10 Critically Acclaimed Films That Struggled At The Box Office

When the worst oil spill in US history happened with the Deepwater Horizon disaster and subsequent efforts to plug the well, it is safe to assume that a Hollywood Blockbuster about the event would have been the last thing on anyone's mind. Especially in the wake of eleven lives being tragically lost and billions of dollars being paid out in fines and damages.

Six years after the fact, we got the film regardless. Starring Mark Wahlberg, it told the story of the incident with surprising accuracy and the fact that audiences knew how the story was going to end did little to dampen the praise it received.

80% of all professional reviews of it were positive and in a rare occurrence for a film on this list, audiences flocked to see it in huge numbers. When it was all said and done, the box office figures had it bringing in just shy of $122 million.

However, due in particular to the nature and location of the subject being shot, the budget was huge. Estimated around the $120 million mark, it might have just broken even were it not for advertising costs pushing it north of $150 million - a painful 8-figure loss.