| 1 | Logically, not every work can be a smash hit. Many will only see modest success, while others do poorly. Some do so poorly that they get nowhere close to breaking even financially, costing the people that made them a ton of money. However, sometimes a work actually did rather well (or at least managed to break even), but somehow got a reputation as being a failure by critics, journalists, and general audiences whenever it's mentioned: that's when you have yourself a Presumed Flop. In short, it's when CommonKnowledge [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] a BoxOfficeBomb. |
| 2 | |
| 3 | The reasons for this could be many: |
| 4 | |
| 5 | # The work received scathing reviews from critics (or was NotScreenedForCritics), and it's assumed that this scared people away. |
| 6 | # The work is largely seen as more beloved by critics than among general audiences, leading to assumptions that it was an AcclaimedFlop. This is especially true for older films, as OscarBait is a NewerThanTheyThink phenomenon: for a long time, it was typical for a Best Picture-winner to also be a pretty big moneymaker. |
| 7 | # Most people who talk about the work did not like it, and hence people assume it failed. |
| 8 | # It's commonly assumed that [[AudienceAlienatingPremise the work's premise scared away the audience]]. |
| 9 | # The work has been OvershadowedByControversy, and people assume it flopped, because the controversy is all they remember about it. |
| 10 | # The release coincided with the decline of the creator or the lead actor's career. |
| 11 | # The work was just sort of forgotten about after leaving theaters. |
| 12 | # The work became a CultClassic, so people assume it failed commercially. |
| 13 | # The people involved actually self-deprecate and fall into this trope, saying it was a flop. |
| 14 | # The work broke even, or was maybe actually a modest success, but the company behind it was upset that it did not make ''enough'' money. This is especially likely to happen if it's natural to compare the work to a smash success -- a modest success looks underwhelming if it was the follow-up to a huge hit or was playing FollowTheLeader to a huge hit. |
| 15 | # The work had a low budget, so even if it had a small gross, it still meant it could turn a profit. |
| 16 | # If the work is the last installment in a long-running series, or a new property angling for a sequel [[StillbornFranchise doesn't get one]], it might be assumed the lack of sequels is due to the previous installment being a flop rather than any of the production difficulties or bad timing that might prevent a sequel from being made. |
| 17 | # The work is released by a production company that is undergoing financial difficulties; if the work does reasonably well on a financial level but not enough to single-handedly save the company from its existing troubles, it might be perceived as a CreatorKiller and thus a flop even if the expectation was unreasonable. |
| 18 | # Opinions of the work have [[VindicatedByHistory improved over time]], leading people to assume it failed on release. |
| 19 | # The work ''did'' fail domestically but ended up doing well enough overseas to still turn a profit. |
| 20 | # The work is CondemnedByHistory and people assume it was always hated. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Note that a Presumed Flop is not necessarily that much of a success for the creator in the long run. For instance, a widely-derided work making you a bit of money can border on PyrrhicVictory -- sure, it sold, but your reputation has taken a hit, a sequel is likely to flop, or it might not have made ''enough'' money to justify a sequel. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Keep in mind, this is not when people hate it today when it actually was popular at the time. That's CondemnedByHistory. This is when we claim something was a failure in its time when it actually was not. For example, the movie ''Film/TheBirthOfANation1915'' is regarded as extremely offensive today, but nobody would claim it was a failure when it came out. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | If it's presumed to flop before its premiere, then it's AndYouThoughtItWouldFail. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | Can overlap with CriticProof, which is about works that sell despite being thrashed by critics. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | '''Note''': The point of this AudienceReaction is that the work is incorrectly assumed to be a financial failure, a critical failure, or both, when any glance at box office sales or Metacritic can prove you wrong. Even if "people think it's bad" is the reason the work is believed to be a flop, please do not post a long rant about the work. Give a brief explanation of why the work was poorly received, and leave it at that. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Also note that films need to earn about twice their budget back at the box office to break even when accounting for various expenses. |
| 33 | ---- |
| 34 | !!Examples: |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 39 | * ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' is often brought up as an example of an anime [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff that tanked in its home country but became a huge success overseas]]. Except while it didn't have the lasting staying power the series would have in the West, ''Bebop'' was very well-received in Japan. In fact, it was the best-selling anime on home video in 1998; only two series sold more in that year (''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' and the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''), both of which were from previous years. While the initial broadcast run was CutShort, this was due to the show’s violent content running afoul of censors rather than poor ratings, and it would receive a full run on satellite television a few months later. The misconception likely stems from lumping it together with fellow {{space western}}s ''Manga/OutlawStar'' and ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', which premiered the same year and ''are'' examples of that trope. |
| 40 | * The fact that ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' fell out of popularity more or less at the time ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' ended has caused the popular belief that the latter was a complete failure in ratings and sales, but it is not really the case. While the series did fail at making noise, this was (and still is) the usual for the franchise in Japan after the ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' continuity was closed; in reality, ''Frontier'' did not do much worse than ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' in any field, and still attracted almost twice the ratings later received by ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'', which was the series that finally got the franchise out of its traditional broadcaster Fuji TV. |
| 41 | * The story goes that the infamous English GagDub of ''Anime/GhostStories'' was the result of the Japanese rights holders telling Creator/ADVFilms that they could do whatever they want with the script as long as they kept the basic plot, as they were desperate for the series to be a success since it performed poorly in Japan. While it's true the dubbers were told they could go nuts with the script, [[https://www.slashfilm.com/703353/ the show actually got good ratings and reception in Japan]] and was reran several times. Being part of [[Franchise/GakkouNoKaidan a popular franchise]] certainly helped. |
| 42 | * The second season of the ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' anime was notorious for how much of its run was spent on painstakingly animating, functionally, the exact same episode eight times to cover the single-chapter short story "Endless Eight". To this day, it's still considered by many fans to be one of [[ArcFatigue the most grueling things to marathon in anime]], and in the years since, the anime still has yet to have a third season. Many assume that this season was a commercial flop because of the fans' backlash against "Endless Eight", and possibly a full-on FranchiseKiller in spite of the later movie ''The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya'' being well-received both commercially and critically. However, the Japanese DVD sales tell an extremely different story: even DVD sets ''exclusively'' containing middle-of-the-arc Endless Eight episodes didn't really sell significantly worse than the rest of the series. In reality, the series' decline in popularity comes down to a combination of other factors, mainly due to the original light novel series going through a prolonged ScheduleSlip (resulting in a lack of new material to adapt) along with Creator/KyotoAnimation's decision to make anime based on self-owned [=IPs=] rather than outside works. |
| 43 | * ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' saved the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise from having its plug pulled, and for a long time the Western fandom extrapolated from this that its immediate predecessor ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5 [=GoGo!=]'' had poor toy sales and ratings that made it a near-FranchiseKiller. While its viewership ratings fell short of its competitors and the concept of an {{Immediate|Sequel}} SequelSeries would never again come to the main series, ''[=GoGo!=]'' actually earned decent merchandise revenue and the whole ''Yes!'' series is popular enough in Japan to get both an appearance in the ''Anime/HealinGoodPrettyCure'' movie and an [[Anime/PowerOfHopePrecureFullBloom adult-focused spinoff]] over a decade after ending. ''Fresh'' saved the franchise less in the sense that ''[=GoGo!=]'' was especially damaging to the brand and more in the sense that its success confirmed to Toei that ''Pretty Cure'' had the potential to be a profitable LongRunner like ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and ''Franchise/KamenRider''. |
| 44 | * It is commonly assumed that ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' did not perform well in Japan due to initially ending with the Cell Saga; however, the series itself did quite well on TV in its home country, with an average rating of 9.4% [[labelnote:note]]For reference, most anime in Japan during the day score between 2% and 3%, with more popular titles like ''Anime/OnePiece'' and ''Anime/PrettyCure'' reaching 4% to 5%. Only super popular titles like Sazae-san and ''Anime/ChibiMarukochan'' even come close to 9% to 10%. Late-night anime tends to have around 1%, but those titles rely more on Blu-Ray and merchandise sales than TV ratings to measure popularity[[/labelnote]] and frequently making the top 10 on "most watched anime" lists during its run. Production on Kai ended due to various other factors: |
| 45 | ** The series' merchandise failed to make the expected profits for Creator/{{Bandai}}. |
| 46 | ** All remastering of the video footage was outsourced to a company called Q-TEC,which combined with having to bring back most of the Japanese voice cast (aside from those who have died or retired) to record the new voice track, resulted in high production costs. |
| 47 | ** The Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, which resulted in episode 98 being released DirectToVideo due to its original airing being pre-empted by news covering the event. |
| 48 | ** The infamous Kenji Yamamoto plagiarism scandal that forced the producers to recall home video releases and halt all international broadcasts to replace the series' soundtrack. |
| 49 | ** And most importantly, Manga/{{Toriko}} was already being scheduled to take ''Dragon Ball Kai'''s timeslot, meaning there was no place in Creator/FujiTV to air more Kai episodes. |
| 50 | ** That said, Kai's strong international performance convinced Toei to produce the Buu Saga under the title "''Dragon Ball Kai: The Final Chapters''", which would eventually also air in Japan on Fuji TV due to Toriko's cancellation freeing up the timeslot that Kai used during it's original run. |
| 51 | [[/folder]] |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 54 | * ''ComicBook/BatmanTomKing'' concluded at only 85 of its initially-planned 100 main issues, and a big rumor being pushed at its conclusion was that it was axed as a result of low sales, in part tied to [[SeasonalRot its decline of quality]] and [[AudienceAlienatingEra the tremendous backlash it became steeply overwhelmed in]]. While the series had become controversial, sales definitely were not a factor as ''Batman'' consistently made monthly top 15 -- if not top 10 -- comic book sales even up to its final issue. The actual reasoning for its premature end was that King had become occupied with other projects that made further work on it unfeasible, and he was still allowed to write his conclusion anyway in the form of the ''Batman/Catwoman'' series. |
| 55 | * Creator/NickSpencer's ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' run, specifically after the "Hydra Cap" story; its commonly repeated in casual audiences that this was a genuinely intended "permanent change" aimed at NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity but then poor readership led to it backpedalling, and that ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' was a huge bomb. This didn't happen; the "Hydra Cap book", ''Comicbook/SteveRogersCaptainAmerica'' was actually a pretty decent seller, and ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' didn't sell any worse than any other crisis event Marvel had put out before that. |
