10 Box Office Flops That Threw Away Stupid Amounts Of Money
8. Sahara - $100.3 million
Budget: $160 million Box Office: $119.2 million
Genre comedies are a gamble. But like the guy who wants just one more spin on a fruit machine, Hollywood seem to take that as a sign to put more and more money into a project.
Sahara, an action-comedy starring Matthew McConaughey (pre-awesome critical turnaround) and Penelope Cruz, the film is a National Treasure style lark that sticks close enough to the middle of the road that its surprising to see it on a list like this.
Particularly when you check out that respectable box office (for the time and its scope). Sahara (released within a couple of months of Stealth) didnt fail of its own accord, but because Paramount simply sunk too much into their light hearted film that it would be almost impossible to scrape a profit.
We know much more about how Sahara flopped than others on this list (although rampant speculation is still fun) thanks to Clive Cussler, who wrote the book on which the film is based. Suing the producer after his absolute control ended up meaning nothing not only showed some major nefarious dealing, but led to the revealing some otherwise confidential documents. Turns out some of the budget was left aside for bribing Moroccan officials. Money well spent.
Did it deserve to flop? The film itself didnt, but Paramount needed to learn the folly of throwing money around like its going out of fashion.