11 Movies Too Big To Fail (That Did Anyway)

Another movie with beloved source material to live up to, Mortal Engines was the 2018 action-adventure that hoped desperately to fill the cinematic void left by the Hunger Games franchise.

Like so many of the other young adult novel adaptions that have tried, it too failed spectacularly.

Based on Philip Reeve's book series of the same name, Mortal Engines stars Robert Sheehan (of The Umbrella Academy and Misfits fame), Hugo Weaving and Hera Hilmar and is based in a post-apocalyptic world in which cities have been motorised and mounted on wheels.

Peter Jackson, a man who knows more than a thing or two about making a successful fantasy movie, was attached as writer and producer, making it even more baffling as to just how Mortal Engines failed as badly as it did.

With an approval rating of only 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's safe to say that Mortal Engines did not achieve as highly as could have been hoped. Dismissed by critics as "soulless", "derivative" and "unintentionally hysterical", it failed to capture not only its intended audience, but any audience at all.

Making estimated losses of almost $175 million, Mortal Engines is another example of a movie that simply couldn't back up its own ambition.