| 56 | * Similarly to Spencer's Captain America, its commonly believed and repeated that Marvel had massive sales problems during the late 2010s, specifically with their "diverse" LegacyCharacter line-up, with common targets for this being the Jane Foster-starring ''ComicBook/Thor2014'', the Riri Williams-starring ''[[Comicbook/IronMan Invincible Iron Man]]'', the Kate Bishop-starring ''ComicBook/Hawkeye2016'', and more. Ironically, not only did these books sell decently, average-at-worst, but they actually did ''better'' than the previous runs featuring the "classic" incarnations of those characters. Though some books didn't succeed, this had nothing to do with the legacy aspect, and the rate of failure among titles was about the same between "diverse"-led titles and those featuring straight-white-male leads. Any sales issues Marvel ''did'' have during that time is more pointed towards event fatigue, the sheer number of books being produced, and a lack of promotion among the books, especially for books featuring characters who hadn't led solo titles before. |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' was cancelled in 2016 after a 34-year run. The most common story about the cancellation is that the 2013 lawsuit involving Creator/KenPenders drove away readers and led to Creator/{{Sega}} revoking the license from Creator/ArchieComics. In reality, while sales did drop around this time, the comic still continued on for 3 whole years after the incident, all while Archie was also publishing the ''Sonic Universe'' spin-off, a comic based on ''ComicBook/SonicBoom'', and a few one-shots. The lawsuit was at most one factor among many, with Archie's decision to end it also being influenced by their desire to move away from licensed titles in general and the underperformance of recent issues, in particular, the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsUnite'' crossover. |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 61 | * ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest'' is a textbook example of this. Partly due to its ToughActToFollow status compared to the now-classic first movie, and partly because, unlike its predecessor, it wasn't directed by Creator/DonBluth, it's widely believed that it was a box-office bomb. It wasn't, it actually made $40 million on a $16 million budget. |
| 62 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' is considered one of Pixar's most divisive films, especially riding on the heels of the embarrassing reception of ''WesternAnimation/Cars2''. At the time, it was not only one of the highest grossing animated films of 2012, but it also garnered several awards, including an MediaNotes/AcademyAward and a UsefulNotes/{{BAFTA}}. |
| 63 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' led its production company to be shut down by Disney and is lumped along with other underwhelming cartoons the studio had made at the TurnOfTheMillennium. But it actually made $350 million on a $127 million budget, meaning ''Dinosaur'' was Disney's biggest non-Pixar success between ''Tarzan'' and ''Tangled''. Still, it fell short of expectations, especially considering a big marketing budget. Additionally, it had a rival on the small screen that same year in ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' that arguably ended up overshadowing it within the pop cultural consciousness (to say nothing of ''Film/JurassicPark3'' the following year). |
| 64 | * ''WesternAnimation/Elemental2023'' found itself sandwiched between two superhero movies (''Film/TheFlash2023'' and ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'') which made its box-office prospects low to begin with. The film's opening weekend of $29.5 million was the second-lowest in Pixar's history (only higher than [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory1 Toy Story's]] opening weekend of $26 million which adjusted to inflation is actually $56 million and sold far more tickets). This led to several news outlets to label ''Elemental'' as a flop with ''Variety'' going so far as to write that there was "no hope of recouping its $200 million production budget domestically". However, it held on longer than ''The Flash'' with good word-of-mouth in the U.S. while thriving internationally, ultimately making a total of $494 million worldwide. The film performed particularly well in South Korea, which makes sense given Director's Peter Sohn Korean-American background which helped the film resonate with Korean audiences. It did so well internationally that it even managed to surpass ''Across the Spider-Verse's'' international box-office (if not domestic). The narrative of its comeback was '''so''' compelling that pop culture industry press held out hope for Disney's ''WesternAnimation/Wish2023'' later that year, saying it could come back from its poor opening the way ''Elemental'' did, but that ended up an actual BoxOfficeBomb. |
| 65 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'' is commonly believed to be a flop because people tend to assume that the premise (which was often seen as unoriginal and/or a desperate attempt to be "hip" and "modern") and scathing reviews (from critics and audiences alike) scared audiences away. Nevertheless, it made a profit ($217M worldwide on a $50M budget). It exceeded expectations on opening weekend, and opened in 2nd place ([[ToiletHumor "We're number two!"]]) against the critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}''. Some of that was likely people seeing it out of BileFascination, but [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the studio doesn't care if you hate-watch it as long as you're still paying them]]. |
| 66 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' is notably for being the only Disney cartoon to get a MediaNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward nomination -- cementing its reputation as the animation studio's biggest failure of the decade. However, despite the bafflement caused by some marketing hiding the movie's darker themes, it still made over $300 million. In fact, the Razzie nom was exactly "Worst Movie to Gross Over $100 Million", a quantity ''Hunchback'' barely scraped domestically, and which follow-up ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' ended up a million short. |
| 67 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie2TheSecondPart'' has often been described as a bomb by movie journalists. Its $199 million gross was a severe disappointment, especially compared to how successful the first movie was, but it still ended up just barely earning back its $90 million budget in theaters (and toy sales put it firmly in the black). This still wasn't enough for Warner Bros. though, and they let their rights to the franchise lapse. |
| 68 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings'', directed by Creator/RalphBakshi, is often written about as though it were a flop -- and to be fair, it only covered half of the story. But it was actually a financial success, earning more than $30 million on a mere $4 million budget. The only reason a sequel wasn't made was because of a dispute between the studio and Bakshi over the movie's promotion. |
| 69 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' has a fandom that often refers to the film as "underrated" or believe it's a CultClassic due to the fact it didn't get any spinoffs or sequels until [[SequelGap fourteen years later]] (barring the additional short film and video game spinoffs that were typical of ''every'' [=DreamWorks=] film at the time). While other [=DreamWorks=] franchises dwarf it in popularity, ''Megamind'' actually did quite well during its theatrical run, making back nearly three times its budget. |
| 70 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'' was ravaged by critics for being [[SweetnessAversion too sugary sweet]], received [[BrokenBase mixed]] to [[SoOkayItsAverage mediocre]] reception from the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic parent show's]] large PeripheryDemographic which it was supposed to cash in on, and led to the planned sequel to be reworked into a [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyRainbowRoadtrip television special]]. But it made back nearly ten times its measly 6.5 million budget, for a total of 61 million dollars worldwide. It also got [[VindicatedByCable strong digital sales]], doing well enough that the next movie ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration'' was also intended for a theatrical release before the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic moved it to {{Creator/Netflix}}. |
| 71 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' is seen as the start of Disney's decline in the mid-90s, due to the backlash towards its DarkerAndEdgier tone and its [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory liberties with history.]] While its profits paled in comparison to predecessors ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' and especially ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', ''Pocahontas'' still netted $346 million worldwide. It did break their string of critical hits, but most critics only found it SoOkayItsAverage. |
| 72 | * ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' is often regarded as a FranchiseKiller that led to the fifth movie being cancelled. While it is certainly the weakest of the ''Shrek'' films and failed to reach the heights of its predecessor, it still earned over $800 million worldwide on a budget of $160m, which is impressive for 2007 (it was the fourth highest grossing film of the year). It also wound up becoming, at the time, the third highest grossing animated film ever behind ''Shrek 2'' and ''Finding Nemo''. |
| 73 | * The ''Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsMovie'' is the lowest-grossing ''Franchise/StarWars'' movie ever, and [=CostantMusic=].com referred to it as "the first bona fide ''Star Wars'' flop". Except it wasn't. It earned more than seven times its $8.5 million budget, which isn't bad for what was essentially a CompilationMovie of what was originally produced as the first few episodes of the subsequent television series. |
| 74 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'' was presumed to be an AcclaimedFlop, being beloved by critics -- ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' was the only Creator/DCComics film that decade to get a higher Website/RottenTomatoes score -- though only grossing a mere $52 million worldwide. However, this was still enough to comfortably make back its $10 million budget, and the show would go on to have [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoVsTeenTitans a]] [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoSeeSpaceJam few]] [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoAndDCSuperHeroGirlsMayhemInTheMultiverse more]] direct-to-video movies. It ''did'' fail to meet its opening weekend projections though, which (based on comments made by Creator/TaraStrong before the film's release) may have squashed potential plans for a continuation of the original 2003 ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' series, as teased in TheStinger. |
| 75 | * The 2007 ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' film ''WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}}'', which served as a SoftReboot of the franchise, is often assumed to have been a BoxOfficeBomb due to being the only major theatrical ''Turtles'' film [[StillbornFranchise never to get any sequels]] (despite ending with a clear SequelHook). While it was poorly received by critics, [[CriticProof it made back its budget nearly three times over]]. The reason it didn't get a sequel had nothing to do with its box office performance: Imagi Animation Studios, the company that produced and animated the film, went out of business shortly after its release.[[note]] This was largely due to the failure of their 2009 ''WesternAnimation/AstroBoy'' film adaptation (which was intended to be their follow-up to ''TMNT''), which actually '''was''' a ''bona fide'' BoxOfficeBomb.[[/note]] The film was also distributed by Creator/WarnerBros, who lost the rights to the franchise after it was purchased by Creator/{{Viacom}} around the time Imagi went out of business. |
| 76 | [[/folder]] |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 79 | * While ''[[Film/NineteenFortyOne1979 1941]]'' met negative reviews and failed at the US box office, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff international box office]] ultimately saved it and allowed it to turn a healthy profit. The problem was that it broke what would've been Creator/StevenSpielberg's uninterrupted [[OvershadowedByAwesome run of four of the greatest films ever made]], having been made [[ToughActToFollow right on the heels]] of ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' and before ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' and ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', causing a mediocre box-office disappointment to be remembered as one of the biggest comedy bombs of the era. To quote its co-writer Bob Gale: |
| 80 | -->''It is down in the history books as a big flop, but it wasn't a flop. The movie didn't make the kind of money that Steven's other movies, Steven's most successful movies have made, obviously. But the movie was by no means a flop. And both Universal and Columbia have come out of it just fine.'' |
| 81 | * ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': |
| 82 | ** ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' didn't perform as well as Sony wanted, leading them to cancel two sequels and a SharedUniverse in favor of rebooting the character for the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. While its worldwide total of $709 million made it the lowest grossing ''Spider-Man'' movie up to that point, it still became the ninth highest grossing film of 2014, and turned a profit on a budget of, at most, $250 million. |
| 83 | ** ''Film/SpiderMan3'' is near-universally regarded as the weakest installment of Creator/SamRaimi's ''Spider-Man'' trilogy, but it was also the ''highest-grossing'' entry in the trilogy. It only became FranchiseKiller because Sam Raimi had wanted to [[AuthorsSavingThrow make up for its shortcomings]] by making a fourth film, but resigned from the project after the studio didn't give him enough time to properly develop a script that he was happy with--leading to the studio choosing to reboot the series rather than continuing it. |
| 84 | * ''Film/{{Americathon}}'' fits the pattern of a lot of irreverent Hollywood comedies from the 1979-80 period: savaged by critics, then later gaining a cult following from [[VindicatedByCable cable airings]], so it's natural to assume it bombed at the box office, but it was actually a modest hit, making back three times its budget (likely due to being released at the height of star Creator/JohnRitter's ''Series/ThreesCompany'' buzz). |
