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Top 10 Bad Movies that Scored at the Box Office

Quality cinema has been steadily declining in recent decades and many films
have poorly developed stories. Predictably, many of these movies are
sequels that don’t match up with the original, but have gained mass
popularity. I have compiled a list of some of the worst Hollywood pictures
that have made the most money at the box office. Many of the entries had
advertising luck, a huge campaign, or were a franchise film. They are
categorized by the lowest quality film and not money earned.

10. Inspector Gadget
Worldwide Gross $134 Million

Inspector Gadget is a 1999 film based on the popular television cartoon series. The movie starred Matthew Broderick and depicts the origins of gadget. I still don’t know how the movie producers messed up the story of Inspector Gadget. The premise of this cartoon has everything that a hugely successful Hollywood blockbuster is looking for, a goofy, part man and part machine police detective, who can solve crimes and decipher problems. The movie did not use special effects very well and was criticized as being a bit dark for the average child.

The director should have used the supporting cartoon characters more and Broderick did not sell the role as gadget. The film received poor reviews, but ended up making $134 million on a $75 million dollar budget. I hope that there are future plans for a more realistic and compelling Inspector Gadget movie on the horizon.

7. Wild Hogs

Worldwide Gross - $252 Million

Wild Hogs is a 2007 comedy film with mega star power, including Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy. It tells the story of four friends who decide to get together and take a road trip across the United States. Immediately this was one of the worst reviewed and rated films of the summer. The script is weak and many scenes are fake and unbelievably bad. Fans still flocked to see Travolta and Allen who are amongst the most famous celebrities in the world.

A wide range of people from teenagers to elderly adults paid to see this film. Despite many flaws Wild Hogs became one of the most successful movies of the year and earned over $250 million dollars worldwide.

6. Batman & Robin

Worldwide Gross - $239 Million

Batman & Robin is a 1997 installment in the Batman franchise. It was directed by Joel Schumacher and is one of the worst superhero movies ever made. Audiences have come to expect success when it comes to Batman movies. Batman & Robin starred George Clooney as Bruce Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Uma Thurman, Chris O'Donnell, and Alicia Silverstone. The movie tries to adapt to the roots of the story, but ends up moving at an extremely slow pace.

The action sequences are not that good and many special effects are not logical. It tries to have a sentimental ending, but the watcher is not involved enough to care. This film almost single handedly killed Batman movies and another series wasn’t developed for almost ten years. Batman & Robin was still a success at the box office and made around $240 million worldwide. It suffered an extensive 63% drop in sales after the first week of release.

5. The Happening

Worldwide Gross - $163 Million

The Happening is a 2008 horror film that was co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The plot revolves around a mysterious plant named neurotoxin that causes any person coming into contact with it to commit suicide. I was extremely excited to see this film when it was released, but was quickly disappointed. It turns into a gory and disturbing film with limited surrounding and collaborative character building.

The Happening was certainly a long ways away from Shyamalan’s direction of The Sixth Sense. The film grossed $163 million, but numbers could have been much higher if it had been a good movie.

3. The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Worldwide Gross - $400 Million Dollars

Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third official film in The Mummy series. The movie stars Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, and Maria Bello and is a twist on the first films as Fraser discovers the tomb of The First Emperor of China, Emperor Han. This sequel seems to be targeted at a younger crowd with many corny one-line comedy bits. The critics did not like this film and claimed no plot and excessive special effects. Like many sequels, good writing was substituted for big movie pyrotechnics.

I could hardly make it through this film and admittedly did not care how it ended. Amazingly it was a huge success at the box office and made an astounding $400 million worldwide.

1. Norbit

Worldwide Gross - $160 Million

Norbit is a slapstick comedy that was released in 2007. The film stars Eddie Murphy in the three leading roles. It is a romantic comedy and follows the life of Norbit Albert Rice, who might have the most annoying voice in cinema history. Murphy has been known to play multiple characters in many roles, but it was never as obvious as in this film. Norbit has absolutely no plot, is not funny, and is the most predictable movie ever created. It was an extremely poor attempt at another Nutty Professor.

Norbit was one of the worst reviewed movies ever and received many Golden Raspberry Awards, which are given to the worst movie productions of the year. The celebrity of Eddie Murphy was the only reason the film made any money. Coming off a well publicized Academy Award win for his performance in Dreamgirls, Murphy was in the public eye when Norbit was released. It ended up being Murphy's 14th movie that opened at the #1 spot at the box office.

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9. The Matrix Revolution

Worldwide Gross - $424 Million

DVD Sales - $116 Million

The Matrix Revolution is the third and final installment of The Matrix trilogy. The film stars Keanu Reeves and Jada Pinkett Smith and finishes off the sci-fi series. Unfortunately the plot of the film comes to a standstill and it focuses on big action special effects to entertain the audience. The film was one of the most anticipated in movie history and earned a total of $540 million dollars on a $150 million dollar budget. It did not get good reviews from world critics or most audiences.

8. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Worldwide Gross - $600 Million

The original Madagascar was one of the best animated movies ever made. It did a wonderful job of blending adult material with a fun children’s adventure. Escape 2 Africa missed on all angles with the adult audiences. Many children still love to see some of their favorite animated characters, but the sequel did not have an interesting feel. It was catered to younger children who don’t quite understand a storyline, but love singing, dancing, and fun dialog.

It received average reviews and was bashed on many networking sites. The film was a huge success for Paramount Pictures and grossed more than $600 million at the box office, that is not mentioning the widely successful video game series. As one would expect, Madagascar 3 is due out in the summer of 2012.

4. Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer

Worldwide Gross - $289 Million

Rise of the Silver Surfer was a superhero movie and sequel to The Fantastic Four. The film is extremely slow and the dialog and acting are bad. It was predictable and almost laughable at times. The advertising campaign for this film was enormous. It did extremely well in its opening week, suffered a 66% drop in week 2, and an additional 54% drop in week 3. People were gradually realizing that it was a poorly made and directed piece of cinema. The film was an international success and gained around $290 million dollars on a $130 million dollar budget.

2. Epic Movie & Meet the Spartans

Worldwide Gross - $185 Million Combined

Epic Movie was a 2007 release written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, who previously worked on Scary Movie and Date Movie. As the previous films were well written, Epic Movie crossed a boundary where the humor became obnoxious and pointless. It was a box office smash and made close to $100 million dollars worldwide.

Meet the Spartans was a 2008 release by the same production company. It was a parody on the movie 300. It was the worse reviewed film of the year and received a 2% approval rating on many networking sites. Meet the Spartans was a financial success and made $85 million dollars worldwide. As of late it seems that many audiences are catching on to the lack-luster production quality of these parody films.