The recent box office debacle of Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux has reignited the debate about big-budget films bombing at the box office. Every year, the budgets of Hollywood studios’ tentpole films increase by millions of dollars. And while many succeed, a few continue to fall short of expectations. These box office bombs lose tens, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. At the top of this dubious list is a 2012 release that flopped so badly that the studio head lost their job. (Also read: Made in ₹45 crore, earned just ₹60k, India’s biggest box office bomb sold 500 tickets)
Hollywood’s biggest box office bomb
In 2012, director Andrew Stanton, best known for his work on animated classics Finding Nemo and WALL-E, took charge of a live-action spectacle – John Carter. Based on A Princess of Mars, the first book in the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter followed the titular hero on an adventure across an inhabited Mars. Made on a production budget of over $300 million, John Carter boasted of big visual effects and was one of the most expensive films made at that point. A huge publicity campaign from Walt Disney Studios saw the film’s landing cost balloon further.
However, John Carter was a massive box office disappointment, earning only $284 million gross worldwide. After deducing tax and expenditure, the net earnings for the producers was even lower. In 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported that the film had a notional loss of around $265 million for the studio, the highest in Hollywood history. Some other estimates put the losses at a relatively lower $150 million.
The aftermath of John Carter’s bombing
John Carter was Disney’s tentpole film in 2012, i.e., their biggest release, one they had hedged all their bets on. The film’s bombing at the box office was a big setback for the studio, given that rivals Marvel Studios saw massive success in Avengers at the same time. As a result, the board made Rich Ross, the head of Walt Disney Studios, resign. It was reported that Ross tried to blame Pixar for John Carter’s failure, which alienated many executives in both Disney and Pixar. (Also read: John Carter is a megaflop: Disney)
After the film’s release, Director Andrew Stanton returned to New York City and stayed low, living with his family for months. “I had to go into true ‘Lost Weekend’ to just purge myself,” he said later. He eventually returned to Pixar, where he directed Finding Dory, but never attempted a live-action film again, until now, when he signed on to direct In The Blink Of An Eye. The worst fate befell the film’s female lead, Lynn Collins, who was asked by her publicist “to disappear for a while” to avoid backlash. Collins felt that putting the blame on her and not on Taylor Kitsch, who played the titular character, was sexist. The actor’s role in The Wolverine was cut after John Carter, and she was not seen in another film for three more years when she returned with Lost in the Sun, an indie film. In the nine years since, Collins has appeared in only four more films but made an impression in a recurring role on The Walking Dead in 2021-22.