10 Reasons Huge Movies Keep Flopping

The film industry is still reeling from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while there has been a degree of recovery, it's also fair to say that audience habits have been changed by it - partially due to studio strategies that were implemented during lockdowns, which saw more movies getting a simultaneous streaming and theatrical release.

Audiences simply haven't rushed back to the multiplexes in droves for much outside of either horror films or splashy, buzzy blockbusters.

The biggest financial hits of recent times - Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Barbie, and Oppenheimer - all benefitted from being sold as major events that exploited people's FOMO.

With home cinema systems improving every year, and many investing in bigger TVs and better sound systems when cinemas were shut, it seems harder to convince audiences to leave the house these days.

For most, it needs to be not just a film but an experience, and sometimes even rave reviews aren't enough to generate a smash hit - as has been the case with Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.