The saying "money talks" is relevant in many walks of life, but perhaps nowhere more so than in Hollywood. Reviews are important, but we've seen plenty of Rotten movies earn untold millions while far too many Fresh titles crash and burn. Ultimately, if a new release is going to spawn sequels and spinoffs, it needs to make money, and that's definitely the case for comic book adaptations.
Morbius has somewhat derailed Sony Pictures' ambitious Marvel Universe plans by flopping critically and commercially, and that got us thinking about other huge superhero movies that bombed.
Presented here in no particular order, we've rounded up the most surprising box office disappointments from the Marvel and DC Universes (and beyond). As well as delving into their dire domestic and international cumes, we take a crack at trying to figure out where these movies went wrong. This might shock you, but not all of them were bad, and we explain why they deserved better.
To take a look through some of the biggest superhero movie flops, click on the "Next" button below!
8. Green Lantern
Despite some concerns about the quality of VFX in the trailers, there was an awful lot of excitement surrounding Green Lantern ahead of its release in 2011. Green Lantern was one of DC's best titles thanks to Geoff Johns, and with Casino Royale director Martin Campbell at the helm, it seemed like nothing could go wrong. Unfortunately, nearly everything did and it was an unmitigated disaster.
With a massive $200 million budget (a nearly unprecedented figure at the time), it was always going to be tough for the DC Comics adaptation to turn a profit. However, it bombed with $116.6 million at the domestic box office and a mere $103.25 million internationally. That's why Green Lantern has been on the shelf ever since, but we think it's about time Hal Jordan is given another chance in theaters.
7. Jonah Hex
With a stellar cast that included Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Michael Fassbender, and Megan Fox, it's hard to believe Jonah Hex boasts a lowly 12% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the 2010 movie being written by Crank and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance filmmakers Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor was a dead giveaway that their take on the DC Comics hero would disappoint fans.
Despite that, no one could have predicted how poorly this movie would perform at the box office. With a paltry $10.5 million in the U.S. and $350,000 overseas (we can only assume it went direct to DVD in most places), Jonah Hex didn't even come close to making back its $47 million budget. The character would later appear in Legends of Tomorrow, but hasn't been used in a solo project since.
6. Catwoman
Female-led superhero movies really didn't receive much love before the likes of Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel came along, and the blame can mainly be attributed to studio bosses having a clear lack of understanding about what makes these characters tick. Take Catwoman; focusing on Patience Phillips instead of Selina Kyle, it took the cat burglar down a bizarre, supernatural route.
Basically a generic action flick (and not a very good one at that), Catwoman's A-List cast resulted in the budget ballooning to upwards of $100 million, and this early 2000s blockbuster didn't do Batman numbers at the box office. Accumulating just $40.2 million in the U.S. and another $41.9 million internationally, Halle Berry's hopes to follow Storm with a major DC role were quickly dashed.
5. Dredd
Opening to positive reviews back in 2012, Dredd massively exceeded expectations and was a tense, action-packed low budget thriller that definitely did the comic books justice. Karl Urban proved himself the perfect choice to play this character, and the bad taste left in our mouths by the version starring Sylvester Stallone quickly vanished while watching this badass interpretation.
Unfortunately, it seems the character isn't one that appeals to a wide audience as Dredd only managed to earn a, ahem, Dredd-ful $13.4 million in North America. Overseas numbers weren't much better at $22.2 million, and with a $50 million budget, we're not surprised those sequel talks have never led anywhere. The 2000 A.D. world remains largely unexploited on screen, and this is a big reason why.
4. Morbius
Morbius' run at the box office may be far from over, but it's still earned a place here. As we write this, Sony's Marvel Comics adaptation just broke Dark Phoenix's record for the biggest second-weekend drop, and currently sits at a $57 million in the U.S. With Sonic the Hedgehog 2 now ruling the roost and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore on the way, it's unlikely to earn much more.
Internationally, it's risen to $69.3 million, but these numbers are a major embarrassment for Sony after the recent success of Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Needless to say, we're not expecting to sink our teeth into a sequel, and Jared Leto can't be desperate to return after starring in yet another bad comic book movie.
3. Wonder Woman 1984
Wonder Woman 1984 is something of an enigma, especially as it didn't receive a traditional theatrical release back in December 2020. With the pandemic still raging, Warner Bros. decided to have the sequel debut in theaters at the same time as HBO Max, and with the option to watch from the safety of home when the big screen experience wasn't remotely appealing, most people chose the former.
As a result, the movie grossed just $46.5 million in the U.S. and $120 million overseas. With a $200 million budget, Warner Bros. was estimated to have lost upwards of $100 million on the sequel (we hope it was worth those extra HBO Max subscribers). A Wonder Woman 3 is happening, though after the negative reviews 1984 received, it might be time to go back to the drawing board.
2. Elektra
2003's Daredevil wasn't a particularly good movie, but it had its moments, and Jennifer Garner did a fine job as Elektra. Her story was rushed, as was her death, but seeing her taken out by Bullseye was a nice homage to the comic books, and a solid way to potentially set up a Daredevil sequel. That never happened, but Garner was contracted to appear in a spinoff...whether she liked it or not.
While Elektra only cost $43 million to produce, it disappointed with $24.4 million at the domestic box office and $32.27 million overseas. While it earned a little more than it cost to make, numbers like that aren't enough to convince a studio to greenlight a sequel, and the Man Without Fear was sidelined until 20th Century Fox let the rights to these characters revert to Marvel Studios in the early 2010s.
1. Fantastic Four
The first two Fantastic Four films were cheesy disappointments, and while fans weren't overly excited by Josh Trank's grounded vision for Marvel's First Family, his work on Chronicle definitely inspired confidence. Plagued by behind-the-scenes issues, this was one of the worst comic book movies of all-time, and Simon Kinberg stepping in to helm reshoots completely decimated the filmmaker's vision.
That left us with two separate takes on the Fantastic Four mashed together for a terrible end result. Trank disowned the Fox-produced Marvel Comics adaptation right before it was released, a move analysts believe knocked $10 million off its opening weekend. After costing $120 million to produce, it would later scrape up $56.1 million in the U.S. and middling $111.8 million internationally.