Nickelodeon and Paramount pulled together some big names for this irreverent, high-concept action kids flick. Lucas Till plays Tripp Coley, the high school boy who confronts an actual monster in his truck, as well as Terravex Oil, the big, bad fracking company. Rob Lowe and Danny Glover also animate the comedy adventure. Creech, the monster, turns out to be an adorable beast and a very useful ally against the formidable fracking giant.
Fun trivia: The ‘monster inside of the truck’ concept came from an actual 4-year-old. Adam Goodman, former president of Paramount, had been wanting to bring the idea to the big screen ever since his toddler son imaginatively introduced it to him. Audiences didn’t hate it, critics were mixed, but it had a budget of $125 million and a box office of $64.5 million.
Estimated loss: $109 – $123.1 million
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
K (Ryan Gosling) an LAPD cop and blade runner, finds himself situated in 2049 Los Angeles, in search of a long-buried mystery. The problem is unearthing it could cause human annihilation. It’s a Warner Bros. picture directed by Denis Villeneuve, with a storyline influenced by Philip K. Dick’s book, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
"Blade Runner 2049" is the sequel to the original mega-hit, "Blade Runner," also based on Dick’s book, and one of the most celebrated science fiction films ever made. The fact that the sequel did well with critics up against that measure says something. In fact, "Blade Runner 2049" was considered one of 2017’s best movies and won two 2018 Oscars — Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Evidently, the 163-minute box office flop is worth seeing. Its production budget was $150-$185 million. It grossed $259.1 at theaters, but it lost $80 million dollars.
Estimated loss: $80 million
Surfer, Dude (2008)
Matthew McConaughey is known as one of Hollywood's best actors. The star has the looks, the voice, and the charisma to carry him through almost any role. However, with the horrible premise and material he had to work with when acting in "Surfer, Dude," it seems that even McConaughey couldn't live up to the challenge. This 2008 comedy film centers around a soul-searching surfer who experiences an existential crisis when there are no waves on the beach for over a month.
The film also stars Woody Harrelson, who's also a highly respected Hollywood actor. The two joked about the film being one of their easiest jobs of all time. "Surfer, Dude" ended up making just over $50,000 against a budget of more than $6 million, certifying it a true flop.
Estimated loss: $5.5 million
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
This western, loosely based on the Johnson County War, was such a disaster that it changed the movie-making industry forever, and Michael Cimino's directing career would never completely recover. When adjusted for inflation, the film lost approximately $123 million at the box office. Cimino had such an expensive and ambitious vision, that he pushed production costs to nearly four times over its initial budget.
"Heaven’s Gate" heavy financial loss literally drove United Artists, a major American studio at the time, to bankruptcy. When it comes to cinema history, the Heaven’s Gate "disaster" often represents the key event that eventually led American film-making away from director-driven projects, putting an end to their free-wheeling excesses. Studios began to take more control over films, as they still do today.
Estimated loss: $40.5 million
The Wolfman (2010)
Based on the 1941 American movie of similar title, "The Wolfman" has all the classic features one would expect of a werewolf story — the full moon triggers the mangy, monstrous metamorphosis — but it lacks a certain, let’s call it, edge, that "Twilight" fans expect. Although, nonetheless, it apparently hit the mark in some ways because it became a cult classic in spite of it all.
The vivid and realistic special effects of which animate the gruesome transformations earned the movie an Oscar for makeup, by the way. But even that, as well as its big names, del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, could not make the venture profitable. The film lost $85 to $90 million, adjusted for inflation. Gross profit for "The Wolfman" is recorded at $139.8 million while the production budget was $150 million.