| 85 | * ''[[Film/AustinPowers Austin Powers In Goldmember]]'' is widely considered the weakest film of the ''Austin Powers'' trilogy and believed by some to be a FranchiseKiller of the series in general. However, it was both the highest earning of the three films and has the highest score on Metacritic, in addition to being something of a StarMakingRole for Music/{{Beyonce}}'s acting career. There even ''were'' talks of a fourth film shortly after its release due to its popularity, but [[DevelopmentHell they never went anywhere]]. |
| 86 | * ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', widely considered one of the worst big-budget films ever made, and a GenreKiller for comic book adaptations until ''{{Film/Blade}}'' and ''Film/XMen1'' went DarkerAndEdgier, was actually a box office success. While it underperformed domestically, its ultimate worldwide gross was $238 million. It's often claimed that its failure dented the careers of Creator/AliciaSilverstone, Creator/ChrisODonnell and Creator/UmaThurman. But in truth, Alicia Silverstone was still appearing in notable roles well into the 2000s, merely choosing smaller projects because she disliked the intense media scrutiny that she got at the age of 18[[note]]The [[StarDerailingRole real damage to her career]] came from ''Film/ExcessBaggage'' (where she was both producer and got top billing), which was released 2 months after ''Batman & Robin''--and unlike that film, ''Excess Baggage'' absolutely '''did''' bomb, and got an even worse thrashing from critics[[/note]]. Chris O'Donnell likewise headlined three more films after ''Batman and Robin'', and only went on a four-year hiatus from acting out of a desire to raise a family. And Uma Thurman did not, contrary to popular belief, only score a CareerResurrection with ''Film/KillBill''; while ''Film/TheAvengers1998'' was a bomb, that same year she was in an acclaimed adaptation of ''Literature/LesMiserables'', and was later offered the role of Eowyn in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' precisely because the execs wanted a Hollywood star in a cast full of unknowns and character actors (she only declined due to her pregnancy). |
| 87 | * ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'': The movie not cracking a billion at the box office is often turned into "flop" in some discourses (generally to AccentuateTheNegative with its notoriously poor reception), with some exaggeration about its breaking even point. While it had a huge drop on its second weekend and didn't reach Creator/WarnerBros' (quite lofty) expectations, it was still the seventh highest moneymaker of 2016 and ended up in profit territory (about $105 million). Massive ProductPlacement contracts helped recoup its budget, similarly to the earnings of ''Film/ManOfSteel''. |
| 88 | * ''Film/TheBlackHole'' came under a lot of scrutiny in 1979 not only for being Creator/{{Disney}}'s first PG-rated film, but also its attempt to FollowTheLeader with ''Franchise/StarWars''. The film's hype was undercut by unimpressed reviews from critics, and it almost immediately got branded as a failure that did much harm to the Disney brand. However, it was among the top 25 grossing films of the year, making $36 million on a $20 million budget. While it was a disappointment for Disney, it was nowhere near a flop. |
| 89 | * For a region-specific example, it's often claimed that ''Film/BlackPanther2018'', despite excellent business worldwide, [[AmericansHateTingle flopped in China]], going in line with the tendency for films with prominent black characters to underperform there. It actually did quite well: it managed the fourth-highest debut for a superhero film in the country, and its review scores according to film sites were in the "above-average" range. Certainly not the mega-hit it was in its native country, but far from a flop--though the film's promotion seemingly going out of its way to hide the fact that it had black characters in it may have contributed to the idea that it did a lot worse. [[note]]Even this seems to have been over-exaggerated as well, as it could be entirely possible that foreign marketing knew that Creator/ChadwickBoseman was not well-known outside of the US and instead decided to focus its marketing on the character of Black Panther itself which was already introduced in Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar. But that alone can be [[ValuesDissonance debated.]] [[/note]] |
| 90 | * ''Film/TheCableGuy'' was Creator/JimCarrey's first major misstep after his breakthrough. Yet while it managed to earn less than his StarMakingRole ''Film/AceVentura: Pet Detective'', whose budget was also smaller than the $20 million Carrey earned for ''Cable Guy'', the final numbers were a still profitable $102 million worldwide on a $47 million budget. |
| 91 | * ''Film/TheDescent'' is remembered for releasing right after the London 7/7 bombings, and largely believed to [[NeverAcceptedInHisHometown have flopped in the UK]] due to "nobody wanting to see a film about a group of women trapped underground", released only one day after over fifty people had been killed by being trapped on the London Underground. Especially unfortunately, this poster was on the very bus that blew up. However, the film itself was actually very successful (making over£50 million worldwide on a £3.7 million budget). Partly, this can be attributed to the fact that this is extremely cheap, but they also replaced the poster campaign, so it may be a case of misremembered controversy (and it's possible that it could have done even better -- or worse -- without the controversy.) |
| 92 | * ''Film/DickTracy'' is often said to have bombed at the box office in 1990, only to become a CultClassic in the years after its release. [[http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dicktracy.htm In truth]], it made back double its budget in the United States, and ''triple'' when you factor in the rest of the world--making it the highest grossing film of Creator/WarrenBeatty's career. But while it wasn't exactly a dud, it ''did'' perform well below Creator/{{Disney}}'s expectations: due to the character's iconic status, the studio had high hopes that the film would be a blockbuster on par with Creator/WarnerBros' ''[[Film/Batman1989 Batman]]'' from the previous year, possibly allowing them to launch a franchise. Accordingly, it had a ''massive'' marketing campaign, which ended up costing more than the film itself, and enormously inflated its budget in real terms. This, combined with a [[ScrewedByTheLawyers decades-long legal battle]] between Beatty and the Tribune Co. over the film rights to the original comic strip, [[StillbornFranchise put the kibosh on any immediate follow-ups]]. |
| 93 | * In a case of this being called too early, many news outlets were saying ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'' was a flop based on the film's less than stellar opening weekend in the United States, where it managed to be beaten by, of all things, [[Film/TheFaultInOurStars a love story about teenagers with cancer]]. However, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff international numbers were good]], particularly in South Korea and China, and positive reviews and word of mouth eventually led the movie to cross the $100 million mark domestically, so it did end up making nearly a third of its profit from America ($370 million worldwide, more than double its budget); giving it a small profit and successful enough for Creator/WarnerBros to greenlight a sequel. |
| 94 | * ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' eventually grew a reputation as a FollowUpFailure to Neill Blomkamp's debut ''Film/District9'', and yet it was incredibly profitable with $286 million worldwide and earned positive reviews, no matter if with many critics deeming not as good as ''District 9''. The director only really derailed with ''Film/{{Chappie}}'', which is a lesser case as international numbers saved it ($102 million on a $49 million budget). |
| 95 | * The 1981 adaptation of ''Literature/EndlessLove'' was savaged by critics (and [[DisownedAdaptation even Scott Spencer, the author of the acclaimed original novel]]) and spawned a major case of BreakawayPopHit when the title song by Music/LionelRichie and Music/DianaRoss spent 9 weeks at #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, so it's natural to assume that the film must've bombed, but it actually made $32 million on a $10 million budget, good enough for finishing among the year's top 20 highest-grossing films. |
| 96 | * ''Film/{{Eragon}}'' is listed among the many failed fantasy adaptations of the 2000s. While it indeed failed domestically, only $75 million, it performed adequately with the help of the international box office, making $250 million worldwide off a $100 million budget. The director even said Fox were "moderately happy" with the worldwide profits. However it was panned critically and received a great deal of backlash from fans of the books, [[StillbornFranchise halting plans to adapt the sequels]]. |
| 97 | * ''Film/FridayThe13thPartVIIIJasonTakesManhattan'' was the FranchiseKiller for the original ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' film series before it was relaunched by Creator/NewLineCinema, so you would expect it to have been a flop. It actually turned a profit on its (admittedly [[NoBudget very small]]) budget. As with the ''LEGO Movie 2'' example above, this wasn't enough to satisfy Creator/ParamountPictures, and they sold off the franchise shortly afterwards since it was clear it wasn't making as much money as it used to. |
| 98 | * ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' got eviscerated by critics and fans of the franchise alike, with it often mentioned as a CreatorKiller for director Stephen Sommers. It grossed over $300 million worldwide and, while its high production budget of $175 million meant that wasn't a huge success, it was still profitable enough to greenlight a [[Film/GIJoeRetaliation sequel]]. |
| 99 | * ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'' was widely hated by critics and fans of the series. And yet in spite of being a domestic BoxOfficeBomb compliant to its DumpMonths release ($67 million, less than half [[Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard its predecessor]]), it was overall profitable with $304 million worldwide on a $97 million budget. |
| 100 | * Given how bad the reputation of ''Film/Godzilla1998'' is, with negative remarks from critics and fans, leading to the cancellation of a planned sequel, it is at times labeled as a bomb. It was the third-highest grossing movie of the year, profitable even with the high budget (while also moving much merchandise), and adjusted for inflation has made more money at the box office than ''any'' Godzilla film before or since. |
| 101 | * ''Film/GulliversTravels2010'' is often assumed to have been a flop. While it did bomb domestically, grossing only $42 million, it did surprisingly well internationally, ultimately grossing $237 million against a budget of $112 million. However, its domestic underperformance and the negative reviews it received would end up putting a dent in Creator/JackBlack's career for a few years. |
| 102 | * ''Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch'' was (rather infamously) made in an attempt to turn the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' franchise into an AnthologySeries of unrelated horror films set on Halloween night--an idea that was immediately abandoned due to negative audience response, leading to Michael Myers being brought back for [[Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers the next film]] (which is a conventional sequel to ''Film/HalloweenII1981''). Due to being mainly remembered as a failed attempt at taking the series in a new direction, the film is also widely assumed to have been a BoxOfficeBomb. But while its box office performance wasn't quite on par with the rest of the series, it still easily made back its relatively small budget, ultimately earning more than three times what it cost ($14.4 million on a budget of $4.6 million). |
| 103 | * ''Film/{{Hop}}'' is sometimes thought to have been a flop due to it being Illumination's lowest-grossing film, however it was a moderate success and grossed a respectable $184 million on a budget of $63 million. However, it didn't do as well as Illumination, who was just coming off of a megahit with ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'' the year prior, had hoped, causing them to scrap plans of any possible sequels and focus solely on fully-animated films instead of live-action/animation hybrids. |
| 104 | * ''Film/{{Intolerance}}'' is commonly believed to have been a flop with a massive budget that put Creator/DWGriffith out of business. It was actually a decent success, earning $1.75 million in distribution rentals in 1916 dollars against a budget of $385,000 in 1916 dollars (the Babylon sets did take up a third of the budget, but not the absurd amounts usually quoted). Griffith would continue making films for more than a decade, with his retirement a result of the end of the silent film era, and he co-founded Creator/UnitedArtists in 1919. It was only when compared to the runaway success of Griffith's previous film, ''The Birth of a Nation'' (according to Creator/LillianGish, "they lost track of the money it made") that it seemed to be a failure; being released in the middle of UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, just before the United States entered, didn't help. |
| 105 | * ''Film/JamesBond'': |
| 106 | ** 1989's ''Film/LicenceToKill'' is (accounting for inflation) the worst-performing ''James Bond'' movie, which combined with the subsequent legal troubles that prematurely ended Creator/TimothyDalton's run as the character and led to a six-year hiatus for the film series, has given it a reputation in some circles for being a flop. Regardless, the film still made back five times its budget, keeping in mind that it had a PG-13 rating during a famously crowded summer blockbuster season. To give an idea of the kind of competition it had, the 14 films that earned more in the United States during the summer of 1989 were ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'', ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', ''Film/LethalWeapon2'', ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', ''Film/GhostbustersII'', ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety'', ''Film/WhenHarryMetSally'', ''Film/{{Parenthood}}'', ''Film/FieldOfDreams'', ''Film/TurnerAndHooch'', ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', ''Film/SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil'', ''Film/TheKarateKidPartIII'', and ''Film/TheAbyss''. |
