20 Biggest Summer Box Office Bombs Of All Time

Budget: $113 million (marketing: $40 million)

Box office: $71 million

Loss: $82 million

When Vin Diesel actioner xXx defied the inherent silliness that defined it all the way to its title and became a surprise summer hit in 2002, a sequel was pretty much inevitable.

That was the view of Revolution Studios – the production company behind Gigli – but not one shared by the main men behind the first instalment. Vin Diesel was originally set to once again play extreme sports enthusiast Xander Cage before work on The Pacifier forced him to opt out, while xXx director Rob Cohen jumped aboard Stealth instead – and everyone knows how that turned out.

Lee Tamahori was brought on board to replace Cohen and evidently needed another star with an implausible name to assume leading man duties. In stepped Ice Cube for 'The Next Level', as the end product was known in territories outside North America. 'Game Over' would have been decidedly more appropriate.

The xXx sequel predictably suffered a critical mauling and didn’t fare any better with audiences, clawing back less than half its total spend and sparing us another instalment, even if Vin Diesel has spoken of resurrecting the franchise as recently as last year.