20 Biggest Summer Box Office Bombs Of All Time
13. K-19: The Widowmaker
Budget: $100 million (marketing: $35 million)
Box office: $65.7 million
Loss: $69.3 million
Harrison Ford’s appearances in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies (let's just ignore that other one) made him for a good while the actor whose movies had grossed more money than any rivals, so it’s a little ironic that Ford hasn’t been able to buy a hit for years (again, there was no fourth Indy).
The afore-mentioned Wolfgang Petersen presided over Ford’s last significant hit Air Force One in 1997, and it was all down hill from there. Even the actor’s better choices didn’t quite pan out, and K-19: The Widowmaker is proof enough of that.
Kathryn Bigelow brings her customary skilled, steady hand to the action aboard the Soviet submarine of the film’s title, but a $35 million marketing push couldn’t keep K-19 afloat (sunk?). The summer 2002 thriller fell a long way short of turning a profit on the total $135 million investment, and Ford hasn’t seen a hit since.
Rumour has it there’s some space film coming out later this year that should rectify that, mind.