinction” numbers. Meanwhile, Michael Bay, once a reliable director of box office hits, has only helmed one theatrical movie (“Ambulance”) since “The Last Knight” flopped.

Once again bemoaning how badly “John Carter” flopped feels a bit like kicking someone while they’re down. The box office performance of “John Carter” is so infamous that it’s almost redundant to once again label it a flop. For those unaware, though, “John Carter” only grossed $284 million worldwide on a $263 million budget. Just 11 days into its theatrical run, Disney announced that it would be taking a $200 million write-down on the production. Any hopes from director Andrew Stanton and company for a pair of proposed “John Carter” sequels went up in smoke.

In hindsight, the failure of “John Carter” closed a chapter of one Disney era just before another began. Two months after “John Carter” premiered, Walt Disney Pictures distributed its first Marvel movie, “The Avengers,” and Marvel Cinematic Universe titles quickly became lucrative fixtures of Disney’s annual slate. Nine months after “John Carter” debuted, Disney announced it was purchasing Lucasfilm and producing new Star Wars movies. The days of Disney taking risks on pricey non-sequel tentpoles like “John Carter” or “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” were firmly in the past.

“John Carter” cratering at the box office only reaffirmed to Disney executives that the studio needed to embrace safer Marvel movies, Star Wars legacy sequels, and live-action remakes of Disney cartoons. “John Carter” helped steer Disney into a new creative trajectory that’s still influencing every sector of Hollywood.