Sometimes, after spending literally hundreds of millions of dollars on acting talent, special effects and marketing, a movie flops at the box office. More often than not, these movies are Blockbusters – those movies sometimes based on other movies, books or TV shows. Most of the time, the flop is justified. The movie was just downright terrible. But that isn’t always the case, and I guess this week Wandering Through the Shelves has set us bloggers the task of defending some of those failed movies.
I used this Wikipedia article to help me define what the biggest movie flops are, and these are 3 of those movies that I don’t think deserved to do so badly.
Ghostbusters (2016) Production Budget: $144m Worldwide Gross: £229m
I loved the all-female Ghostbusters remake. Not because I’m a woman and I want women to have bigger roles in the industry, but because it was a fun movie and it made me laugh. In fact, it was the first Ghostbusters movie I ever watched, I watched the original for the first time last year and wasn’t that impressed (don’t @ me). What annoys me so much is wondering how much of a factor internet trolls were to the failure of the remake. If anyone’s seen the movie and hated it that’s fine, everyone has their own opinion, but to hate on a movie before even seeing it is just childish!
Rise of the Guardians (2012) Production Budget: $145m Worldwide Gross: £306m
Honestly, I was shocked to find Rise of the Guardians in that Wikipedia list. I think it’s such a beautiful animated movie. It’s definitely geared more towards being a Christmas movie but it covers a lot of other holidays too. The voice cast is stellar (Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law to name a few) and the story is so sweet. If you’ve never seen it before please just do me this one favour and give it a try!
Green Lantern (2011) Production Budget: $220m Worldwide Gross: $219m
Yeah, yeah, you rolled your eyes so hard I heard them! I know Green Lantern isn’t a good movie. I watched it before I got into the genre and didn’t know better. Anyone who’s ever read a Green Lantern comic could write a better script, and the bad guy was butchered in the development phases. BUT. Are you telling me that Green Lantern deserves a flop sticker when movies like Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad are labeled as huge successes?
Often Off Topic 
The only one I’ve seen is Green Lantern which I strongly disliked. They’re really taking their sweet time before trying that one again.
I don’t know why Suicide Squad is labeled a success or has an Oscar either. What a damn mess.
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Yeah I think they’re terrified to try Green Lantern again. It’s a shame because there are some really good storylines in the comics they could use, but if the CGI balance is off it could definitely be another disaster.
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Green Lantern was actually kinda fun! I thought Reynolds did a good job in that. I did not enjoy Ghostbusters, which was surprising because usually I really like Paul Feig’s movies
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Yay! And I totally get why you wouldn’t like Ghostbusters, it wasn’t perfect by a long shot. It’s the gross trolls out there that need firing out of a cannon!
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Aren’t flops the movies that have bigger production budgets than actual gross? That’s how I see it.
I actually liked Ghostbusters, and Green Lantern was pretty fun, too.
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That’s what I always used to think, but I think there are other costs involved too that skew the figures slightly.
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I enjoyed the new Ghostbusters and I loved the originals growing up! It wasn’t the greatest movie ever but it didn’t deserve the outsized hate and I do think that hurt it a bit.
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Exactly! I hold nothing against anyone who watched it and hated it, but the hate that it got before it was even released was ridiculous and put so many people off even giving it a try.
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I actually liked Ghostbusters (2016) as I thought it was a fun take of the story. Green Lantern was just dumb but yes, Suicide Squad was much worse. I’ve seen some of Rise of the Guardians as I thought it was alright.
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I’m glad to know there are others out there who enjoyed Ghostbusters. The haters were so loud I wondered if I was alone!
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It’s just complaints from salty fanboys w/ sands in their vaginas.
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Great list! I thought that Rise of the Guardians was a pretty decent film! I also agree that it doesn’t deserve to be a bomb.
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I’m still shocked to find it on that list!
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You know, I did a similar list, and I thought about adding Rise of the Guardians too. Like it wasn’t that bad, it had decent moments and there are definitely less deserving movies that got more money, out there. Ghostbusters deserves it and Green Lantern too, but that’s just me. Hemsworth was pretty good in Ghostbusters so I mean, I’ll take that as a plus. 😀
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Haha Hemsworth is a plus no matter how bad the movie!! ;D
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I haven’t seen any of your picks yet, but I didn’t know that they were considered flops.
Might still give them a chance, though 🙂
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I know, right?! I hope you like them if you ever get round to watching them 🙂
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The Ghostbusters remake is the only I’ve seen and I enjoyed it for the same reason, it was fun and entertaining. I still haven’t seen the original so I ain’t going to judge you, that’s for sure. It’s a shame people sabotaged this because it was all-female.
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Haha thanks! But exactly, I’m not saying it was a perfect movie but it was funny and entertaining, and that’s all I wanted it to be.
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I want to see the remake of Ghostbusters because I am certain it is pretty good. I hated all the backlash it received even before it was sent out. You know there are behind the scenes issues…maybe the executroids didn’t like all the women in the film. I like Guardians and thought it is an enchanting film. I think I tried Green lantern but turned it to something else
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Exactly! There’s nothing wrong with someone saying they hated Ghostbusters after watching it…but to say that before even watching it? Pointless! I hope you like it when you watch it 🙂
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I didn’t watch Green Lantern because those green creature looks soo cartoony and I’m just not familiar with the Green Lantern at all. Was Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad successes? I suppose they were financially successful because at least their superhero characters are much more recognizable.
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Apparently yeah those movies made enough money to be called successes!
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