User:DeadPixel/sandbox/Box-office bombs

A box-office bomb is when a film is considered financially unsuccessful during it's time in the theaters. Box office bombs can hurt the film's production studio financially and can also kill a film's franchise. The amount of box-office revenue the film needs to make in order to not be considered a bomb depends on the budget of the film.

Circumstances that can cause a film to bomb

 * 1) Bad reception.
 * 2) Poor marketing.
 * 3) Franchise fatigue.
 * 4) Controversy that leads to consumers boycotting the film or even it's studio.
 * 5) Coming out around the same time as a more highly anticipated film.
 * 6) Coming out at a time when movie tickets are less affordable.
 * 7) Not showing the film in enough theaters.
 * 8) Star Wars was almost a victim of this, as it was only ordered by 37 theaters in North America. Thankfully, 20th Century Fox demanded that theaters screen the film if they wanted to screen The Other Side of Midnight, which was highly anticipated.
 * 9) Poor budgeting.
 * 10) Simultaneously releasing on-demand.
 * 11) After the success of the VOD release of Trolls: World Tour, Universal had plans to release new films simultaneously in both theaters and on-demand, which almost got the studio's films banned from AMC theaters.
 * 12) Coming out during a national crisis or disaster, such as a hurricane or pandemic.
 * 13) Many films released during the COVID-19 pandemic had to skip their theatrical release and debut on-demand instead.

List of specific box-office bombs and their effects

 * Sleeping Beauty-This was Disney's most expensive film at the time of it's release. The box-office performance of the film lead to many layoff's in Disney's animation department and there were even talks of closing the department altogether. Thankfully, Disney recovered from the financial crisis with 101 Dalmatians, which had to be produced on a lower budget, employing money saving animation methods such as the xerox process.
 * Penguins of Madagascar-DreamWorks Animation had to do a company restructuring that lead to the closure of PDI, which cut off 500 jobs.
 * The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part-Warner Brothers allowed their film rights with Lego to expire. Thankfully, Lego eventually made a new film deal with Universal.
 * Batman Returns-Warner Brothers determined that the reason why this film bombed was because of it's dark tone. As a result, it's successor, Batman Forever, was given a cheesy more kid-friendly tone, not only to make it more accessible to a younger audience (albeit, it still got a PG-13 rating), but also to increase merchandise and licensing revenue from toys and promotional tie-ins.
 * Gotham City went from a depressing, industrial/gothic city to a contrasty, neon-lit circus likened by the creatives to nighttime Tokyo.
 * The next film, Batman & Robin, was toned down even more to the point where dark elements of any kind from the previous movies had been completely removed(though this film also still maintained it's PG-13 rating). Also, speaking of which...
 * Batman & Robin-This movie killed the careers of some of the actors involved, such as Uma Thurman, Chris O'Donnell, and Alicia Silverstone. It also killed Hollywood's interest in Batman films, with the next film, Batman Unchained, being cancelled. Thankfully, Batman films made a comeback 8 years later with Batman Begins, which would bring back the dark and gritty tones that would remain in future films(except Lego films, which is acceptable), with some films like Joker even getting an R rating.
 * The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!-By August 2011, seven months before the film's release, Aardman already had ideas for a sequel. A story for a second film was prepared in June 2012, but Sony rejected it due to the film not making enough international earnings. Peter Lord said that the studio even had a poster for The Pirates! In an Adventure with Cowboys!
 * This is what killed Aardman's interest in working with Hollywood. Since then, their films have been co-produced by the French company, StudioCanal.
 * Many 2D and stop-motion animated films tend to underperform compared to CG animated films nowadays. As a result, it's become rare to see these kinds of films on the big screen.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Some films that underperform in their country of origin still manage to make enough international earnings to be successful, or at the very least keep the studio alive.
 * 2) Films that flopped at the box-office can still recover money through television syndications and home video sales.
 * 3) Some films that initially bombed would still eventually find their success long after release by being re-evaluated over time or gaining a cult following. Examples of this include The Wizard of Oz, It's a Wonderful Life, Citizen Kane, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and The Shawshank Redemption.
 * 4) The Iron Giant was initially a box-office bomb, but the film's director Brad Bird, would later gain popularity from working with Pixar as the director of The Incredibles and Ratatoullie. This would lead to much more appreciation for The Iron Giant and it even managed to get a second chance in theaters.