Action movies incline to be some of the great performer at the box office , which is why Hollywood makes so many of them . BarbieandOppenheimerwere outlier last summertime , but all of the other top summertime hits of 2023 were action - oriented . Yet , to get the biggest bang , studio have given natural process films huge budget , which only creates big box seat office bombs when they ca n’t come close to earning that money back .
When assembling this tilt of the 10 bounteous natural action motion-picture show bombs of all time , we leave out the sci - fi moving-picture show because we ’ve already cut through those flops , as well as superhero moving picture likeThe Flash , which may have lose as much money as the top two films on this inclination combined . The 2016 remake ofBen - Hurwas also leave out since it was more of a diachronic epic than a traditional action at law film . Thankfully , there ’s more than enough failure to go around just by focusing on the legal action flicks .
10. Hudson Hawk (1991)
Budget : $ 65 million
Worldwide gross : $ 17.2 million
Estimated loss : $ 47.8 million
Three year afterDie Hardmade him into an action star , Bruce Willis co - write the story forHudson Hawkwith Robert Kraft , which was rewritten byDie Hardscribe Steven E. de Souza and Daniel Waters . The results were less than enticing , and this is the biggest turkey in Willis ’ farseeing career . Thomas Willis portrays Eddie “ Hudson Hawk ” Hawkins , an graphics thief who is newly released from prison and eager to enjoy life sentence ’s simple pleasures . Unfortunately , multiple parties soon blackjack Eddie and his partner , Tommy “ Five - Tone ” Messina ( Danny Aiello ) , into pulling off a heist on behalf of Darwin ( Richard E. Grant ) and Minerva Mayflower ( Sandra Bernhard ) .
The object of the heist turn out to be the element of a machine design by Leonardo da Vinci to flex lead into Au . The good word is that Eddie and Tommy chance an ally in Vatican secret agent Sister Anna Baragli ( Andie MacDowell ) . Unfortunately , this motion picture was far too silly to work as an activity film , and audiences stay put aside in drove . This was a debacle from the Bible go .
9. Hard Rain (1998)
Budget : $ 70 million
ecumenical 144 : $ 19.9 million
Estimated passing : $ 60 million
It ’s well-fixed to accept that Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman would be a pretty solid coupling for an action movie . Such was not the typeface withHard Rain , a film that cast Slater as an armored car number one wood named Tom , who break on the tally from a mathematical group of thieves led by Jim ( Freeman ) during a monumental rainstorm . Tom briefly scandalise and then befriend a local woman , Karen ( Minnie Driver ) . But just when Jim is about to get his money , it sour out that the local sheriff , Mike Collig ( Randy Quaid ) , will happily pop all of them and keep the money for himself .
As with a lot of movies on this lean , Hard Rainhad an impressive supporting cas , metric ton including Ed Asner as Tom ’s uncle , Charlie . But moviegoer just were n’t concerned in this film , and it quickly sank at the box office .
8. Chill Factor (1999)
Budget : $ 34 million to $ 70 million
Worldwide gross : $ 11.8 million
Estimated expiration : $ 64 million
prison term has not been tolerant to the legacy ofChill Factor , a sidekick action comedy star Cuba Gooding Jr. and Skeet Ulrich . The premise was kind of likeSpeedon an ice cream motortruck . When Dr. Richard Long ( David Paymer ) is murdered by a discredited Colonel , Andrew Brynner ( Peter Firth ) , it fall to Richard ’s friend , Tim Mason ( Ulrich ) , to safeguard the unstable arm that Long created . The catch is that the weapon has to be keep below 50 degree , so Tim pirate an ice cream truck that belongs to Arlo ( Gooding ) .
course , this initially leads to some grueling feelings between Tim and Arlo as they bilk the men that Brynner has sent to kill them and go on a flakey journey to protect the weapon . It ’s moderately much every action movie you ’ve ever visualise . Except audiences did n’t come out to see it . They did n’t even manage about this movie enough to hate it .
7. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)
Estimated loss : $ 70.1 million
Warner Bros. , you ’re doing it all wrong ! You need to have an Ecks motion-picture show , and then a Sever movie if you gestate people to care about anEcks vs. Severmovie . The studio kind of read from that mistake by at least having one Superman movie beforeBatman v Superman : Dawn of Justice . Ballistic : Ecks vs. Severcasts Antonio Banderas as FBI Agent Jeremiah Ecks , a man who is tasked with finding recreant DIA Agent Sever ( Lucy Liu ) after she kidnaps Michael Gant ( Aidan Drummond ) , the son of DIA Director Robert Gant ( Gregg Henry ) .
debate that the film ’s title promise a conflict imperial between Ecks and Sever , you may be let down to see that this was shoddy . But you probably wo n’t be surprised to hear thatBallistic : Ecks vs. Severmay be the worst - review motion-picture show in the history of Rotten Tomatoes with a 0 % score . Now that ’s an accomplishment ! Warner Bros. has buried this photographic film so profoundly that you may have to buy a videodisc to find it .
6. Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Budget : $ 110 million
oecumenical 144 : $ 72.2 million
forecast loss : $ 74 million
Jackie Chan reportedly got paid $ 18 million to asterisk inAround the World in 80 day , but the upshot of this turkey ca n’t all be lay at his foot , even though he does get top billing as Passepartout . Director Frank Coraci and screenwriters David Titcher , David Benullo , and David Goldstein made important changes to the original novel by Jules Verne — changes that turned out to be very expensive .
In this revised version of the narrative , Passepartout ’s real name is Lau Xing , and he has a clandestine history and his own order of business beyond aid Phileas Fogg ( Steve Coogan ) come through the bet of a life by circling the earth in 80 days . Along the way , they append Monique Laroche ( Cécile de France ) to their squad , and they even encounter Arnold Schwarzenegger ’s Prince Hapi , who concisely detains them . This movie is nearly all spectacle , which would have been forgive if it had also been a collision . Without a sizable audience , the pic had no hope of recouping its cost .
5. Blackhat (2015)
global revenue : $ 19.7 million
Estimated red ink : $ 68 million to $ 90 million
Sometimes it seems like audiences just do n’t want to see Chris Hemsworth in anything that does n’t involve him find fault up a jumbo hammer and play Thor . The failure ofFuriosathis summer establish that depressing possibility . Director Michael Mann put Hemsworth in the tip ofBlackhatas an exceptional computer hacker , Nicholas Hathaway . After a serial of brazen cyberattacks on both America and China , Chen Dawai ( Leehom Wang ) and his sister , Chen Lien ( Tang Wei ) , convince FBI Special Agent Carol Barrett ( Viola Davis ) to release Hathaway from prison to aid their investigation .
As action films go , $ 70 million seems middling modest equate to the budget of the biggest Hollywood smash hit . But when the worldwide take ca n’t even break $ 20 million , then it ’s an absolute calamity . There are certainly worse movies thanBlackhat , but only a few that managed to lose more money .
4. The 355 (2022)
Budget : $ 40 million to $ 75 million
general 144 : $ 27.7 million
Estimated loss : $ 93 million
It was reportedly Jessica Chastain ’s idea to team up up with other illustrious actresses for a female - led undercover agent franchise not unlikeMission : Impossibleor the James Bond film . Naturally , Chastain got the leading function as CIA Agent Mason “ Mace ” Browne , with Penélope Cruz as DNI psychologist Graciela Rivera , Diane Kruger as BND federal agent Marie Schmidt , Lupita Nyong’o as ex - MI6 agentive role Khadijah Adiyeme , and Fan Bingbing as MSS agentive role Lin Mi Sheng .
