A lot of entertainment writers frequently discuss the gulf between critics and moviegoers, or fanboys vs. general audiences, or box office vs. quality. A film like Transformers: Age of Extinction can have an 18% critical rating yet earn over a billion worldwide, while a thousand critically-praised art house dramas languish in the VOD graveyard.
With that in mind, we’re taking a look at the flipside of that gap, ten blockbuster films with massive budgets that received a lot of mileage from critics and either flopped at the box office or earned generous scorn from fans. All the films on this list scored 73% or better in their critical aggregate rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of release (meaning they were “Certified Fresh”), yet their perception today is either as bombs or disappointments that altered franchises and careers.
10 Poorly Received Blockbusters
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Edge of Tomorrow (RT rating: 90%)
PRO: Despite its middling performance stateside, barely cracking $100 million, it performed honorably overseas. CON: The title was so generic they decided to semi-alter it for home video release (to Live Die Repeat), a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding on this very expensive movie.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "A sharp sci-fi thriller that's going to be hard to beat as the summer's best blockbuster." - Peter Howell, Toronto Star
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Edge of Tomorrow (RT rating: 90%)
Here's a case of a movie that had a lot going for it and a lot going against it. PRO: Critics and audiences alike seemed to be surprised at how good it was at reframing the Groundhog Day concept in a sci-fi action context. CON: Despite the positive reception, the ending was criticized for not making sense. PRO: Tom Cruise gives a solid, movie star performance. CON: Tom Cruise is a fading brand name. Continued... -
The Abyss (RT rating: 88%)
It was also criticized by moviegoers for an ending that mimicked the emotionalism of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but was re-assessed after Cameron released a director's cut in 1993.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "Anyone looking for a discouraging word about this stupendously exciting and emotionally engulfing film should read no further. 'The Abyss' confirms James Cameron as a world-class filmmaker." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone -
The Abyss (RT rating: 88%)
At the time it came out, James Cameron's The Abyss had a huge target on its back for being the most expensive movie ever made at the time (Cameron would beat his own record several times over on later films) and one of the most grueling, trouble-plagued shoots in movie history. The underwater epic turned out to be Cameron's sole money loser, bringing in a paltry $90 million worldwide on a $70 million budget. Continued... -
Star Trek Into Darkness (RT rating: 87%)
No matter what Abrams did, this movie never stood a chance of living up to the film it was aping, 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, still considered the best entry in the series, hence Into Darkness's disappointing worldwide box office of $467M on a $190M budget.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "'Into Darkness' is a sleek, thrilling epic that's also a triumphantly witty popcorn morality play. It's everything you could want in a 'Star Trek' movie." - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly -
Star Trek Into Darkness (RT rating: 87%)
When fans at 2013's annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas voted Into Darkness as the worst Star Trek movie ever made, a lot of people under the impression that this was a critical success (at least on paper) were taken aback. The truth is J.J. Abrams' film had criticisms across the board, from the gratuitous scene of Alice Eve in her underwear, to the 9/11 Truther conspiracy angle of the Federation attacking its own people, to the whitewashing of villain Kahn (Benedict Cumberbatch). Continued... -
Grindhouse (RT rating: 83%)
Even Tarantino admitted, "Death Proof has got to be the worst movie I ever make. And for a left-handed movie, that wasn't so bad, all right?"
