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Box office performance is a (very) simple indicator of whether a movie is good or not. Great movies tend to do well, while bad movie tend to be box office bombs.
Of course, what’s good and what’s bad is subjective. (Up to a point. There are some objectively terrible films out there and some bad movies rake in the dough.)
But the receipts don’t always tell the whole story. There are some great films that do poorly at the box office. One of the most oft-cited examples is the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, which failed to recoup its $2.3 million budget.
We’re looking at the good movies that failed to do well at the box office, so don’t expect to see Battlefield Earth on this list. Because this is a list of the best box office bombs.
You might not be surprised to find 2 Christian Slater movies here, but Morgan Freeman and Harrison Ford both have 2 each as well. Here are some of the most underrated movies you can watch on streaming services right now.
💰 Note: Box office numbers are rounded to the nearest million and sourced from each film’s Wikipedia page.
Top 10 best box office bombs on streaming
Hard Rain (1998)
Four years after his screenplay Speed dominated the box office, writer Graham Yost penned his second film to star Christian Slater. The then twentysomething Slater is joined by Morgan Freeman and Randy Quaid in this pure-90s action thriller.
The plot is simple enough: When a devastating flood demands the evacuation of an Indiana town, an armored car driver takes on a gang of bank robbers during the storm.
Critics and audiences seem to agree, with 31% and 34% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes, but this is a truly underrated action film. It’s non-stop fun and among Slater’s best.
Budget: $70 million
Box office: $20 million
Stream it on:
Paramount+ (via Apple TV only), Pluto, Hoopla
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
How does a movie that rakes in nearly $400 million still manage to be a box office flop? Being one of the most expensive movies ever made is a good place to start.
With a budget of more than a quarter-billion dollars, it had to do extremely well in theaters. Unfortunately, the masses did not awaken enough.
Maybe it’s not the Han Solo origin story that original trilogy fans wanted or expected — Harrison Ford is no easy vest to fill — so fans raised with the sequel trilogy onward will likely enjoy it more.
It’s the only Star Wars movie considered a box office bomb, but Solo is a fun-filled sci-fi adventure and Donald Glover is awesome as Lando Calrissian.
Budget: $275–330 million
Box office: $393 million
Stream it on:
Disney+
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
It’s a big-budget movie about a Soviet nuclear submarine starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson as Russian navy captains. The target audience for this movie is clear and present.
And it’s not a small demographic.
When K-19: The Widowmaker was released, Ford and Neeson were both leading men with the power to carry any film with their name on the marquee. K-19 should have been slam dunk at the box office, but ticket sales barely covered 2/3 of its budget.
Based on the true story of Russia’s first nuclear sub malfunctioning on its maiden voyage, the movie is packed with suspense, intrigue, and claustrophobia. It stands as one of the best in the submarine genre.
But this box office bomb almost sunk some careers.
Director Kathryn Bigelow took a 6-year break before redeeming herself to studios with The Hurt Locker, which was nominated for 9 Oscars and won six.
And a great 2022 article on RogerEbert.com dives deeper into the film, calling K-19 the film that changed the trajectory of Ford’s career.
Budget: $90
Box office: $66
Stream it on:
Peacock, Freevee, Plex, Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Shout TV
3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
A spate of flashy, witty. violent films were churned out during the decade of post-Pulp Fiction Hollywood. Most were a disappointment. To critics, audiences, and studios.
Some, such as The Way of the Gun (which wasn’t a total financial disaster), became cult films. Other movies, to quote Warden Samuel Norton, vanished like a fart in the wind.
3000 Miles to Graceland is one of those farts.
But it does not stink.
With Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Christian Slater, Bookem Woodbine, Ice-T, Howie Long, and Thomas Haden Church, 3000 Miles to Graceland has enough machismo for two films. Add to it the wry wit and charisma of Kevin Pollak and David Arquette and you’ve got a recipe for success. Winner, winner chicken dinner!
Of course, it needs a story.
In a nutshell, a ragtag gang of hardened criminals armed with heavy firepower and an abundance of ammo rob a Vegas casino. Dressed like Elvis. During an Elvis convention.
Leave your brain at the door, sit back, and enjoy.
🃏 BONUS: 3000 Miles to Graceland is part of our Great GIF Collection.
Budget: $47 million
Box office: $19 million
Stream it on:
Pluto TV
Ali (2001)
Directed by Michael Mann and starring a pre-slap Will Smith as The Greatest, this biopic is one of the most underrated sports films of all time.
The movie starts with Cassius Clay before his bout with heavyweight champ Sonny Liston, then follows Ali as he befriends Malcolm X, refuses to fight in Vietnam, and enters the ring for 2 of the biggest fights in boxing history.
Ignore the receipts. This box office bomb is a must-see film for fans of sports movies.
Budget: $107–118 million
Box office: $88 million
Stream it on:
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Michael Cera’s rom-com action film is based on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series by Canadian comic book artist and writer Brian O’Malley.
