Adjusted for inflation, John Carter lost up to $214 million. Director Andrew Staton (Pixar) based it on an obscure sci-fi novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs called “A Princess of Mars.” Surprisingly, it takes place in Barsoom, not Mars. (Don’t call it Mars. Disney reportedly wanted to distance itself from its other flop Mars Needs Moms and shortened the original title from “John Carter of Mars” to just John Carter). Stanton, its eminent director, it seems, is the main culprit for the insane budget because of his film-scrapping, reshoots, and edits.
The Hollywood Reporter called it “a rather charming pastiche,” but reviews were definitely mixed. John Carter needed more than stellar reviews to save it. Unfortunately, the box office run ended at just over $73 million. Gross ticket sales were a tad higher at $284.1 million, but that didn’t erase the loss which was reported to be $130 – $214 million.
Estimated loss: $122-$200 million
A Thousand Words (2012)
Eddie Murphy's comedy film, "A Thousand Words," had quite a unique premise. It featured an incredibly selfish literary agent who uses his ability to manipulate people to get what he wants, in both his terrible career and dysfunctional relationship. The idea behind the film is that the protagonist gets cursed and is left with only 1,000 words to speak before he dies. The film was caught in various delays and near-cancellations due to troubles with the movie's production company.
Critics hated "A Thousand Words" for taking away Eddie Murphy's voice, which is arguably his greatest comedic asset. The film also lost about half its budget, making only slightly more than $20 million against a budget of $40 million. "A Thousand Words" was also nominated for three Golden Raspberries, but failed to win any one of them.
Estimated loss: $18 million
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
This film is loosely based, very loosely based, on the enduring British legend. Guy Ritchie’s signature cinematics and stylistic personality remake the "Legend of the Sword" beautifully and imaginatively. But it bombed. Critics were mixed to negative. Ritchie’s projects are highly scrutinized due to his phenomenal success. At Rotten Tomatoes they complain that the remake “wipes out much of what made it a classic story in the first place.”
The film was supposed to be a mega-hit for the Warner Bros. empire. Tie-ins to the studio’s lucrative hero merchandising division were already being planned. Sadly, it floundered at the box office up against "Guardians of the Galaxy 2," pulling in a weak $39 million. The film was too costly to make. With a $175 million budget and a box office that was far less at $148.7 million, Warner Bros. and pals lost $115-$153 million on the promising project.
Estimated loss: $115-$153.2 million
Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016)
The original "Ghostbusters," which was released in 1984, was No. 1 at the box office for 7 weeks straight! It launched a hit song, a sequel, an iconic cartoon, and even its own holiday. The 2016 reboot had some extremely large shoes to fill, and evidently, it could not. The studio estimated that the movie would need to gross, at least, $300 million to break even on the investment. In the end; however, Sony suffered a grim $75 million loss.
The cast included Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, and Chris Hemsworth, but even they weren't able to retrieve as much as half of the impact that the classic movie had. One take on the movie's less-than-ideal reception was the fact that the new, female-led installment wasn't exactly appealing to men, and apparently, there wasn't a strong enough female following to fill up the theaters.
Estimated loss: $75 million
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
The critics didn’t hate it, Oprah graced the big screen for the first time in, like, 20 years, it was based on the celebrated and adored children’s literary classic by Madeleine L’Engle, yet, somehow it only grossed its production budget. And for goodness sake, Disney backed it! The children’s film production leviathan lavished upwards of $60 million on TV ads, marketing, and other promos. Sadly, they would not recover those costs.
Overall, Disney and feel-good themes predominate the fantastically visual production directed by Sundance Film Festival award-winner Ava DuVernay. And overcoming evil, light over darkness, and the goodness of mankind preserving universal harmony, is exactly what you’d expect from Mrs. Which (Ms. Winfrey). The film disappointed hopeful expectations at the box office with a gross of $132.7 million. The budget is nearly a carbon copy at $130 million. Estimated loss registers at $86-$186 million.