10 Films That Risk Being 2014's Biggest Box Office Failures

7. Hercules: The Thracian Wars

For the man known as 'franchise Viagra', it seems remarkable that Dwayne Johnson doesn't yet headline one of his own. Hoping to buck the trend with his dream role as Hercules, 2013's highest-grossing actor leads the cast of Brett Ratner's $110m historical actioner. Outside of 300, the genre isn't renowned for its commercial viability but it goes without saying that at the very least it will easily become the year's biggest Hercules movie. Outside of his lamentable family 'comedies', when Johnson is placed front-and-center he has seen the likes of The Rundown, Walking Tall, Gridiron Gang, Faster and Snitch under-perform at the box office over the last decade, which is strange given his popularity amongst audiences. As part of an ensemble his success rate is much stronger, evidenced by the healthy grosses of Fast and Furious 5 and 6, GI Joe: Retaliation, Get Smart and Journey 3D. On the other hand, Brett Ratner has a solid track record commercially, with his 3 Rush Hour movies grossing almost $850m worldwide, as well as directing the most successful entry in the entire X-Men franchise to date along with minor hits Red Dragon and Tower Heist. However, it does seem strange that with only four months until the movie hits theaters, we have yet to see any official marketing materials. Released two weeks after Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and a week before Guardians of the Galaxy, even if The Thracian Wars claims a solid opening weekend it could suffer at the box office as a result of the competition. Over the next month, The Expendables 3 and Sin City 2 also arrive to attract the action-orientated crowd so if the movie isn't up to scratch it could quickly fizzle out commercially.