10 Box Office Hits You Forgot Even Existed

5. Safe House

maleficent movie
Universal Pictures

For an action movie headlined by the charismatic and bankable star power of Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, Safe House was unforgivably meh. Even though it made over $40m during its opening weekend in the States and grossed $208.1m worldwide, it remains a movie in the career of both actors that nobody ever talks about.

It wasn't terrible, per se. The A-list stars bring their natural charm to the project, but both are let down by a weak script and a reliance on the tired tropes of the action genre, particularly rapid-fire editing that can often render the set-pieces incomprehensible.

The Johannesburg setting, saturated aesthetic and interesting central conceit had the potential to deliver one of 2012's best genre movies, but Safe House was ironically let down by playing things too safe.

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