| 107 | ** For years, ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' was written off as a flop, and it didn't help that Creator/GeorgeLazenby called it quits after that one appearance, as his agent thought Bond movies had run their course. While it didn't gross as much as the previous films with Creator/SeanConnery, it was still one of the top grossing films of 1969. |
| 108 | * The 1980 Music/NeilDiamond-fronted remake of ''Film/TheJazzSinger'' made back more than double its budget (while the soundtrack album was one of Diamond's biggest albums period), but the film's TroubledProduction, including a delayed gestation period and the original director getting fired midway through production, then the original female lead quitting shortly thereafter, bloated its budget, so (much like ''Film/{{Popeye}}'') the producers publicly wrote it off as a financial disappointment. It also unfairly got lumped in with other 1980 NonActorVehicle musicals (''Film/CantStopTheMusic'', ''Film/OneTrickPony'') that ''were'' genuine [[BoxOfficeBomb Box Office Bombs]]. |
| 109 | * ''Film/JennifersBody'' is treated as a CreatorKiller for writer Creator/DiabloCody and a StarDerailingRole for star Creator/MeganFox. It did earn a critical thrashing for marketing overtly focused on sex appeal and only later became VindicatedByHistory, but while its box office take was underwhelming, it was ultimately profitable with $31 million, nearly twice its $16 million budget. |
| 110 | * ''Film/JurassicPark3'' is often thought of as a box office bomb and a temporary FranchiseKiller. In actuality it was very successful, making back nearly 4 times it's budget and going on to be the 8th highest grossing movie of its year (a year with some stiff competition at that). What can't be denied however is that it is by far the least successful of any movie in its franchise, though considering the Jurassic Park franchise has one of the highest gross averages of any movie series that isn't a huge strike against it. |
| 111 | * ''Film/KickAss2'' was a ContestedSequel with its lowered reception being reflected in the domestic numbers, opening at a paltry fifth place and only making back its budget with $28.8 million. Combined with earning $32 million internationally, the film was slightly profitable. |
| 112 | * ''Film/KingKong1976'' has arguably the worst reception of any ''King Kong'' movie, and today it is mainly discussed with regards to its massive budget and [[SpecialEffectsFailure uncanny practical effects]]. It comes as a surprise to many then, that it made triple its budget and was one of the highest grossing films of the year. |
| 113 | * ''Film/TheLastAirbender'' was intended to be the first film of a trilogy, but the negative reception put those plans on ice. However, despite the hasty conversion to 3D bloating the budget to $150m, it still broke even and became the 19th highest-grossing movie of 2010, and the highest-grossing Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} movie at the time. |
| 114 | * ''Film/TheLittleMermaid2023'' grossed around $569 million in the global box office against a total production budget of at least $250 million, and these numbers have been analyzed by many to fit a variety of narratives, with many critics and pundits (especially those magnetized to the film's [[RaceLift casting controversies]] and "Go woke, go broke" narratives) pushing the film as being a BoxOfficeBomb. The truth is rather hazy, [[UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting in no small part thanks to hidden numbers]] — the claims of it being a bomb come from the general rule of thumb that a movie has to gross 2.5 times its production budget to be profitable (the initial number almost never includes marketing and post-production expenses), and thus $569 million would be well below the hypothetical $625 million break-even point. However, some insider reports estimate that the actual marketing costs for this specific film were only $140 million, alone putting the break-even point somewhere around the more generous $400 million range, and even when including other additional costs from the likes of theatre payouts, participations, and residuals (tempered by additional ''gains'' from things like home media releases and merchandising), it would still mean the movie was profitable (some further estimates taking those numbers into account put the "true" break-even point as being around $560 million, which the gross still surpasses, if only barely). While the film fared objectively worse financially than previous Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes (many of the bigger entries with the size and marketing of ''The Little Mermaid'' were able to consistently cross the $1 billion box office mark), and ''The Little Mermaid'' would be considered a box office disappointment, signs still point to the film having made money, and that even if it technically was a loss, it would be nowhere near as monolithic and clear-cut a bomb [[AccentuateTheNegative as some critics make it out to be]]. |
| 115 | * Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: |
| 116 | ** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' caught some flack by those who felt it didn't live up to ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', and sometimes this is extended to its box office... which easily broke a billion dollars and was the ''fifth highest-grossing movie ever'' upon release, only $100 million short of the original, no matter if it came between [[Film/Furious7 two]] [[Film/JurassicWorld movies]] that made more money. Still, this slighter downgrade in critical and financial success was one of the reasons Disney accepted Creator/KevinFeige's request to get free from Marvel's "Creative Committee" [[RightHandVersusLeftHand that wasn't helping]] ''Age of Ultron'' and other MCU movies with their ExecutiveMeddling. |
| 117 | ** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' has a particularly vocal opposition that deems it as one of the worst of the MCU, and thus at times the film gets treated like one of Marvel's least successful entries. When it in fact it was one of the most successful, cracking the billion dollar mark with relative ease and still being in the box office top five as [[Film/AvengersEndgame its eagerly awaited follow-up]] entered theaters. |
| 118 | ** Invoked by Creator/SimuLiu for ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', which some were dismissing as underperforming even if it was downright breaking the Labor Day opening record during a pandemic. When it was officially announced that a sequel was in the works, Simu threw shade on those who called the movie a failure by [[https://twitter.com/SimuLiu/status/1467957219387797504 tweeting "Flopped so hard we got a sequel!!"]] |
| 119 | ** ''Film/{{Eternals}}'' was the first movie with mostly negative reviews in the MCU, and had equally an [[BrokenBase mixed fan response]]. But it can't be called a full-on failure because it at least made back its money with $400 million worldwide, double its budget and only $30 million less than the better-received ''Shang-Chi'' a few months prior. |
| 120 | ** ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' is considered a box office disappointment because it failed to surpass the worldwide box office intake of its predecessor ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' and received much worse reviews. In addition, it suffered a severe 68% drop in its second weekend, the highest in the MCU at that point. However, digging deeper into the numbers reveals that ''Love and Thunder'' earned more than ''Ragnarok'' domestically, and outgrosses ''Ragnarok'' overall when China and Russia are excluded (''Love and Thunder'' was not released in those two countries). Deadline's "Most Valuable Blockbusters of 2022" tournament revealed that ''Thor: Love and Thunder'' was actually the 9th most profitable movie of the year. |
| 121 | * The 2002 film ''Film/TheMasterOfDisguise'' was meant to be a comeback vehicle for Creator/DanaCarvey after a hiatus and be a showcase for his impressionist abilities, but ended up being regarded as one of the worst comedies ever made and derailing his career. However, it made $43.4M on a $16M budget. |
| 122 | * ''Film/MommieDearest'': The movie's reputation as a punchline that [[StarDerailingRole ruined the career]] of star Creator/FayeDunaway and [[GenreKiller prevented]] future adaptations of tell-all memoirs by the children of celebrities has led to the assumption that it was a massive bomb. In reality, while it was a ''critical'' failure, it was a financial success, grossing $25 million on a $10 million budget. Admittedly, this was partly due to the studio realizing that the movie was gaining a reputation as an [[{{Narm}} unintentional comedy]] and [[ParodyRetcon changing the marketing accordingly]]. |
| 123 | * ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet5TheDreamChild'': While the movie has been constantly referred to as a box office bomb and is the second lowest grossing Elm Street movie, (''Film/WesCravensNewNightmare'' is the lowest grossing movie of the series) the movie actually did do well in theaters. In fact, according to Creator/RobertEnglund, Elm Street 5 was actually a hit. The movie was mainly seen as a disappointment numbers wise only because New Line was expecting it to do as well if not better then [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster the previous movie]] which at the time was the most profitable movie of the series. |
| 124 | * ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004'' was largely roasted by critics and caused a schism in the musical's fandom over the changes it made to the stage version (among other things), but it did gross $154.6 million on a budget reported as somewhere in the $70-80 million range -- and helped expand the popularity of the musical as a whole, a net win in the long run. |
| 125 | * The 1980 ''Film/{{Popeye}}'' film is remembered as a flop, despite making three times its budget. This might be due to its mixed reviews, Creator/RobinWilliams' distaste for the film's production, and the fact that Creator/{{Disney}} wrote it off as one publicly. The reasoning behind the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards declaring it the worst film of 1980 is telling -- they didn't think it was ''as'' bad as ''Film/TheApple'', but they took offense at it squandering far more money and hype than any other nominee. |
| 126 | * ''Film/Predator2'' was considered both [[{{Sequelitis}} inferior]] and a box office disappointment, with the original film's star Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, who declined to return, calling it one of the biggest flops of 1990 in his autobiography. But even if the earnings were half of what ''Film/{{Predator}}'' made, the studio at least got their money back with $57 million worldwide on a $20-30 million budget. |
| 127 | * The ''Film/PrinceCaspian'' film was declared a flop due to its box office performance leading Disney to drop ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' as a franchise, and 20th Century Fox adapting ''Film/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' instead. It did perform slightly lower than expected, since it was released as a summer blockbuster and ended up competing with ''Film/IronMan'', but it still grossed $419 million (nearly twice its budget). |
| 128 | * ''Film/TheSandlot'' is sometimes cited as a prime example of a film that was VindicatedByHistory as a classic years after its release, despite being overlooked at the box office when it first came out. While it wasn't exactly a historic blockbuster at the time of its release, it did pretty respectable business for a fairly low-budget family comedy: it made back its budget nearly five times over, grossing just under $35 million on a budget of around $7 million. |
| 129 | * ''Film/SavingChristmas'' was disliked even by the Christians who were supposed to be the target audience, and Creator/KirkCameron's attempts to counter critics did not help its reputation. And by being the typical shoestring budget religious film, the $500,000 cost was almost doubled in the movie's opening weekend, and the final box office take was nearly sixfold with $2.8 million. |
| 130 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 131 | ** ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' has sometimes been dismissed as a flop in retrospect owing to its divisive reception, high budget and famously TroubledProduction. The movie was very much profitable at $139 million worldwide against a 44 million budget: in fact, it was the highest-grossing movie of the franchise until ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' surpassed it (in unadjusted dollars) 17 years later. However, its high production costs[[note]]about half of which had been spent developing the aborted television series ''Star Trek: Phase II'' before retooling it into a film[[/note]] led Creator/{{Paramount}}'s management to cut the budget of the [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan sequel]] down to about a quarter of what had been spent on the first film. |
| 132 | ** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' was not as warmly received as [[Film/StarTrek2009 its predecessor]] by fans or critics, and given that [[Film/StarTrekBeyond the next film]] had a different director and writers it's often assumed that ''Into Darkness'' must have been a box-office disappointment. In fact, it's the highest-grossing movie of the ''Star Trek'' franchise – even when adjusting for inflation, in which case it's the only one to surpass ''The Motion Picture''. |
