10 Big-Budget Movies That Were Doomed From The Start
3. Evan Almighty
Jim Carrey generally doesn't make sequels to his movies, but the fact that Bruce Almighty earned $484.6m at the box office was enough to convince Universal to forge ahead with a follow-up, even with their leading man and biggest draw refusing to return to the fold.
For whatever reason, the studio decided that it was a sensible idea to spend the frankly-ridiculous sum of $175m on Evan Almighty, in the hope that audience goodwill towards the first movie would be enough to propel the second installment to financial success. It wasn't.
The production hardly went off without a hitch either; PETA was highly critical of the treatment of the animals on set, while there were protests in Malaysia claiming that the movie was offensive to Islam. Ultimately these had little bearing on the final product, but the underwhelming marketing campaign didn't exactly promise a laugh-a-minute comedy either.
Evan Almighty couldn't even recoup the colossal budget during its theatrical run, and failed to appeal to either comedy fans or the religious demographic as it almost ironically sank without a trace at the box office.