20 Horror Movie Box Office Bombs EVERYONE Saw Coming
4. Psycho (1998)
As a general rule of thumb, horror movies present the opportunity for low-risk, high-reward projects more so than any other genre. They can typically be made relatively cheaply and can enjoy a huge return on investment in the right circumstances.
Made for just $800,000, and going on to a box office total of $32 million, as well as the status of one of the greatest pictures ever made, there is nothing that proves this point more than Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. So, why would anyone think that a big-budget remake almost 40 years later was a good idea?
Production costs and box office figures do not always correlate, and if the studio were expecting to hit the jackpot when spending $60 million on Gus Van Sant's 1998 Psycho remake, they were painfully mistaken. The $37 million it made was a fraction of a fraction of what was needed for a profit, and barely beat the original from four decades before.
No one wanted or needed a Psycho remake at all, let alone one that was made at this price; the only stranger decision being the casting of Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates. This was set up for failure from the very beginning, so why could everyone see it but those who actually made it?