| 133 | * Ardent detractors of Creator/KathleenKennedy's tenure as President of Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} often like to claim that the ''Franchise/StarWars'' films produced during her tenure have all been financial disappointments, if not disasters. Looking purely at the numbers, this is nakedly false: all three films in the Sequel Trilogy are currently among the top 20 highest grossing films in ''history'', ''Film/RogueOne'' made over a billion dollars at the box office, and even ''Film/{{Solo}}'', the first and only ''Star Wars'' film to be considered a BoxOfficeBomb, made nearly $400 million (it's only considered a financial disappointment because it also ''cost'' around $300 million).[[note]] Adjusted for inflation, the three sequels are still in the top 100, as is ''Rogue One''.[[/note]] And while the films all have [[BrokenBase their fair share of supporters and detractors]], they've also scored pretty consistently strong reviews from film critics, with ''Solo'' and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' being the only two films in the "Disney era" with an appreciable number of bad reviews. |
| 134 | * 1983's ''Film/StayingAlive'', the sequel to the 1977 smash hit ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'', is regarded as a movie that bombed horribly and derailed Creator/JohnTravolta's career until a [[CareerResurrection resurgence]] in the 1990s. Critics at the time and today regard it as a tacky, embarrassing cash-in, with absolutely none of the heart or gritty realism of its predecessor, although they admit the dancing sequences are just as well-done, if not more so. But it was not a financial failure at all: it made $65M on a $22M budget and was the number eight film of '83 in the U.S, coming in just a few million behind better-remembered hits like ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' and ''Film/SuddenImpact''. |
| 135 | * ''Film/StreetFighter'' is one of the first and most infamous cases of VideoGameMoviesSuck, only well-regarded by those who find it SoBadItsGood. And can also be considered the first profitable video game movie, as it almost reached its $35 million budget domestically and easily doubled it with a worldwide take of $99 million. This may be somewhat cross-pollinated from ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'' and ''Film/DoubleDragon1994'', both of which came out at around the same time (the latter only a month and a half prior) and really did bomb. |
| 136 | * Fan of the ''Film/SpyKids'' films sometimes assume that ''Film/SpyKids3DGameOver'' flopped at the box office, due to its story being widely viewed as a step down from the first two movies (to say nothing of its extremely dated CGI effects), which is sometimes assumed to be part of the reason why there wasn't another sequel for 8 years. To the contrary, ''Game Over'' actually had the '''highest''' box office haul of the original three movies: it made more than $197 million on a production budget of around $38 million. It was always planned to be the final ''Spy Kids'' movie, as the lead actors were getting too old for their roles. |
| 137 | * ''Film/TheSwordAndTheSorcerer'': To many today, this 1982 film looks like a B-movie and little more than a CultClassic, especially compared to the much, ''much''-more known ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'' that was released in the same year. But ''Sword'' grossed $39.1 million (from a budget of just ''one'' million) in its domestic theatrical run, while ''Conan'' grossed $39.6 million. |
| 138 | * ''Film/Ted2'' is commonly seen as Creator/SethMacfarlane's second directorial failure after ''Film/AMillionWaysToDieInTheWest'' as it failed to capture both the critical and commercial success of its [[{{Film/Ted}} predecessor]]. Its also (as of 2024), the last film to be directed by Macfarlane as he seems to now focus entirely on his Television Shows. Macfarlane himself has poked fun at how [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VQWMqzs5SA&pp=ygUQZmFtaWx5IGd1eSB0ZWQgMg%3D%3D Ted 2 underperformed]]. This all implies that "Ted 2" was a flop, and while it wasn't the success Macfarlane or the studio were expecting, it was still very profittable, grossing $215.9 million on a $68 million budget. And it seems this was enough for ''Creator/{{Peacock}}'' to greenlight a [[Series/Ted2024 prequel series]] which was received much more positively. |
| 139 | * ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'' is a ContestedSequel and lumped as a failure alongside the other ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movies that followed it. And yet while it didn't make the huge numbers of ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', ''[=T3=]'' is the only of that movie's follow-ups that didn't emerge as a BoxOfficeBomb, $433M on a $170-187M budget. (''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' made $7M more and cost less, but had the issue of failing domestically -- just $89M, while ''[=T3=]'' managed $150M with [[MediaNotes/RestrictedRating higher content ratings]].) |
| 140 | * ''Film/ValleyOfTheDolls'', similar to ''Mommie Dearest'' is often lumped in with other films that got reputations as unintentional comedies and flopped at the Box Office. However, despite the critical thrashing, it was Paramount's highest grossing film that year. As the film adaptation of wildly successful novel, on only a $5 million budget, it grossed $44 million! It's often touted as a StarDerailingRole for actresses Creator/PattyDuke and Creator/BarbaraParkins, but Duke still won several Emmy awards after and saw a career downturn more due to health and personal problems (but she also served a later term as president of the Screen Actors Guild), while Parkins actively turned down other roles in favour of a more reclusive existence (as she was now financially stable thanks to ''Peyton Place''). |
| 141 | * ''Film/{{Waterworld}}'' is remembered as a massive flop that critics hated and ruined Creator/KevinCostner's career (or at the very least, severely stalled it). However, its score on Website/RottenTomatoes is 42% (which is not great but is certainly not abject hatred), and it made $264M on a $175M budget. While that is not a stellar box office take for a movie of its budget, its reputation as a failure comes more from the constant stories of its TroubledProduction than anything else. It should be noted that the film ''eventually'' moved into profit on the back of television, DVD and streaming revenue, and that nowadays the general consensus is that [[VindicatedByHistory it is way better than people seem to remember it being]]. |
| 142 | * ''Film/{{Warcraft|2016}}'' is often cited as yet another embarrassing flop in the history of video game adaptations. Nevertheless, it made $439 million on a $160 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing movie based on a video game at the time. While the movie reportedly failed to break even despite this large margin, its reputation is based on the idea that it alienated audiences and sold poorly as a result, not that it sold great but had its money poorly managed. A large reason for its reputation as a flop was that it ''was'' a commercial failure in the United States but [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a major success in China and other overseas markets]]. |
| 143 | * ''Film/WitchfinderGeneral'' is an example of a film that was retrospectively exaggerated as a flop by its own fans to create a reputation as a CultClassic. While it got horrible reviews from newspaper critics, who dismissed it as TorturePorn, it got quite a respectable box office in its first release. In fact, ''Film/TheBloodOnSatansClaw'' was produced specifically because the studio wanted to replicate the success of ''Witchfinder General''. |
| 144 | * After becoming a massive SleeperHit in its home country of Australia, Creator/WarnerBros imported ''Film/YoungEinstein'' to the US in the summer of 1989 (the ''[[Film/Batman1989 Batman]]''-dominated summer that also featured several other films on this list), with a huge amount of hype, centering on the film's star-director-writer Yahoo Serious, but it tanked on its opening weekend and quickly disappeared. However, since the film had been an independently-produced pickup for Warner, whose expenses for the film were limited to promotion, it actually drew a profit in its American release: $12 million box office offsetting the $8 million Warner had spent promoting it. |
| 145 | [[/folder]] |
| 146 | |
| 147 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 148 | * ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' was a show with a lot of hype around it due to being a Creator/JossWhedon production and a spin-off to the hugely successful ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' and the first TV series entry to the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'', only to receive modicum reviews for the first half of the first season and a significant viewership drop. It also ended up on the wayside once the attempts at connections with the film plots stopped, and the Netflix shows leading up to ''Series/TheDefenders2017'' earned more attention. Because of this, ''S.H.I.E.L.D.'' gained a reputation quickly of being a huge failure that many people wrote off, despite the show's [[GrowingTheBeard reviews sharply improving by the end of the first season and continuing to pick up after]], and holding steady viewership that put it on-average with similar shows and on average with the network it was on. The "huge drop off" of viewers is more owed to how ''ridiculously high'' the viewership of the first few episodes was. |
| 149 | * ''Film/Carrie2002'' was intended as a PilotMovie for a potential TV series that never got picked up. For years, the word was that this was due to low ratings. However, the ratings for the remake were actually very good, and Bryan Fuller had already started writing a second episode outline when he learned that the network simply weren't interested in a series. |
| 150 | * The second half of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' suffered an infamous case of SeasonalRot and AudienceAlienatingEnding that largely killed off its vocal, devoted fanbase. It is sometimes assumed that interest in the show disappeared completely as a result, but the Season 8 DVD still sold well (while it's admittedly possible that BileFascination played a role, it was unlikely to have been the only factor), and it's still one of the most watched shows on Creator/HBOMax as of 2022. In addition, Season 8 drew in more viewers than any other major broadcast show released during the 2018-19 TV season, only being surpassed by ''Sunday Night Football'', ''The Big Bang Theory'', and ''NCIS''. |
| 151 | * ''React to That'' was a short-lived version of the web series ''WebVideo/{{React}}'' that aired on Nickelodeon. A common assumption is that making a TV show regarding people watching videos didn't fly with audiences. And yet during a podcast that reminisced on the show, Creator/TheFineBrothers revealed it actually drew good ratings. |
| 152 | * ''Series/Supergirl2015'' suffered massively from AndYouThoughtItWouldFail, due to an unflattering trailer and a lot of controversy surrounding its pro-feminist messaging, as well as starring a comic book character who had struggled to find a footing in the last two decades. When it was revealed that CBS were unwilling to renew it for a second season, many assumed it was because the show had been a huge failure, not helped by its subsequent ChannelHop to Creator/TheCW, who had gained a negative reputation for the content they produce and especially regarding their superhero fare. However, it actually had ''really decent'' ratings on CBS, being ''the'' most watched superhero show at the time it aired (with an average of 9.81 million per episode, it was ''considerably'' higher than the ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' franchise it was adopted by when it moved to the CW). The reason CBS chose not to renew ''Supergirl'' wasn't due to its lack of success, but rather the sheer expense of the show (costing around $3 million an episode), and the move to The CW was owed to the desire for a cheaper production studio. |
| 153 | * The Nickelodeon sitcom ''Series/SamAndCat'' is often regarded as a failure, due to having lower average ratings than either of its predecessor shows, and not finishing its first season. However, it not only still had pretty high average ratings, with the lowest rated episode still managing to draw in over two million viewers at a time when streaming and Website/YouTube had started pulling people away from cable, it also technically did finish its original first season of 20 episodes. It didn't finish the retroactively doubled season order due to various behind the scenes dramas, which were unrelated to the show's success. |
| 154 | * Online critics of the new era of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' all describe the newer series, particularly the first out of the gate, ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', as being total flops that "nobody" is watching. Each season that they get renewed, one can expect to read in the comments section of these announcements those same fans incredulously wondering why TV series that aren't getting good ratings keep getting renewed. The fact is that despite a very vocal hatedom, the newer ''Trek'' series are doing very well in the ratings, including ''Discovery'' consistently being at or near the top of the Paramount+ ratings chart. Some of the confusion stems from the fact that the ratings system in the era of streaming works differently than it did for broadcast television, even syndicated television, in TheEighties and TheNineties. Ultimately, ''Discovery'' did "only" get five seasons, but the reason for that was that Paramount+ was forced by a merger with Showtime to scale back their number of streaming series (as was Showtime), and ultimately chose to close out the series that had been around the longest and had the most seasons aired already. |
| 155 | * ''Franchise/SuperSentai''/''Franchise/PowerRangers'' |