It follows slacker Scott as he fends off an army of ex-boyfriends still enamored with his newest boo, Ramona Flowers.
Critics loved it. Audiences loved it. But unfortunately box office receipts were around $35 million short of breaking even. Maybe comedies shouldn’t cost $85 million?
Budget: $60–85 million
Box office: $49 million
Stream it on:
Netflix
The Cotton Club (1984)
Francis Ford Coppola’s 1984 musical crime drama centers around a jazz club in 1930s Harlem.
The all-star cast includes Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Gregory Hines, Bob Hoskins, Nicola Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Waits and more.
Evidently critics enjoyed The Cotton Club far more than audiences. Even though it was nominated for a pair each of Golden Globes and Oscars, among other awards, the film didn’t even earn half of its budget at the box office.
The divide between critics and audiences continues to this day, scoring the movie 74% vs 56% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes.
Composer John Barry’s soundtrack for the film won the Grammy Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band.
Budget: $58 million
Box office: $26 million
Stream it on:
Freevee, Plex, Roku Channel, Pluto TV
Office Space (1999)
Office Space is one of the greatest workplace films of all time. However, like an underappreciated employee, it got the shaft at the box office.
Written and directed by Mike Judge, it was his first live-action feature film and only his second ever, after Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.
And it was awesome.
There are basically 2 types of people: Those who love Office Space and those who haven’t seen it. (Slight hyperbole, but let it slide.)
Even still, Mike Judge once said a studio exec told him “nobody wants to see your little movie about ordinary people and their boring lives.”
And they were right.
The oft-quoted movie’s epic printer smashing scene may live on in GIF form, but the film that introduced Geto Boys to a whole new audience failed to get its hands on some, sweet mo-neyyyy.
Budget: $10
Box office: $12
Stream it on:
Max (via Prime Channels), DirecTV Stream
The Suicide Squad (2021)
The government enlists a group of supervillains to destroy an even bigger supervillain, a giant alien starfish called Starro the Conqueror.
Not to be confused with the 2016 movie Suicide Squad, to which it is a standalone sequel, The Suicide Squad is far better than its predecessor.
However, while the 2016 movie hauled in nearly $750 million at the box office, The Suicide Squad fell almost $20 million short of its $185 million budget.
Why?
Two things.
One, COVID.
Two, it hit theaters while simultaneously being released on HBO Max. (And Warner Bros. learned an expensive lesson.)
But the movie is one of the best superhero movies ever. And by far the most violent. It is insanely violent. The opening scene alone will have your jaw on the floor. So, y’know, trigger warning and all that.
Budget: $185 million
Box office: $169 million
Stream it on:
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
This may come as a surprise to, well, everyone, seeing as The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most beloved movies of all time.
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actor, and Cinematography, it failed to win any of them.
Based on Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne is sentenced to life in prison in 1947 for killing his wife and her lover. (He didn’t.)
The story follows Andy over the course of 28 years as he befriends fellow inmate Red and his crew, battles white supremacist rapists, and launders money for Warden Samuel Norton.
Budget: $25 million
Box office: $16 million ($73 million after being re-released after The Oscars.)
Stream it on:
Paramount+ (via Apple TV only)
Best box office bombs available for digital rental
There are some box office bombs that are not on streaming, but they’re available to rent digitally. Our top pick is an easy one, because it’s one of the greatest movies ever made. Blade Runner only brought in $41 million on a budget of $30 million, but it influenced an entire genre.
Blade Runner (1982)
In one of those rare situations where the movie is better than the book — in this case much better — Blade Runner deservedly overshadows Philip K. Dick’s terrible novel.
Directed by Ridley Scott hot on the heels of his seminal sci-fi horror blockbuster Alien (1979) and starring Harrison Ford tucked between The Empire Strikes Back (1981) and Return of the Jedi (1983), this movie should have been huge.
But it wasn’t.
During its initial release, Blade Runner made $28 million, two mill short of its $30 million budget. Subsequent re-cuts and releases of the film (at least 7 at the time of writing) have bumped that number up to a more respectable $41 million.
It was released amidst a bevy of sci-fi films — E.T., The Thing, Wrath of Khan — which is one reason that’s been proffered to account for Blade Runner‘s weak ticket sales.
But it’s more likely due to the film being less accessible than any of its contemporaries mentioned above. Blade Runner is hard sci-fi and cyberpunk — 2 elements that appeal to a smaller audience. Especially in 1982.
Admittedly, Blade Runner wasn’t a studio-destroying bomb, but it was still considered a massive failure. But it also became one of the most aesthetically influential films of all time. And it’s a must-see for anyone who enjoys hard sci-fi and/or cyberpunk.
Rent it on:
Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft, DirecTV, Spectrum
Other box office bombs worth watching?
Do you have a favorite film that failed to perform well at the box office? Drop us a comment below to let us know what other movies deserve a spot on the list of best box office bombs.
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