Heaven's Gate

The movie's unprecedented $40 million cost and extremely poor performance at the box office ($3,484,331 gross in the United States) are generally believed to have sent United Artists into bankruptcy and eventually led to its purchase by MGM.

Heaven's Gate (1980) is a big-budget western movie, depicting a fictionalized account of the Johnson County War between land barons and European immigrants in 1890s Wyoming.

Cutthroat Island

The budget approached 100 million dollars and the total US gross was approximately 10 million dollars. It was a contributing factor to the demise of the movie's production company, Carolco Pictures and Davis as a bankable star.

Morgan Adams (Geena Davis) and her learned slave, William Shaw (Matthew Modine), are on a quest to recover the three portions of a treasure map. The treasure is hidden on a mysterious Cutthroat island.

Treasure Planet

Treasure Planet was a major box office bomb, one of the biggest in movie history. Its box-office gross of $109 million worldwide was well short of its estimated $140 million production cost even before the box-office cut was deducted (the studio typically receives about half of the box office gross). Additionally, the film had spent an estimated $40 million for marketing, making the total loss over $125 million, the largest in the history of film.

Critics argue that Treasure Planet destroyed Disney's animation studio, in the same way that Heaven's Gate destroyed United Artists or Cutthroat Island ruined Carolco. Within 18 months of the film's release, Disney had laid off thousands of animators, closed its Florida animation studio, cancelled production on one movie (A Few Good Ghosts) and burned off two others with little promotion (Brother Bear and Home on the Range), leaving it with no traditional cel-animated films in production. The remaining artists were all retrained in computer animation techniques for future films, in accordance with a management belief that audiences no longer wanted to see 2D animation.


The film is a science-fiction retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure novel Treasure Island.

Where's Waterworld? 3 hours of pure boredom.

"Heaven's Gate" isn't a bad movie. Granted, it's wy too long, but it had a good story.

"Cutthroat Island" is horrible. Geena Davis has never recovered from that one.

I know Gigli didn't lose a zillion dollars, but that movie was just terrible. It made me want to kill myself. I'm exaggerating, but not too much, lol.

Where's Waterworld? 3 hours of pure boredom.


While Waterworld was one of the most expensive movies ever made, it did excellent in foreign markets and the studio actually broke even.

According to the IMDB, "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" starring Eddie Murphy is the biggest financial disaster of any movie to date, with "a budget of $100 million and a total US gross of $4.41 million (total loss, $95.59 million)."

Ouch.

I remember The Postman with Kevin Costner crashed and burned at the box office, but I enjoyed it.

I remember The Postman with Kevin Costner crashed and burned at the box office, but I enjoyed it.

Yeah, the Postman was a big critical and box office bomb, but I liked it too.

According to the IMDB, "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" starring Eddie Murphy is the biggest financial disaster of any movie to date, with "a budget of $100 million and a total US gross of $4.41 million (total loss, $95.59 million)."

Ouch.

Actually, Treasure Planet has it beat, it lossed a total of $125 million. It's budget was at 140 million and marketing was over 40 million.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and call "Superman Returns" a bomb. It cost somewhere between 250 and 300 mil to make (if you factor in advertizing and promotion) and it barely made 200 million here in the United States. It made some money overseas, but overall, it didn't rake in the big dough like they wanted it to.

Actually, Treasure Planet has it beat, it lossed a total of $125 million. It's budget was at 140 million and marketing was over 40 million.

You're right. But at least Treasure Planet had some box office business. NO ONE saw Pluto Nash. :lol:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and call "Superman Returns" a bomb. It cost somewhere between 250 and 300 mil to make (if you factor in advertizing and promotion) and it barely made 200 million here in the United States. It made some money overseas, but overall, it didn't rake in the big dough like they wanted it to.


I agree, Superman Returns made nowhere near what they had anticipated.

You're right. But at least Treasure Planet had some box office business. NO ONE saw Pluto Nash. :lol:
Excuse me, but what was Pluto Nash???? Serious! :confused:

I think Hollywood is learning the hard way that spending 300 million on a movie is just not going to work anymore. It's too risky.

I think Hollywood is learning the hard way that spending 300 million on a movie is just not going to work anymore. It's too risky.
Which is why Mel Gibson used his own money...Touche! Mel...:D

Excuse me, but what was Pluto Nash???? Serious! :confused:

"Pluot Nash" was a 2002 sci fi space comedy starring Eddie Murphy. I guess the studio new they had a big budget stinker on thier hands, because it sat on the shelf for nearly two years. It's a big budget mess. Avoid at all costs.

;)

Which is why Mel Gibson used his own money...Touche! Mel...:D

"Passion Of The Christ" was a movie that the studios didn't want to make. In their eyes, "religious" movies don't make money. They were wrong.

;)

Where's Waterworld? 3 hours of pure boredom.
i agree

I agree, Superman Returns made nowhere near what they had anticipated.

And that really bummed me out. I was rooting for the re-birth of the franchise, and I thought that Returns, while flawed, is certainly better than the second, third and fourth Superman films starring Christopher Reeve (although with the upcoming Richard Donner cut, Superman II might redeem itself).

It looks like there probably won't be a sequel now.

While we're talking about box office disappointments and Superman movies, let's not forget Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. That was a critical and box office disappointment.

While we're talking about box office disappointments and Superman movies, let's not forget Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. That was a critical and box office disappointment.

Oh God, that movie was awful.

Nuclearman? Are they kidding me?

"Passion Of The Christ" was a movie that the studios didn't want to make. In their eyes, "religious" movies don't make money. They were wrong.

;)"The Passion of the Christ" was a big screen reenactment of The Passion Play performances in Europe. It made money because of that, plus also it was Mel Gibson's project, and he was still a big name then. It was also because of the controversy then about being allegedly disrespectful of the Jews that made it a big moneymaker. Of course if he released it in this past month, it's doubtful he'd make that kind of money now.

Religious movies are always a big gamble for studios. There's always a chance they could "offend" someone--most likely a religious person for not being "true" to Scripture or something not "reverent" enough. Too much controversy for all involved. Not that there can't be ones with religious themes.