| 156 | ** ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger'' is often remembered for [[FranchiseKiller almost killing the entire]] ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' franchise due to [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents being forced to change certain plot elements due to the 1995 Tokyo Sarin attacks]] while ''Series/GekisouSentaiCarranger'' revitalized it. In truth, it was the opposite way around as far as toy sale are concerned: ''Ohranger'' brought in one of the best toy sales of that time, while ''Carranger'' had lower toy sales compared to the former. In addition, while ratings were likely lowered, these were generally acknowledged as effects aforementioned changes, while ''Carragner'' reportedly had lower ratings in it's first half. People are also likely confusing ''Ohranger'' with ''Series/ChikyuuSentaiFiveman'', which really ''did'' have low ratings and toy sales, and lead to talks about ending ''Super Sentai'' until ''Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman'' revitalized both. |
| 157 | ** There is a common misconception that ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' is the season that "almost killed Power Rangers" and that the following season, ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', is what saved the series from cancellation. It doesn't help that the ''Turbo'' [[Film/TurboAPowerRangersMovie movie]] ''was'' a flop and the season itself is very contentious season, especially after a ReTool in the second half that saw most of the previous cast removed. In truth, ''Franchise/PowerRangers''' ratings had been going down since the third season of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' (often attributed to competition from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' and ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'') and ''Turbo's'' ratings after the retool were the highest the series had been before the season 3 decline. In addition, ''In Space'' was being planned before the second half of ''Turbo''. |
| 158 | * Viewers were quick to call the future of Series/TopGear a lost cause when the original three presenters were replaced in 2016, and fans were quick to claim that "no one was watching" when the series was finally axed in December 2023. But while ratings did drop hard for the 2016 series, they recovered when the production team swiftly rebooted the series the next year. Top Gear continued for another eleven series over seven years, and was even moved from BBC Two to BBC One. It was only put on hiatus when Freddie Flintoff had a near-fatal car crash filming the 2023 series, with the series' popularity not being a factor at all. |
| 159 | * The 1968 Creator/{{NBC}} MadeForTVMovie adaptation of ''Literature/{{Heidi}}'' is infamous for the network cutting off the end of a close [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball pro football game]] to start its premiere broadcast on time, an incident that led to the adoption of UsefulNotes/SportsPreemption rules. Because of its role in the controversy, there's a perception that ''Heidi'' itself was a ratings fiasco, but it was actually the #1-rated network show of the week, having been hugely hyped as one of the most expensive productions in the history of television up to that point. |
| 160 | [[/folder]] |
| 161 | |
| 162 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 163 | * Ask anyone with a passing knowledge of Music/LadyGaga on the performance of her 2013 album ''Artpop'', and most will say that it was a flop, marking the point when [[CreatorKiller Gaga fumbled away her success overnight]]. However, in spite of lukewarm reviews and a genuine waning of mainstream interest, ''Artpop'' was her second number-one debut on ''Billboard'' selling 258,000 copies in the first week in the US, and the ninth global best-selling album of 2013 with 2.3 million copies sold worldwide. A lot of the exaggeration can be attributed to the fact that it was an underperformance ''by Gaga's standards''. Many [[ToughActToFollow compare it]] to ''Born This Way'' and its monolithic 1.1 million American first-week sales and 5.2 million copies sold worldwide, though even that figure is misleading given that album's unusual rollout in its opening week and consequent sharp decline.[[note]]Various promotions subsidized the album's price at launch, with Amazon selling it for only 99 cents, which caused ''Billboard'' henceforth to [[https://www.spin.com/2011/11/lady-gaga-fire-sale-leads-change-billboard-chart-rules/ change its criteria]] on what counts as an "album sale" and [[ObviousRulePatch stop counting albums sold for under $3.49]] during the first four weeks. Under the new rules, ''Born This Way'' would have moved around 660,000 copies in its opening week.[[/note]] [[https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5862267/lady-gaga-discounts-rumors-hints-at-deception-in-website-vent Gaga was particularly offended]] by the rumor started by ''Examiner'' that ''Artpop'' led to a $25 million loss and massive layoffs at Creator/InterscopeRecords, [[CommonKnowledge a claim which was spread by many news outlets at the time despite its lack of substantial proof]]. |
| 164 | * Girl Thing were a short-lived attempt at a GirlGroup to rival the Music/SpiceGirls in 2000. People remember the extremely aggressive publicity campaign, including the girls on top of the Eiffel Tower, and the assumption that their debut single "Last One Standing" would go straight to number one on the UK charts (years later, they revealed that they even prerecorded a congratulatory interview). While the single didn't top the charts, it did get to number 8 and was certified gold. It was their second single that was less successful (only reaching number twenty-five). This led to their album only being released in Australia and New Zealand, before being quickly forgotten. |
| 165 | * Similar to Girl Thing, Triple 8 were a BoyBand attempt at a SpiritualSuccessor to Music/NSync and {{Music/Five}}. The cancellation of their album is sometimes attributed to the BoyBand craze dying down and low record sales. However, their two singles "Knockout" and "Give Me a Reason" were very successful. The former got to number eight and the latter number nine in the charts. Behind the scenes, they fell out with Polydor over CreativeDifferences in music styles and parted ways before the album could be released. They had even already begun performing a potential third single called "You & I" at the time. |
| 166 | * K-pop GirlGroup Music/{{GFRIEND}} peaked in 2016, and everything afterwards is assumed to have underwhelmed enough. However, even if "Fingertip" was their first single not to break a million copies, it still sold a respectable half million and reached #2 in the charts. The EP ''Time for the Moon Night'' was a SleeperHit in the Korean charts, getting a chart reversal during their promotional period and becoming one of their biggest hits with "Me Gustas Tu" and "Rough." Their [=EPs=] afterwards sold well, and only album ''Walpurgis Night'' wound up an AcclaimedFlop for coming out in the middle of a pandemic. |
| 167 | * Music/{{Eminem}}: |
| 168 | ** ''Encore'' is believed to be the bad album that ended Eminem's dominance of the 2000s music landscape, as it was made during a hugely damaging and almost fatal CreatorBreakdown and would face CreatorBacklash a few years later. It went 4x Platinum, is one of the fastest selling albums in history, and got favourable reviews from critics (a few of whom, notably Robert Christgau and Nick Hasted, viewed it as either as good as or better than ''The Eminem Show''). It was only seen as bad ''compared to Eminem's other albums'', with most of the negative reviews reacting to [[HypeBacklash Eminem's overexposure]], the potential racism of his beef with Music/MichaelJackson now that [[OldShame racist old raps of his had been discovered]], and a desire for him to [[FifteenMinutesOfFame clear out for the hot new thing]]. |
| 169 | ** ''Relapse'' was hit with CreatorBacklash almost as soon as it came out, its followup album ''Recovery'' is Eminem's official CareerResurrection, and ''Relapse'' has a reputation for being an underappreciated CultClassic, so it's assumed a flop. However, it was met with mixed but positive reviews, was the top selling hip-hop album of 2009 (it went Platinum within eight weeks and is currently 2x Platinum), and won a Grammy for Best Rap Album. |
| 170 | * There's the occasional phenomenon of a performer who had several big hits, but who's incorrectly considered a OneHitWonder because their biggest hit far overshadows the others. Music/RickSpringfield had five Top 10 hits in the US in TheEighties, but his sole #1, "Jessie's Girl" is the only one that gets heard anymore. The JustForFun/{{Rickroll}} phenomenon has made Music/RickAstley's #1 "Never Gonna Give You Up" immortal, but its follow-up "Together Forever" also hit #1 and he had three more Top 10s after that. |
| 171 | ** Hilariously, this has had the effect of people misremembering Music/RightSaidFred as a one-hit wonder in the United Kingdom, with "I'm Too Sexy" making them completely forget about "Deeply Dippy", which ''topped the chart'', something "I'm Too Sexy" didn't do. |
| 172 | [[/folder]] |
| 173 | |
| 174 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 175 | * The ''Anime/TransformersGo'' sub-franchise is reputed as a dismal failure that killed off further television content from the Japanese side of the franchise, it coming after the underperformance of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' in Japan did little to help this reception. However, ''Go!'' was successful among its target audience of children, and was specifically noted as a strong performer in [=TakaraTomy's=] annual shareholder meeting the year it was released. Its reputation as a flop comes from [=TakaraTomy=] deciding to focus on self-owned properties for its follow-up "kids mecha" toylines, a lack of interest from the older collector demographic, and the awkward circumstances behind its creation [[note]]''Go'' effectively replaced the third season of ''Prime'' in Japan, only for ''Prime'''s follow up, ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015'' to get localized, which caused a few continuity issues.[[/note]]. |
| 176 | * The 2009 Bara Magna releases of ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' are remembered for having sold so poorly that they saw the line be cut short one year into a planned three-year arc. While it did sell worse than the prior year, it wasn't ''that'' much worse, and managed to safely turn a profit. The fact was, the line's sales had been going down for a while, and didn't seem likely to reverse that trend (it was coming up on nine years old). Lego feared that if the line kept going on much longer, it might see a ''true'' flop, which would [[FranchiseKiller render the brand toxic in the eyes of retailers]], and so decided to end it on a somewhat positive note. Indeed, the plug had already been pulled the year before, so it was more of a last hurrah than the final nail in the coffin. |
| 177 | * Related to ''BIONICLE'', a similar stigma lingered over its successor line ''Toys/HeroFactory''. The theme was derided for its reduced focus on story, and models so similar to its predecessor, it makes you wonder why cancel BIONICLE at all. The theme was mostly ignored for a time, but it did manage to last five years, impressive for a LEGO theme, and the sets did sell right out of the gate. |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 181 | !!! Video Game consoles |
| 182 | * The Platform/PlayStationPortable, at least in the west. Despite many people ragging on Creator/SonyInteractiveEntertainment's failure with handheld devices as a result of the [[Platform/PlayStationVita [=PlayStation=] Vita's]] own failure, the PSP actually sold pretty decently overall - worldwide sales of the console have it at at least '''80 million units''' sold overall, more than Platform/Nintendo3DS did years later and maybe even more than Platform/GameBoyAdvance. Not to mention that it did have a pretty decent library of games, namely with ''VideoGame/CrisisCoreFinalFantasyVII'', various ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' titles, ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', ''VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus'', ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories Liberty City Stories]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories Vice City Stories]]'' all being [[KillerApp system-sellers]] for the PSP. So why is it generally overlooked when people bring up Sony's failure with handhelds? Because it had the misfortune as being released in the same generation as the Platform/NintendoDS, which sold a whopping '''154 million units''', became the bestselling handheld console of all time as well as the second-bestselling console in general after Sony's own Platform/PlayStation2, and also had exclusive games from franchises like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' on it in addition to the [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros usual]] [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda lineup]] [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} of Nintendo]] [[Franchise/AnimalCrossing regulars]], as well as '''many''' casual-friendly franchises like ''VideoGame/{{Nintendogs}}'', ''VideoGame/BrainAge'', ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'', and ''VideoGame/AceAttorney'' that resulted in the Nintendo DS having much more broader market appeal than the PSP did. Even the PSP's main system-sellers in Japan, the ''Monster Hunter'' games, were countered by the Nintendo DS getting ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' as an exclusive, as ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' is just as popular in Japan as ''Monster Hunter'', if not more so. |
| 183 | * The Platform/GameGear is often remembered, alongside the Platform/AtariLynx, as a complete flop that failed to dent the Platform/GameBoy's massive success. While's it's true that the Game Gear's success was dwarfed by its competitor, it still managed to sell 10 million units and was a modest hit for Creator/{{Sega}}. |
| 184 | |
| 185 | !!! Video Game software |
| 186 | * ''VideoGame/{{ARMS}}'' is often regarded as a failure, with people comparing its performance to ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', in part thanks to Creator/{{Nintendo}} positioning the two games as sister titles. While it certainly didn't become a juggernaut like ''Splatoon 2'', which quickly established that series as one of Nintendo's biggest new IP, ''ARMS'' still did well for itself and managed to sell over 2 million copies in its first year. While obviously low compared to Nintendo's big franchises, two million is still impressive for an experimental new IP (especially a fighting game), and on-par with the company's smaller franchises like ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' and ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles''. |
