Production Budget: $135,000,000 Worldwide Gross: $76,932,872 Estimated Losses: $96,533,564 Stealth seemed like it had everything going for it when it was released in July 2005 recent Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel in a bikini in the trailers, limited action movie competition in theatres, and director Rob Cohen, whose last two films (The Fast and the Furious and xXx) were big action hits. However, all that couldn't compensate for what turned out to be a big-budget movie that audiences didn't have much interest in seeing. Critics tore the film to shreds, pointing out that the film's plot about a renegade automated fighter plane was silly and derivative of many "technology gone bad" films. After opening at #4 at the U.S. box office and only earning $13.25 million, bad word-of-mouth further sank Stealth and it only managed to make $32.1 million in the U.S. The international box office pushed the film to $76.9 million, but the film still lost $96.5 million (remember, the grosses are roughly split in half between the studio and the exhibitors). However, Stealth can take solace in the fact that its the only film on this list that is estimated to have lost less than $100 million.
Chris McKittrick is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and has spoken about film and comic books at conferences across the United States. In addition to his work at WhatCulture!, he is a regular contributor to CreativeScreenwriting.com, MovieBuzzers.com, and DailyActor.com, a website focused on acting in all media. For more information, visit his website at http://www.chrismckit.com.
