Is it too early to label this movie the biggest flop of 2013 after less than a week after release? Perhaps. Read on to find out why I'm awarding the samurai fantasy with the dubious honor. The feature debut of renowned commercials director Carl Erik Rinsch has been a long time coming, after the project was first announced back in December 2008. Originally slated for release in November 2012, the movie arrived over a year later with a budget rumored to be north of $200m following a lengthy production. For a movie with such a heavy Eastern influence, 47 Ronin tanked on its Japanese release, only managing third place with a paltry $1.3m. Domestic results haven't been much better, with the movie projected to take a meager $20m or so during its opening week. To put things in perspective, the massively-budgeted fantasy will require a gross of around $500m simply to break even. Despite a prime Christmas release date, 47 Ronin is slated to open lower than notorious 2013 disappointments Jack the Giant Slayer, The Lone Ranger, and RIPD. The first two at least managed to make back their budgets (just), while the latter only took around 60% of its production costs. To at least match RIPD, 47 Ronin will need to make $135m which seems increasingly unlikely given that after five days of release its worldwide total sits at a horrendous $20.3m, with poor reviews almost guaranteeing it wont hold well over the holiday season. I could be proven wrong about naming it as the year's biggest bomb, but 47 Ronin will most definitely result in a massive write-down for all involved. Runner-Up: The Fifth Estate When discussing box office bombs, conversation almost always turns to the lavishly expensive blockbusters that disappoint commercially. This year, the modestly-budgeted adaptation of the story of Wikileaks crashed and burned with one of the worst wide releases of all time. Despite the best efforts of Benedict Cumberbatch, who gave a great performance as Julian Assange (who completely disowned the movie, unsurprisingly), The Fifth Estate only took $1.7m in its opening weekend and finished with an embarrassing $3.2m domestic total. With a budget of $28m, the movie took a worldwide total of just $8.5m. It won't make many headlines due to the lower budget, but in relative terms The Fifth Estate was a box office flop of epic proportions.
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