| 187 | * The fifth generation of ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' acquired an undeserved reputation as a FranchiseKiller due to there being a lengthy SequelGap after the release of ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreVerdictDay''. ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreV'' is actually the best-selling game in the series in Japan (which has always been its primary market by far) and while ''Verdict Day'' saw a drop (which is typical of ''Armored Core'''s MissionPackSequel compared to their numbered predecessor), it still moved well over one-hundred thousand copies, selling within the range of the more successful entries. The real reason for the series post-''Verdict Day'' inactivity is that, as admitted by a Creator/FromSoftware employee during a livestream for the Taipei Game Show, the studio found a [[VideoGame/DarkSouls much bigger cash cow]] to focus on. |
| 188 | * ''VideoGame/AstralChain'', the fifth collab between Nintendo and Creator/PlatinumGames, tends to be ignored in conversations about the latter's creative output, with both fans and critics of [=PlatinumGames=] tending to dismiss the title as a forgettable failure in the event that it is even brought up. However, the game sold over a million copies during its launch year, becoming [=PlatinumGames=]' third best-selling title at the time, behind only ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' and the original ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}''. |
| 189 | * ''VideoGame/Bubsy3D'' accrued a very negative perception over the years, which made it popular to claim the game was a critical failure right out of the gate. In reality, ''Bubsy 3D'''s contemporary reviews [[https://www.mobygames.com/game/bubsy-3d/mobyrank were mixed]] (notice how most of the really negative reviews were published long after the game came and went) and it got genuinely positive impressions from some outlets, including respected enthusiasts magazines like Gamefan. This trope caused a [[CommonKnowledge popular but false]] claim that the "[[https://retrovolve.com/those-faked-bubsy-3d-pull-quotes-were-actually-real/ Gold X Award]]" from [=PSExtreme=] listed on the cover was fabricated, because clearly, nobody would give ''Bubsy 3D'' that much praise, right? |
| 190 | * Despite ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheWrathOfCortex'' getting fairly mediocre reviews and even mocked in ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'' via a meta-joke for "not doing quite as well as we hoped", the game sold over 3 million copies on [=PS2=] alone and made for a Greatest Hits/Platinum/The Best reissue. |
| 191 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' series is often said to have been a perennial underperformer due to the series' short life and Capcom's apparent disinterest in reviving the property outside the occasional CompilationRerelease and having its characters make guest appearances in crossover titles. While it wasn't the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''-level monster hit Capcom's management expected from the pedigree of its developers, the games did extremely well for themselves: all of the games were in Japan's Top 5 arcade game coinage charts the year they were released, and Capcom employee Katsuya Akitomo recalls the original game as selling anywhere between 42 thousand to 48 thousand arcade boards, an outstanding number for any arcade game. For comparison, the original ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1992'' sold 24k boards. |
| 192 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'''s Platform/WiiU release is presumed to be a massive critical and commercial flop due to negative reactions to the game's reveal, which admittedly had more to do with fans hoping developer Creator/RetroStudios were working on a new ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' opposed to anything about the game proper, and only managed to see success once it was ported to the Platform/NintendoSwitch years later. Not so. While the Switch version naturally sold better thanks to the larger install base, the Wii U version still sold more than 2 million units on a console that only sold shy of 14 million and received an 83 on Metacritic. |
| 193 | * ''Videogame/DukeNukemForever'' is famous for its TroubledProduction that lasted over a decade, with a final product deemed so mediocre that critics and players alike considered the fact that it even managed to release after all that time [[DancingBear to be its only selling point]]. Yet it still managed to make a profit in the end; since most of the development was self-funded by George Broussard, publisher Take-Two never actually had to spend much money on it. |
| 194 | * ''Videogame/ETTheExtraterrestrial'' is widely considered an outright disaster that helped kill the North American games industry, with Atari even trying to forget it by burying copies in a landfill. Still, it's among the ten best-selling Atari 2600 games, with 1.5 million units upon release, and over 2.6 million copies by the end of 1982. What happened is that Atari ''greatly'' overestimated just how popular the game would be, meaning the same amount (if not more) of cartridges went unsold or returned, with Atari CEO Ray Kassar having estimated those numbers at about 3.5 million of the 4 million produced. This, coupled with the expensive license, was what made it a financial failure for Atari. And even the other catalyst for MediaNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, the infamous PortingDisaster of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' for the 2600, is the console's best-selling game with 8 million copies, but again, Atari overestimated how successful it would be, to the point that there were more cartridges of the game then consoles to play them. |
| 195 | * ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'' is often assumed by ''Fire Emblem'' fans to have been a flop that led to the series planned cancellation until the success of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' convinced Nintendo to reconsider, due to the BrokenBase over its mechanics and its direct sequel [[NoExportForYou not being localized]]. The handheld entry actually sold reasonably well at 52,000 copies, more than several earlier games. It was actually the underperformance of the prior home console titles, ''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn'', that caused the series' decline, though both games are [[AcclaimedFlop popular with the fanbase]]. The sequel was likely passed over for Western localization due to being a DS game while the 3DS was in full swing. |
| 196 | * ''VideoGame/GodHand'' is often cited as the game that [[CreatorKiller killed]] Creator/CloverStudio (or at the very least, put the final nail in their coffin after ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' proved to be an AcclaimedFlop), being a critical and commercial disaster so bad that it prompted Creator/{{Capcom}} to announce their closure a mere month after its release. However, while its exact budget was never disclosed, what is known is that it was a cheap side-project that didn't need that many sales to break even; in fact, producer Atsushi Inaba noted when it moved 60,000 copies domestically by the end of 2006 that those modest numbers were ''twice'' what he had even expected. And in terms of the critical response, the infamy of IGN's scathing 3/10 review tends to overshadow the fact that it received mixed-to-positive reviews from almost every other major publication, with the consensus being that while it was a heavily flawed game, it made up for it with its engaging combat and quirky sense of humour. It was the sheer underperformance of ''Okami'' alone that killed the studio, and Capcom were already preparing to shut them down before ''God Hand'' had even shipped. |
| 197 | * The death of the first incarnation of the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' series is usually blamed on ''IV'', due to its differing formula and slight feeling of being not quite finished. However, ''IV'' enjoyed mostly positive reviews at the time, and what sales data is available shows an at least acceptable performance. The real problem was that Creator/NewWorldComputing's parent company, [[Creator/The3DOCompany 3DO]], was in dire financial straits, mainly thanks to debts incurred by their [[Platform/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer unsuccessful console]] leading to them becoming a shovelware dev, which failed to make back enough money, leading to them folding in 2003, selling the ''Might and Magic'' brand off to {{Creator/Ubisoft}} in the process. |
| 198 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Horizon}}'' series has developed a reputation as a [[AlwaysSecondBest perennial runner-up]] due to ''[[VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn Zero Dawn]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest Forbidden West]]'' [[DuelingWorks releasing alongside]] ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' and ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' respectively, with both games being heavily overshadowed in the public consciousness by their hotly anticipated rivals. Even so, they were still massively successful, with both even outselling their rivals in terms of initial sales in the UK. ''Zero Dawn'' in particular was the best-selling new IP on the Platform/PlayStation4 at the time of release, and as of 2023 has managed to move over 24 million copies worldwide, making it ''the best-selling game published by Creator/SonyInteractiveEntertainment of all time.'' |
| 199 | * ''VideoGame/KlonoaDoorToPhantomile'' is assumed to be an AcclaimedFlop by many due to its relative obscurity and poorly documented sales figures. In reality, while sales figures are hard to come by, it did well enough to launch a modest franchise that spawned [[VideoGame/{{Klonoa}} six other games]] over the following five years. |
| 200 | * ''VideoGame/LANoire'' is believed to be a flop by some due to its lengthy development cycle and to AccentuateTheNegative regarding its developer Team Bondi's mismanagement, its contentious relationship with publisher Creator/RockstarGames as well as [[TroubledProduction poor working conditions and mistreatment by the lead designer.]] Despite all of this, the game sold quite well. Shipping four million units in its first month alone and its sales only seem small when compared to the gargantuan sales of the other games published by Rockstar (VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV and VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption). However, the problematic development cycle mean that the planned SpiritualSuccessor "Whore of the Orient" will likely never come out. |
| 201 | * ''VideoGame/{{Lair}}'' received mediocre reviews, becoming emblematic of the early struggles of the Platform/Playstation3, and is frequently thought to have been a CreatorKiller for Factor 5 as the company would close its doors one year after releasing the game. [[https://www.polygon.com/features/2018/1/17/16886514/lair-what-went-wrong In a 2018 account of its development]] however, Factor 5's president claimed that the game was profitable; what actually killed Factor 5 was the cancellation of an unannounced ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' game (due to its publisher going bust) combined with cashflow/lending issues stemming from the 2008 global recession. |
| 202 | * ''Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' is one of the worst-selling games in the series, with fans coming to dislike it for its overly linear gameplay, excessive tutorials, and other design elements, which spurred Nintendo to create the {{wide open sandbox}} that is ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' in response. However, that doesn't mean ''Skyward Sword'' sold poorly in general. Despite coming out at the end of the Wii's life and being surrounded at the Fall 2011 release date with highly-hyped AAA games at the time, it still sold at a respectable count of 3.41 million units during its first month, becoming the fastest-selling ''Zelda'' game at the time. |
| 203 | * ''Videogame/{{LOOM}}'' never got its intended sequels and was a bit overshadowed by other Creator/LucasArts adventures, making many mistakenly assume the game was a flop on release. In actuality, it did fairly well, and a follow-up only didn't come out because the development team simply decided to pursue other commitments. In fact, it was successful enough to get an UpdatedReRelease, which would absolutely have not happened had it truly done poorly. |
| 204 | * ''VideoGame/MadMax2015'' had a very unfortunate release date that was shared with ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' and the PC release of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', and critics ended up giving the game rather average review scores, so many people assumed the game was completely crushed by those other games. Despite this, the game still managed to sell 1.8 million copies and became a SleeperHit. |
| 205 | * ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'', due to being a mobile-entry host to {{gacha game|s}}play and {{microtransactions}}, is often derided and disregarded by much of the ''Mario Kart'' fanbase. Whenever it comes up in discussion, it's more often than not referred to as being another mobile game flop for Nintendo to the point where, when the [[DownloadableContent Booster Course Pass]] for ''VideoGame/MarioKart8 Deluxe'' was announced and discovered to consist primarily of courses that were already in ''Tour'', it was immediately assumed it was because Nintendo didn't want their work on ''Tour'' to go to waste. Except ''Mario Kart Tour'' is actually among Nintendo's few unquestionable successes in mobile gaming, being second only to ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'' in revenue (and generating more money for the company in two years than ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingPocketCamp'' did in four), and received regular updates and new courses for four years after release, even after the Booster Course Pass began releasing.[[note]]Bangkok Rush, Sky-High Sundae, Yoshi's Island, Piranha Plant Cove, and Athens Rush all came out in the midst of the Booster Course Pass releases.[[/note]] |
