20 Biggest Summer Box Office Bombs Of All Time

Budget: $175 million (marketing: $75 million)

Box office: $173.4 million

Loss: $76.6 million

Comedy sequels are a mixed bag to say the least. In recent years we’ve been treated to such wonders as Grown Ups 2, Horrible Bosses 2 and Dumb And Dumber To, not to mention Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. The Burgundy buffoonery on show in the sequel didn’t meet the standards of its predecessor despite the best efforts of all involved, and one man who should have known better is Steve Carell.

Carell it was who fronted the ill-advised sequel to 2003 hit Bruce Almighty. Devoid of the curious charms of Jim Carrey, Evan Almighty saw Carell reprise his role as Evan Baxter, this time charged with building an Ark, biblical style, on the say so of a returning Morgan Freeman.

Flawed from its inception, the most expensive comedy ever made is also the biggest failure, and by some distance. Its final budget and marketing expenses were the source of much speculation, but around $250 million in total seems a fair shout, and a fair amount too much in light of the mediocre $173 million take.