10 Infamous Movie Box Office Bombs That Cost Obscene Money

2. 47 Ronin

47 ronin
Universal Pictures

The story of the 47 ronin is one of the most legendary tales in Japanese culture, but it seems doubtful that the movie adaptation that starred the decidedly non-Japanese Keanu Reeves in the lead role and featured all sorts of fantastical and poorly-rendered CGI creatures will go down in history as one of the definitive tellings.

Director Carl Rinsch made his feature debut on the movie and seemingly nuked his own career in the process, after struggling to get to grips with having a $175m budget at his disposal for a big-budget fantasy epic that saw him crack under the weight of inexperience and studio interference.

Rinsch was eventually kicked out entirely during post-production, leading to extensive re-shoots to try and salvage a project that many were already predicting would be an unmitigated disaster. It turned out that they were right and then some, with 47 Ronin failing to even crack $150m at the box office while being savaged by critics who rightly called it one of the worst blockbusters in recent memory.

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