| 206 | * Due to coming out in the middle of [[OvershadowedByControversy massive controversies]] against its parent company and developers, as well as a generally unimpressive reception by fans viewing it as [[ExpansionPack more a patch than a sequel]], it seems oddly common to believe ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} 2'' was a flop that confirmed the original game's fall from grace. The thing is, given that it was indeed, when you get down to it, more patch than sequel, the ''Overwatch'' playerbase (which, though diminished from the game's launch, is still something many companies would kill for) [[EmbeddedPrecursor largely just jumped over]], and the game as a whole saw a pretty sizeable surge in new and returning players. |
| 207 | * Upon release, ''VideoGame/PlaystationHome'', a [[TheMetaverse metaverse-style]] free-to-play open world for the Platform/PlayStation3, became an unfortunate symbol of the console's [[AudienceAlienatingEra turbulent early years]], written off as a flop after it launched in an ObviousBeta state. In the long run, however, it was a huge financial success for Sony that developed a passionate cult fandom, such that its servers weren't taken offline until nearly a year and a half after the launch of the [=PS3=]'s [[Platform/PlayStation4 successor]]. While Sony's intent to make it a virtual community hub for all of one's games didn't pan out, it did eventually find its footing as a virtual world in its own right with its own games and experiences. Keza [=MacDonald=], [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200907191922/http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/07/29/the-untold-story-of-playstation-home-sonys-most-successful-disaster writing]] for ''Kotaku UK'', even called it "Sony's most successful failure". |
| 208 | * ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' is often referred to as a disastrous AcclaimedFlop that only sold around 100,000 copies. However, as creator Tim Schafer noted in the 2015 documentary series ''What Color is the Sky In Your World?'', its sales actually weren't as bad as many people reported -- the game sold about 400,000 copies at the time of its release. Not ''great'', mind you, but far from the disaster that many people assumed it was. |
| 209 | * It's near universal consensus among ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' fans that ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' did terribly due to their overly actionized arcade-shooter style, complete abandonment of SurvivalHorror, and the [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper abysmally stupid AI of Sheva Alomar]]. However, ''5'' was not only the best-selling Resident Evil game ''ever'' until ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7'' came along, but was the best selling Capcom game ''ever'' until ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'' came along, and ''6'' sold only slightly less copies than 5. It turns out completely bananas over-the-top mindless action shooters do pretty well with casual gamers. |
| 210 | * A stigma brought on by way too many amateur critics is that [[VideoGame/RoboticOperatingBuddy R.O.B.]] was somehow a "failure" or "flop". Even ignoring the fact that R.O.B. was created purely as a TrojanHorse and successfully performed said role, R.O.B. was only sold as part of a "Deluxe Set" bundled with the Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem. While other bundles such as the "Action Set" were more certainly more popular, it still sold enough for Nintendo to keep producing for two years. |
| 211 | * ''VideoGame/SteelBattalion'' is infamous being an excellent, but [[NintendoHard brutally hardcore]] mecha simulator requiring an elaborate $200 control setup, so it's become extremely common to assume that the game was a total commercial failure that only lives on through [[AcclaimedFlop the goodwill of its critical acclaim]] and [[CultClassic dedicated cult fanbase]]. However, according to director Atsushi Inaba, while he admitted he was incredibly lucky in the face of [[AudienceAlienatingPremise all the factors that would've guaranteed failure]], the game did in fact sell well enough to break even. |
| 212 | * ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'' had a [[OvershadowedByControversy massive controversy]] at the time of its release regarding its monetized loot boxes which leads people to think that the game sold poorly. And while it didn't meet the planned sales expectations of [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA]] (who were expecting 10 million copies sold but only 9 million were sold). Because Creator/{{DICE}} actually fixed the loot box issue and added continuous updates, the game is now much better recieved at its current state. With it being one of the best-selling Star Wars games of all time. In addition, thanks to a [[UpdatedReRelease Re-release]] made to coincide with the release of ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', some estimates even put it higher than the much better recieved ''VideoGame/StarWarsJediFallenOrder''. |
| 213 | * ''VideoGame/Superman64'' is regarded as the worst Platform/Nintendo64 game ever released, and unlike ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', the critics did not become kinder to it over time when knowledge of its own TroubledProduction became known. However, because developer Creator/{{Titus|Software}} wisely [[NotScreenedForCritics didn't send out review copies until it was too late]] it became the top seller in North America in June 1999, then bad word of mouth kicked in and sales collapsed. Still, the game ended up selling 500,000 copies, making a profit for Titus. |
| 214 | * ''VideoGame/Tekken4'' is often regarded as the BlackSheep of the ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'' series by fans, due to the many changes and slower gameplay that it had, causing it to always be unfavorably compared to its much more well-received predecessor, ''VideoGame/Tekken3''. However, the game still sold well, even if not to the heights of ''3''; a magazine issue reported that it was the most-successful arcade machine of the month in Japan, and the console version was at least successful enough to warrant a Greatest Hits rerelease. |
| 215 | * The [=PS1=] game based on ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' earned terrible reviews, specially by coming off after ''Videogame/GoldenEye1997'', and is considered one of the worst ''Franchise/JamesBond'' games. Yet it sold well enough to be re-released among the budget "Greatest Hits" series. |
| 216 | * ''VideoGame/WarioLandShakeIt'' is often said to have been a massive failure, as it's currently the last ''VideoGame/{{Wario}}'' platformer after regular releases throughout the 90's and 2000's. While it did miss its North American launch target by some distance (which Nintendo of America wrote off as being a by-product of the 2008 recession), the game had good legs and eventually went on to sell over a million copies worldwide -- outselling every ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' title released in-between it and 2021's ''VideoGame/WarioWareGetItTogether'', and massively so. |
| 217 | * The ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch'' series is seen as being an instant flop internationally, despite the first game quickly sparking a CashCowFranchise in Japan that seemed on its way to rival ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. Despite not being the instant success they hoped it would be in the West, with [[VideoGame/YokaiWatch1 the first game]] only moving 400k units in North America during its first year, the game did very well in Europe, and its North American sales were still decent enough for a handheld RPG to be deemed a promising start by creator Creator/Level5. It was the ''sequels'' selling poorly, each performing worse than the last, which killed the franchise internationally and contributed to the company as a whole temporarily ending its operations in North America. |
| 218 | [[/folder]] |
| 219 | |
| 220 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 221 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBuzzOnMaggie'' is one of the most forgotten Creator/DisneyChannel series, only lasting a single season. You'd assume that this was due to poor ratings, as it is perceived as little more than SoOkayItsAverage by many who do bother to seek it out years later. In actuality, it boasted very high ratings for its demographic in the United States and was beloved by critics. The show was cancelled because, despite domestic success, [[AmericansHateTingle it completely failed to gain an audience overseas]]. |
| 222 | * ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' is often seen as a commercial failure for Creator/CartoonNetwork, or at the very least, a promising show they [[ScrewedByTheNetwork failed to capitalize on]], not helped by how they openly wrote it off. However, the show did well enough that the network was considering renewing it, only to change their minds when they were unable to get a toyline deal from CReator/{{Mattel}}. |
| 223 | * Many of the later shows on ''WesternAnimation/TheDisneyAfternoon'' are seen as failures, mainly those that only aired for one season, as Creator/FoxKids and Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} started to lure its viewership away. |
| 224 | ** ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' is often seen as the beginning of the end, with its competition with ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' typically seen as a CurbStompBattle that the Dark Knight won with ease. However, ratings data showed that ''Goof Troop'' easily held its own, and occasionally even beat ''Batman'' from time to time. Its cancellation wasn't because of any ratings issues, but rather due to a combination of its high production costs, the brief dissolution of Disney's partnership with Creator/{{ABC}} (which aired the show on its Saturday morning lineup), and an overall drop in ratings among kids' demographics that year. |
| 225 | ** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'' is regarded as trying and failing to take on ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' despite the fact that, in most big markets, its direct competition was ''Batman'', which was an entirely different kind of series. Rather, Disney's decision not to make any more episodes beyond the initial order is likely more because of its TroubledProduction than anything else. |
| 226 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TheShnookumsAndMeatFunnyCartoonShow'' is often lumped in among the failed attempts to [[FollowTheLeader capitalize on the success]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. Yet evidence shows that it did fairly well as far as syndicated cartoons were concerned. The more likely factors leading to its present day obscurity are [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Disney suddenly choosing to bury it just before its premiere]], likely a result of shifts in Disney's corporate management as a result of Jeffery Katzenburg leaving the company to found Creator/DreamWorksSKG the year before, as well as it being the only ''Disney Afternoon'' show to air only once a week throughout its entire run[[note]]''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' ran once a week before being promoted to five days a week for its second season, and while ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'' and ''WesternAnimation/MightyDucksTheAnimatedSeries'' only aired once per week on the block proper, both also ran Saturday mornings on Creator/{{CBS}} and ABC respectively[[/note]], not to mention Creator/DisneyChannel never airing it outside of special airings to promote its less widely available sister network Creator/ToonDisney. |
| 227 | * ''Westernanimation/InvaderZim'' was cancelled halfway through its second season, leading to the assumption it was an underperformer. On the contrary, ratings were actually fairly decent. The show was just too expensive to produce ''relative'' to the ratings, with said ratings also mostly consisting of viewers outside the network's target demographic of 6-to-11 year olds. |
| 228 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyDadTheRockStar'' ended after two seasons with 26 episodes, with people thought that the show was canceled as the show's episodes are not memorable. But it actually had great ratings and views when the show was airing on its origin channel. The only reason it was canceled was because Gene Simmons wanted to focus more on different projects. |
| 229 | * ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'' was canceled after one season and was later written off by Creator/CartoonNetwork, effectively preventing it from re-running on the network. It was originally believed that it was due to being [[ScrewedByTheMerchandise unable to garner a toy line]], but it was later revealed that this was only partially true. The show saw a demographics mismatch similar to ''Invader Zim'' above: good ratings, but most of the viewership weren't the target demographic, meaning the show wasn't getting much in the way of ad revenue to help fund the production. Executives thought that toy sales would be just enough to push the show into profitability, which is where the "couldn't sell toys" claim came from. |
| 230 | * ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders'' was cancelled after just two seasons (despite the creators having plans for a third season), leading many people to assume that it was axed due to low viewership. According to most reliable accounts, however, it got solid ratings throughout its run, and was considered a success. It was actually cancelled because Trendmasters' ''War Planets'' toys (which the show was [[MerchandiseDriven originally intended to promote]]) weren't selling well enough to justify keeping it in production. |
| 231 | [[/folder]] |
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