10 Terrible Movies That Still Managed To Break The Box Office
Proving once and for all that artistry and popularity don't go hand in hand.
The supposed strength of markets lies in their ability to weed out a bad product, allowing quality and buying power to work together in a system where competitors battle to bring ever-better goods to we humble consumers. Or so goes the capitalist adage.
In reality, it's often a race to the bottom -- and the world of cinema is no different. For many years, the film industry has been big business, run on a model that prioritises returns over creativity, revenues over artistry, dollars over... well, you get the picture. This system has shot out many, many films that have made hella bank despite their sub-par quality. In some cases there's a rhyme and reason why a film does so well despite its compromising viewing experience; in others, it's pretty much a matter of good advertising and dumb luck.
For each film herein, the Rotten Tomatoes score is rotten and the picture in question has brought in at least 5x what it cost to make. Oh, and there's only one pick from each series...
10. The Da Vinci Code
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 25%
Back in 2006, Ron Howard took on the seemingly straightforward task of adapting Dan Brown's bestselling mystery novel The Da Vinci Code for the big screen. With Tom Hanks on board as art and symbology professor Robert Langdon, and a supporting cast of greats including Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen and Jean Reno, it looked like a sure thing. And it was, if only from a financial perspective.
The high-pace, inter-country chase - which sees Langdon access the mysteries of Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings and inventions - may work on the page, but it didn't translate as smoothly to the screen. The energy and the talent are there, but the overlong film highlights the sparseness of Brown's story and the tenuous, often tedious nature of the central mystery's essential connections.
Nonetheless, the film raked in $760 million against a $125 million budget. Riding high on the book's name recognition, The Da Vinci Code attracted viewers from a wide spectrum, but satisfied few of them - and even fewer critics.