Movies

The 10 biggest flops of 2014 … so far

With the first half of 2014 wrapping up, what are Hollywood’s biggest box office flops?

Here’s a countdown, roughly in reverse order of how much money each one lost, keeping in mind that a film has to earn back far more than double its production cost just to break even:

  1. 1. 'Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return'

    Remember how blockbuster season kicked off with this $70 million animated spectacular?

    Yeah, us neither. The film opened May 9 and was forgotten by about noon on May 10. It grossed $9 million, total. It may well be the biggest money-loser of the year.

  2. 2. 'Winter's Tale'

    A magical Manhattan mess that Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe and Will Smith would prefer you never see. On an estimated production cost of $60 million, the strange romantic fantasy earned $31 million globally.

  3. 3. 'Transcendence'

    Johnny Depp seemed like a sure thing in a sci-fi film marketed like “Inception.” The $100 million risk sold only $83 million worth of tickets.

  4. 4. 'The Legend of Hercules'

    Kellan Lutz played the strongman in a mythological action flick that tried to channel “300.” (Another “Hercules” is coming this summer, this time with Dwayne Johnson.)

    It cost some $70 million to make but only brought in $61 million worldwide.

  5. 5. 'Pompeii'

    It cost $100 million to show a gladiator taking on an erupting Mt. Vesuvius in this historical epic that brought in only $97 million worldwide.

  6. 6. 'I, Frankenstein'

    Aaron Eckhart corpsed as Dr. F in a $65 million film that brought in only $71 mil worldwide.

     

  7. 7. Mr. Peabody and Sherman'

    DreamWorks Animation wishes they could set the WABAC Machine to the day before they greenlit this animated disaster, which despite a worldwide gross of $268 million on a $145 million budget, led to a $57 million write-down and a 9 percent drop in the company’s stock price.

  8. 8. 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit'

    Not your Dad’s spy movie! Wait a minute, it actually was your dad’s spy movie.

    Worldwide grosses of $135 million probably won’t even cover the marketing costs, but blame Martin Scorsese: His inability to finish “The Wolf of Wall Street” on time caused that film to be bumped from Thanksgiving to Christmas, which meant Paramount had to drop “Jack Ryan” from Christmas to the January dead zone.

  9. 9. 'Sabotage'

    Arnold Schwarzenegger led a tough-talking team of badass DEA agents in a movie that proved definitively that it isn’t 1987 anymore. Worldwide gross: $17 million.

  10. 10. 'Edge of Tomorrow'

    Who knew a Tom Cruise movie could be such risky business? The sci-fi tale cost nearly $200 million to produce but is struggling at box offices around the world. In the US it’s only made $74 million.