19. The Nutcracker in 3D
Estimated Loss: $81,910,521
Roger Ebert spoke for many in his review of this 2009 British-Hungarian film: “From what dark night of the soul emerged the wretched idea?” Instead of a lovely showing of the classic ballet, this movie instead took viewers on a wild journey into a dystopia ruled by a Nazi-like Rat Queen (John Turturro) with Nathan Lane as Albert Einstein (yes, seriously) and tons of imagery like two-legged helicopters, rat monsters and obvious Holocaust overtones. All marketed for kids. It’s one of those movies that is amazing was ever conceived, let alone made and released and Ebert’s review was actually one of the kinder ones it received. Made for about $90 million, the film barely made a blip in the box office, the bad trailers and horrific reviews keeping families away and it thus ended up losing over $80 million dollars. A fitting fate for a film most cite as the worst sort of “family entertainment” imaginable.
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18. Supernova
Estimated Loss: $82,585,960
An incredibly troubled production, this sci-fi horror movie starring James Spader and Angela Bassett began production in 1997 with a rewritten script not liked by the head of MGM and its budget cut midway through production…only to end up rising again with various delays. Over the objections of director Walter Hill, the studio screened a test cut of the movie that lacked many of its special effects that was a total disaster. Hill quit the project over the studio’s refusal to give him more money and Jack Sholder proceeded to cut much of Hill’s footage out and then reshoots that added more cost to the film. But after an upheaval at MGM, Sholder quit and the project was shelved with Francis Ford Coppola of all people paid $1 million to try and reedit it before it was finally released in 2000. The final result was a $90 million film grossing barely $15 million, a massive debacle for the studio and a shining example of how a simple sci-fi flick can get so out of control and ending badly for everyone.
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