10 Notorious Box Office Bombs That Are Actually Pretty Good

6. White House Down (2013)

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Columbia Pictures

Budget: $150m Box Office: $205.4m RT: 51%

In the box office battle between the two 'Die Hard in the White House' movies, it was Olympus Has Fallen that came out on top, posting a bigger profit and spawning a sequel. Despite the similar premise of both projects, Roland Emmerich's blockbuster took itself a lot less seriously than Antoine Fuqua's, and is arguably the more entertaining of the two.

Writer James Vanderbilt's spec script was purchased for $3m, but must have been heavily altered by the studio before shooting began. Otherwise, it beggars belief as to why a story packed full of one-dimensional characters, plot twists signposted a mile away and countless genre cliches could have possibly cost so much to procure.

However, the chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx does generate an old-school buddy picture vibe, backed by a strong supporting cast including Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods and Richard Jenkins. Despite a distracting editing job that was surely implemented to secure a PG-13 rating, the movie gladly embraces the ridiculousness of its premise after a standard first act, and turns into an enjoyably stupid popcorn flick that propels itself along on sheer dumb fun.

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