In possibility , audiences would jolly up on these kickass ladies as they took on a criminal offence lord , Elijah Clarke ( Jason Flemyng ) . The MCU ’s Sebastian Stan even had a fundamental part as CIA Agent Nick Fowler . But audiences just did n’t fall out to see it . This film was also hindered by the fact that Bingbing spent months under house pinch in China for taxation evasion , and the producers were forced to film her character with a body two-fold . Bingbing was eventually allow to film her scenes separately , which allowed the special effect squad to use CGI to put her back into the movie . That could n’t have been good word for the film ’s budget .
3. 47 Ronin (2013)
Budget : $ 175 million to $ 225 million
Worldwide gross : $ 151.8 million
Estimated passing : $ 96 million
Thereal - life floor of the 47 Roninhas been illustrious in Japan for centuries , but this47 Roninfilm is better have a go at it for being one of the biggest flops in the account of movie theater . It ’s not that people did n’t see47 Ronin , it just could n’t get nigh to recouping its bloated budget and it eventually lose $ 96 million . That ’s a feat that very few films have finagle to achieve .
This adaptation took a lot of liberties with the actual story , most notably by creating a half - English , half - Japanese character , Kai , just so Keanu Reeves could have the result theatrical role . There are also splashes of fantasy , include titan and a witch name Mizuki ( Tokyo Vice‘s Rinko Kikuchi ) , who helps trick Lord Naganori Asano ( Min Tanaka ) into dishonour himself and committing suicide . This was done at the behest of Lord Yoshinaka Kira ( Tadanobu Asano ) , and Lord Asano ’s remaining man consecrate to avenge their fallen lord even though they have been branded as Ronin , or masterless samurai.47 Roninwasrecently pop on Netflix , but that ’s the only resurgence that it has relish .
2. Cutthroat Island (1995)
Budget : $ 98 million
Worldwide revenue : $ 18.3 million
Estimated loss : $ 105 million
Cutthroat Islandis the pic that helped lend down a studio ( Carolco Pictures ) , and successfully affright Hollywood away from making more big - budget literary pirate epos untilPirates of the Caribbean : Curse of the Black Pearlcame along eight years subsequently . It ’s not like Genna Davis was n’t a worthy star . Davis was at the pinnacle of her renown when she portrayed Morgan Adams , the daughter of a famed pirate , “ Black ” Harry Adams ( Harris Yulin ) , and the new captain of the Morning Star .
In part because few of the prove manful action stars of that era wanted second billing to Davis , Matthew Modine was cast as William Shaw , Morgan ’s foil and potentially her romantic better half . They go on a seeking to find her father ’s treasure and prevent her competitor , Dawg Brown ( Frank Langella ) , from nonplus it first . Expensive reshoots and lackluster boxwood post result killed this one . Even Davis ’ life history was badly damaged from her function in this bomb , but she eventually weathered that tempest .
1. The 13th Warrior (1999)
Budget : $ 100 million to $ 160 million
world-wide gross : $ 61.7 million
approximate loss : $ 69 million to $ 129 million
For a film that ranks as one of the all - fourth dimension bust in any literary genre , The 13th Warriorhasn’t will much of an impact on soda water cultivation . Few even commemorate that this movie was based on a novel by Michael Crichton , the author ofJurassic Park . Crichton himself played a role inThe 13th Warrior‘s ill - fat firing when he take on over as director from John McTiernan ( cash in one’s chips Hard ) following disastrous test screenings . The reshoots helped drive up the budget , which in turn led to the motion-picture show losing even more money once it was eventually publish .
Antonio Banderas stars as Ahmad ibn Fadlan , the former royal poet of the court of Baghdad , who is send into deportee . Ahmad eventually meets a federation of tribes of Norsemen , include their drawing card , Buliwyf ( Vladimir Kulich ) , who forcibly recruit Ahmad to help them face an unimaginable foe . The Norsemen were given a prophecy that their pursuance would only follow if they use up a 13th warrior with them who was not of their kin . But even Ahmad ’s presence may do small to help as their enemy cuts them down one by one .
