- These movies had huge budgets that producers expected would turn in huge profits when released.
- However, the films lost millions of dollars for studios after hitting theaters.
- The first “Joker” movie grossed over a billion dollars. Its sequel made just over $200 million.
When “Joker” was released in 2019, it grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing R-rated movie at the time, and its star, Joaquin Phoenix, won an Academy Award.
Greenlighting a sequel was a no-brainer.
However, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which was released in October, made just a fifth of what its predecessor earned at the box office, joining a long list of films that — surprisingly — nobody wanted to see.
Though producers, directors, and cast members likely assumed the films on this list would be box-office smashes, many ended up losing tens of millions of dollars. Some lost hundreds of millions.
Take a look at the films that were surprise box-office bombs.
Zoë Ettinger contributed to an earlier version of this story.
