10 Movies Too Big To Fail (That Did It Anyway)

9. Speed Racer

Why It Was "Too Big"

Anime might not have a great track record in big screen adaptation terms, but Speed Racer had the almighty power of the Wachowskis behind it after they'd made The Matrix movies and V For Vendetta. They were still a very big deal and Speed Racer looked like their next chance of breaking into a major fandom.

Speed Racer had been in various stages of development since 1992 and at one stage Henry Rollins, Johnny Depp and Vince Vaughn were all attached to star. In other words, it was considered one of those special projects that Hollywood persists with for decades until they get the right formula because of their faith in the project.

That's why they handed the Wachowskis $120m (as well as a huge marketing budget seeking to capitalise on the same faith in the brand that saw them licence a stunning 5000 products in the film's name).

Why It Failed Anyway

Because it's not very good. It's not entirely terrible, but the studio's faith in the fanbase (which for some reason led them to launch it with a $500,000 premiere event) missed the fact that the film only appealed to a niche audience. It made just $93.9 million against its budget and massively missed the studio's projections.

The Damage

The Wachowskis' reputation took a serious dent (which wasn't helped when they followed it up with the weird Cloud Atlas and the AWFUL Jupiter Ascending) and poor Emile Hirsch's early promise never turned into the star power we'd been assured would meet him.

Also, Warner Bros lost a lot of money, despite claiming the licensing deals made the film's financial failure easier to take.