10 Movie Flops You've Probably Forgotten

Every film fan knows that Jaws dominated the box office in 1975, that Star Wars came out 2 years later and that the summer of ’82 belonged to E.T. They’re aware that 1989 was Batman’s year, that Jurassic Park was the hot ticket for ’93 and that Titanic broke records back in ’97.

Once you get past 2000, though, things get a little murkier. Was Jurassic Park III released in 2000 or 2001? Did Men In Black II come out in 2001 or was it later? Come to think of it, when were Spider-Man 3, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Last Airbender released?

It could be that we’ve romanticized the past, or it could be that modern blockbusters are so ubiquitous, not to mention anonymous, that we just don’t care anymore. If you didn’t like Batman Vs Superman then don’t worry because Captain America: Civil War will be along a month later.

It’s only when you look back that you realize just how many films failed to find their audience and were subsequently forgotten. Not for them an afterlife on DVD or late night television; these are the kinds of films you see filling the shelves in thrift stores.

Here are 10 that are best left undisturbed.

Supposedly based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen unites several characters from 19th Century literature (including Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray) but, unable to decide what to do with them, has them run around for 2 hours dodging explosions.

Also included in the group is Dr Jekyll, whose transformations into Mr Hyde are more The Incredible Hulk than Robert Louis Stevenson which is surely intentional – Ang Lee’s Hulk opened that same summer, after all. Whenever onscreen, he growls while destroying the scenery with his fists, so the filmmakers missed a trick by not having him say, “Hyde smash!”

Described by the New York Daily News as “beyond banal”, and a box office stiff to boot (it cost $78 million yet made $66 million in the US), the film is extraordinary only for the effect it had on its cast and crew. Star Sean Connery went into retirement, director Stephen Norrington left Hollywood and Alan Moore stopped selling the film rights to his work.