As we’ve just rounded the corner into a new decade, we’ve been inundated with everyone and their grandmother’s lists for “Best Of” and “Worst Of.”  So it’s not a big surprise that Forbes.com has just released their list of the 15 Biggest Flops of the Last Five Years.  Why five years?  Maybe the man wouldn’t give them ten.  Regardless, what is surprising is some of the films that ended up on it, quality be damned.  Also no surprise that two Eddie Murphy films are on the list (only two?)  However, this particular list isn’t based on opinion like most others, but rather the cold economics.  Forbes explains it as so:

To calculate our list we looked at movies that featured big-name stars (like Penn, Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers) but failed to earn back their budgets at the box office. We used numbers from Box Office Mojo and IMDB to get estimated budgets and earnings. We then figured out what percentage of its budget each film failed to earn back. We’re only looking at box office revenue here, not DVD and TV sales, which can often make up for box office shortfalls. But we’re also not including the cost of advertising, which often adds another one-third or more to a film’s budget.

Here’s how their list breaks down:

  1. All The King’s Men, 2006: – Cost: $55 million, Take: $9 million, an 84% loss.
  2. The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, 2008 – Cost: $40 million, Take: $10 million, a 75% loss.
  3. Stay, 2005 – Cost: $30 million, Take: $8 million, an 73% loss.
  4. Grindhouse, 2007 – Cost: $67 million, Take: $25 million, a 63% loss.
  5. Imagine That, 2009 – Cost: $55 million, Take: $23 million, a 58% loss.
  6. The Fountain, 2006 – Cost: $35 million, Take: $16 million, a 54% loss.
  7. The Invasion, 2007 – Cost: $80 million, Take: $40 million, a 50% loss.
  8. The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, 2007 – Cost: $30 million, Take: $15 million, a 50% loss.
  9. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, 2007 – Cost: $35 million, Take: $21 million, a 40% loss.
  10. The Love Guru, 2008- Cost: $62 million, Take: $41 million, a 34% loss.
  11. School For Scoundrels, 2006- Cost: $35 million, Take: $24 million, a 31% loss.
  12. Land Of the Lost, 2009 – Cost: $100 million, Take: $70 million, a 30% loss.
  13. Meet Dave, 2008 – Cost: $60 million, Take: $50 million, a 17% loss.
  14. Aeon Flux, 2005 – Cost: $62 million, Take: $52 million, a 16% loss.
  15. The Producers, 2005- Cost: $45 million, Take: $38 million, a 16% loss.


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