12 Upcoming Movies That Are Already Doomed (And Why)

Is Mortal Engines dead on arrival.

Mortal Engines
Universal

At its core, the film industry is built on a series of calculated gambles, where studios bet a big pile of their chips on properties and filmmakers who can reliably deliver strong returns-on-investment.

However, sometimes these gambles get a little on the "optimistic" side, to be kind, where to fans the failure - commercially if not also critically - seems immensely obvious.

To be fair, audiences can get caught off-guard by a surprise success every now and then. For instance, Aquaman seemed like a doomed project before the first trailer dropped, but box office tracking suggests it's on-course to be a solid hit.

On the other hand, while Alita: Battle Angel probably won't be a financial hit, the newer trailers point to it possibly scoring solidly with critics. And as much as you might want to bet against it, you know what? Toy Story 4 is probably going to be great.

But these 12 movies haven't got much hope at all, either in terms of box office success or critical favour. Each has struggled to justify its own existence to audiences, unaided by poor marketing and troubled productions which don't exactly inspire much confidence.

It'd be wonderful to be wrong, of course, but knowing Hollywood as we do, that's sadly not terribly likely...

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Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.