The biggest summer movie busts of all time

With a budget of more than $170 million, this much-hyped Kevin Costner post-apocalyptic drama was reportedly the most expensive film ever made at the time. It also became one of the biggest box-office bombs, making just $88 million in the United States. Though the movie was modestly praised for its visual work, the overall product was never able to live up to hype and remains a red flag on Costner's film legacy.   

Even with the dreamy Antonio Banderas in the midst of his leading-man days, the film lost in the neighborhood of $129 million. Not only is this historical action film, with some viking flare, considered one of the biggest box-office flops of all time, but it is also maybe one of the worst movies to grace a big screen. Based on Michael Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead," T"he 13th Warrior" fails on many levels. 

In its defense, this cold-war animated, sci-fi film received many positive reviews and has enjoy a somewhat decent cult legacy. Still, when it came out in the summer of 1999, a picture about a large robot (voiced by Vin Diesel) living amid the Cold War reportedly cost between $50 million to $70 million — depending on who is doing the talking — to make but made over $31 million worldwide.  

Based on the early 1980s book of the same name by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, star John Travolta, a longtime follower of Hubbard's alleged cult-like "church," went to great lengths and put in plenty of money into the science-fiction offering set in the year 3000, where humans are slaves. Interesting? Not so much for moviegoers, as it made less than $21.5 million on a reported budget of $73 million.

Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore and Nathan Lane could not save this animated post-apocalyptic film from box-office disappointment. The movie cost upward of $90 million to make but grossed less than $40 million. This is not a happy animated film like the others that were coming out at the time, and though the visuals were worthy of attention, the survival of the human race was not going to come from this effort. In a way, this was a worse version of 1981's "Heavy Metal."

This is probably one film that Eddie Murphy would like to take back. Sure, he was a big enough star to try anything once for a paycheck. However, a sci-comedy that also featured the annoying Jay Mohr was essentially doomed from the start. Come on. Is running a bar on the Moon really a good idea? The film made a reported $7.1 million and was considered a flop up against its $100 million budget.

Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer were all part of the voice cast for this animated take of the famed pirate, his friend Marina and a dog. The movie made only $26.5 million in the U.S., even though reviews were not all on the negative side. It just seemed that a commonly told tale without many bells and whistles was not what film lovers were looking for at the time.

Ridley Scott's tale of the Crusades ran 144 minutes. That probably felt like a lifetime to moviegoers. While this Orlando Bloom vehicle grossed about $164 million internationally, it made less than $50 million in the United States and Canada. Thus, branded a box-office disappointment since it cost around $130 million to make. 

The names were big enough to succeed: Jamie Foxx, Josh Lucas and Jessica Biel. Too bad that did not happen. This action tale of stealth fighter pilots made just over $32 million against a reported $135 million total budget. Aftering faring well with "The Fast and the Furious" and "XXX," director Rob Cohen was not as fortunate with this disappointment. 

This is more of a spinoff rather than a sequel to 2003's " Bruce Almighty," starring Jim Carrey. In this case, Steve Carell takes over the lead role as a reporter turned politician who starts hanging with God (Morgan Freeman). However, while Carell is not bad in the role, the much-hyped film failed to live up to any of that or the original movie. It fell short of its $175 million goal, reportedly losing an estimated $102 million when adjusted for inflation. 

There are some pundits still to this day who will champion for the live-action version of this famous Japanese-bread, animated television series. But with a reported budget of $120 million, the movie grossed only $93 million. Emile Hirsch handled the lead role in a film that was quite busy from a visual sense but also probably needed a few viewings to really be appreciated. 

Before his success with "Deadpool," Ryan Reynolds and superheroes did not seem to work well. Case in point: "Green Lantern ." Reynolds, himself, reportedly was not even happy with the picture. From the clumsy story, questionable CGI and inconsistent character development, the movie received mixed results and it's been stated that it lost in the area of $75 million. However, the experience was not all bad for Reynolds, who met wife Blake Lively during filming.

As we know, Hollywood likes to take popular television shows and try to make them into blockbuster movies. Often times they fall flat. Here's an example . With Johnny Depp as a frightening looking Tonto to Armie Hammer's Lone Ranger (who Donald Trump in a mask does not resemble), this updated version did not deliver. It was reportedly estimated that the Disney version needed to make $650 million internationally to break even. It made just over $260 million.

This was the third "Fantastic Four" film released and widely considered the worst. While we love the classic characters, especially The Thing, this take proved to be a major disappointment. From its dragging pace, lackluster visuals and poor attempts at humor, "Fantastic Four" was a collective mess. It lost a reported $100 million and was considered one of the worst movies of 2015.

Tim Burton did not direct this movie, but he was a producer, so there is much of his influence in this sequel to his "Alice in Wonderland"  from 2010. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) goes back to Wonderland, where the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is out of control. Still, there was nothing special about the movie, especially from a character development standpoint. It lost an estimated $70 million and is another reason why sequels are not always a good idea.

Guy Ritchie can be a hit-or-miss director, and this was certainly a case where he was way off. Not even Jude Law as the evil king Vortigern could save this film about a fantasy-like version of Camelot. It cost $175 million to make, but did not even gross $150. Even worse for Ritchie, it was slated to be the first in a six-film series franchise. However, things never moved further than this picture. 

Tom Cruise is obviously known for making blockbusters, but " The Mummy" was not one of them. Though it made a worldwide gross of more than $410 million, it also lost a whopping $95 million, based on estimated models. As a rogue soldier who finds a tomb of an Egyptian princess, Cruise wasn't able to rescue a movie that was well-hyped but failed to deliver as a consistently sound thriller. 

Word on the street was that Ron Howard's Solo needed to make about $500 million just to break even. It made a little less than $395 million, thus considered the least financially successful of all the films within the "Star Wars" franchise. To be fair, the movie was not nearly as bad as its box office take would suggest. The story of Han Solo was entertaining enough to more than hold our attention, but all the drama that went into making the movie likely comprised the creative process as a whole.

We love Melissa McCarthy's comedic work — most of the time. This was not one of those moments. Puppets and humans living together is not a far-fetched idea, but in the case of this dark comedy, it was a little creepy. The adult-oriented themes and inappropriate jokes almost seemed like some strange fetish, which was maybe why it made just $27 million, well below its budget of more than $40 million.

Whether questionable acting (yes, James McAvoy or Sophie Turner) or an overall weak plot were to blame, " Dark Phoenix" did not live up to the massive hype or fare well as other films in the "X-Men" franchise. When all was said and done, the movie lost an estimated $130 million — a big reason that the expected series trilogy was scrapped. This was one of the major movie disappointments of all 2019.