CRITICAL QUOTE: "Taken as a whole -- two movies and a handful of trailers -- 'Grindhouse' is pure popcorn fun." - Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
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Grindhouse (RT rating: 83%)
In 2007, both Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were considered bulletproof directors capable of delivering hit movies on a budget. Ironically, the first out-and-out box office bomb for both of them came in the form of a double feature tribute to low-budget exploitation movies that wound up costing a whopping $70 million (for both Planet Terror and Death Proof). Grindhouse only took home a measly $25 million, which would have been poor for one of Rodriguez's Spy Kids movies at the time. Continued... -
Batman Returns (RT rating: 81%)
Those expecting Tim Burton to make a proper sequel to his 1989 smash were disappointed that he made a quirky Tim Burton movie instead, resulting in heavily diminished box office. As a result, Warner Bros. went in a different direction for Batman Forever.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "Burton, once an animator at Disney, understands that to go deeper, you must fly higher, to liberation from plot into poetry. Here he's done it. This Batman soars." - Richard Corliss, TIME
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Batman Returns (RT rating: 81%)
Just the image of Danny DeVito's Penguin oozing black bile out of his mouth as he falls over and dies in a sewer might have been enough to scare kids senseless. With toys lining shelves and McDonald's Happy Meals loaded with Batman goodies, it's no surprise that a lot of parent groups and audiences in general were a little bewildered by an $80 million-dollar feminist/German expressionist art movie masquerading as a blockbuster. Continued... -
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (RT rating: 78%)
The fact that this was and still is Spielberg's highest-grossing movie since Jurassic Park must have sent a very mixed message to the director and Hollywood in general.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "I can say that if you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you will like this one, and that if you did not, there is no talking to you." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times -
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (RT rating: 78%)
Anticipation couldn't have been higher for this 18-years-later chapter in the beloved Indiana Jones franchise, yet terms like "monkey swinging" and "nuking the fridge" became synonymous with diminishing sequels. Fans were outraged at the alien McGuffin, CGI gophers and a zombiefied Harrison Ford performance, among other issues, and many involved with this film (particularly co-star Shia LaBeouf) have tried to distance themselves from it since. Continued... -
Cars (RT rating: 74%)
Is it fair to call a 74% score a dip in quality? If you consider that up until this point the lowest-rated movie from the company was A Bug's Life at 92%, then yes, it's fair to say that Cars was the first chink in their armor.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "Cars idles at times. And it's not until its final laps that the movie gains the emotional traction we've come to expect from the 'Toy Story' and 'Nemo' crews." - Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post -
Cars (RT rating: 74%)
It is almost sacrosanct to trash a Pixar movie, but company founder John Lasseter was utilizing his merchandizing expertise more than his storytelling genius with 2006's Cars. Clearly not up to the same level of Pixar quality seen in movies like The Incredibles or Toy Story, the anthropomorphic vehicles of Cars spawned a derided franchise including a certified rotten sequel (39%) and a string of cheap Planes knockoffs. Continued... -
Prometheus (RT rating: 73%)
The result is a film that--while gorgeous to look at--caused a nerd outcry so loud and high-pitched it broke several wine glasses.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "The movie may be a scare show that leaves many questions unanswered, but Scott's craft earns an exhausted kind of respect." - David Denby, New Yorker -
Prometheus (RT rating: 73%)
Ridley Scott making a straight-ahead prequel to his own 1979 classic Alien would have been grounds for high anticipation. Subtly avoiding continuity with the previous four films in the cycle to craft an "original" tale set in the same universe? Not nearly the same slam-dunk. Logic issues and inconsistent characters (a biologist afraid of dead bodies, a geologist with mapping equipment who gets lost in a tunnel) collided with a lot of loose threads left unexplained for a sequel. Continued... -
Iron Man 2 (RT rating: 73%)
Disagreements between the director and Downey Jr. led to a brief falling out between the two, and the resulting film barely outgrossed the first one when it should have been a billion-dollar movie. It is now considered one of the weaker entries in the Marvel pantheon.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "It's a clean, efficient, somewhat generic piece of storytelling and most of the additions are not subtractions. This passes for success in the summer movie season." - Scott Tobias, AV Club -
Iron Man 2 (RT rating: 73%)
Replacing Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle was the least incoherent thing about this rushed sequel made while Marvel Studios built up its creative muscle. As we discussed in our feature on the 10 Worst Superhero Movie Supporting Characters, Mickey Rourke's hammy performance as Russian bad guy Whiplash was ridiculed by fans for his flamboyant appearance and general ineffectiveness; both his fights with Iron Man last only a couple minutes each. Continued... -
The Matrix Reloaded (RT rating: 73%)
Reloaded had enough residual goodwill from the first movie to nearly double its worldwide gross, but third movie The Matrix Revolutions wound up a victim of the second film's poor reception, with both the grosses and critical ratings.
CRITICAL QUOTE: "Delivers enough thrills, kicks and cool moments to satiate geeks, fans and mere general viewers worldwide." - Todd McCarthy, Variety -
The Matrix Reloaded (RT rating: 73%)
While the first film blew people's minds, The Matrix sequels were plagued by problems. Whether the Wachowskis simply bit off more than they could chew in crafting back-to-back sequels or audiences simply got tired of bullet time action sequences, The Matrix Reloaded was criticized by fans for a rave scene inside Zion, bad video game-esque CGI during Neo's rumble with hundreds of Agent Smiths, and a five-minute-long lecture by The Architect that was as dense as a marijuana-tinged undergraduate philosophy paper. Continued...
