10 Movies That Should Never Have Bombed At The Box Office (But Totally Did)
2. John Carter
If any other studio than Disney had released two box office bombs back-to-back like The Lone Ranger and John Carter, it would have almost certainly ruined them into bankruptcy. It's a testament to the financial clout Disney carries in its back pocket, and the fact that even a wildly successful company such as them is not immune to the perils of a new release sinking horribly on release.
Fundamentally, John Carter is actually a rather decent movie. It's very well directed by Andrew Stanton (WALL-E), reasonably well-acted, and has plenty of salivating world-building and action sequences to get your teeth into.
However, you could have swapped Stanton with J.J. Abrams and cast Chris Hemsworth in the lead role, and you'd still get a heavy flop. Why? Because there's just no way a previously unadapted novel from 1912 was going to overcome a disgustingly mammoth budget that bordered $300 million.
When it was all said and done, the movie grossed around $280 million. Something most movie releases could only dream of, except for Disney it was a nightmare. Fingers crossed for a series on Disney+.