12 Actors Who Basically Guarantee You Make A Flop

7. Eddie Murphy

Few entries on this list make us as sad as Eddie Murphy, a tremendously talented comedian who simply stopped putting any effort in around the year 2000, and though audiences stuck with him for a while, his luck eventually ran out. In his defense, Murphy's commitment to voice-over and ensemble work has netted him a few hits over the last decade, such as three Shrek movies, Tower Heist and Dreamgirls (which even netted him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor), though only a single movie sold on his name alone actually made any money, and that's the terrible Norbit. This appears to be the straw that broke the camel's back, because all three of Murphy's starring projects that followed, Meet Dave, Imagine That and A Thousand Words, flopped spectacularly. If we go back a little further, of course, Murphy also starred in 2002's The Adventures of Pluto Nash, which became one of the biggest box office bombs in cinematic history, and who can forget the massive box office failure that was Holy Man? Still, Murphy has pretty much been lucky enough throughout his career to balance his flops with a few major hits, even if nowadays that mostly means using his voice or appearing within a large cast. Why Is He A Flop? It appears that even casual viewers who sunk their money into Norbit have grown fed up of Murphy's boisterous shtick, because he's not appeared in a movie for two years since A Thousand Words flopped, hopefully signalling a career re-think on his part. With Beverly Hills Cop 4 and Triplets (a sequel to the movie Twins) on the way, perhaps it's time for Murphy's comeback, though the question remains: will audiences be interested in watching Murphy front and center anymore? Essentially, Murphy isn't entirely uncastable, but it looks as though his time as a leading man might be over.