Top 10 Celebrities Who Lost Studios The Most $
#10: Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Terminator: Dark Fate” (2019) With a worldwide career box office of over $4 billion, Arnold Schwarzenegger has undeniably proven his worth in Hollywood. In his latest and likely last outing as the T-800, though, Arnold ended his Terminator tenure on a dire note. After a series of bad sequels, “Dark Fate” was an attempt to get the “Terminator” franchise back on track by ignoring the last three films and making a direct sequel to “Judgment Day.” While reviews were pretty decent, the box office of $261.1 million equaled a $122.6 million loss. Priced at just under $200 million, the studio overestimated how much audiences really wanted another “Terminator” after Arnie left the franchise on a satisfying note 28 years earlier.
#9: Gal Gadot
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“Wonder Woman 1984” (2020) Warner Bros. had been trying to make a live-action “Wonder Woman” movie since 1996 - but it wasn’t until 2017 that it finally happened - and it was a monster hit. The first “Wonder Woman” grossed over $800 million and made Gal Gadot a star. Three years later, Gadot was still a star, but this time of a big box office bomb. “Wonder Woman 1984” cost about $200 million to make, but took home only $169 million worldwide. Throw in marketing costs and Gadot’s movie lost between $100-137 million. To be fair, this was during the pandemic with Warner Bros. simultaneously putting the movie on HBO Max. Despite being the top streaming movie of 2020, this obviously cut into the box office.
#8: Eddie Murphy
“The Adventures of Pluto Nash” (2002) There is a world where Harrison Ford was sitting in this spot on our list. While there were rumors that Ford thought about starring in “The Adventures of Pluto Nash,” it was Eddie Murphy who eventually saw the part come his way and decided to take it on. A decision that, we assume, he very much regrets. Not only because it was a pretty terrible film, but because it remains one of the biggest box office flops of all time. While the $96 million loss is bad enough, what’s even more jarring is the fact that the $100 million movie only grossed $7 million at the box office.
#7: Dwayne Johnson
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“Jungle Cruise” (2021) While a $220 million box office against a $200 million budget might not sound terrible, those aren’t the only numbers we need to consider. More than $150 million went into marketing this Dwayne Johnson fantasy adventure. Maybe if they’d released the movie in 2019 as originally planned, “Jungle Cruise” would’ve been a success. But instead, they moved it to July of 2020 - which was then rescheduled to July of 2021 due to the pandemic. When it finally came out, COVID was still a thing. So, Disney released the film in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access simultaneously. Even taking the $66 million it made on Premier Access into account, the film didn’t reach its break-even point.
#6: Charlie Hunnam
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“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” (2017) While Charlie Hunnam gained stardom on television as the lead in FX’s great show “Sons of Anarchy” - that success hasn’t really followed him to the big screen since the series ended in 2014. One of the big swings studios took with Hunnam was the 2017 Guy Ritchie film, “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.” With Hunnam as the titular King Arthur, the movie was set to be the first in a series of six films. When does the second one come out you ask? Well… never. After the first film lost the studios more than $150 million, plans for those sequels were no more.
#5: Hugh Jackman
“Pan” (2015) His portrayal of Wolverine is one of the finest superhero performances we’ve ever seen - and there’s no denying that Hugh Jackman is a great showman. However, we also can’t deny that Warner Bros. lost a whole bunch of money on 2015’s “Pan” - the “Peter Pan” prequel starring Jackman as Blackbeard. The film brought a whole new meaning to the phrase, “critical panning.” Its failure didn’t end there, as audiences showed little interest in finding out how Peter became the Pan. With a total production and marketing budget of about $275 million and a box office of only $128 million, you’re looking at losses of around $150 million. Jackman’s career survived, but no amount of clapping can bring this failed franchise back to life.
#4: Geena Davis
“Cutthroat Island” (1995) Moviegoers of the 2000s - having watched the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies rake in the dough - might think of pirate movies as guaranteeing box office success. Those of us who lived through the 90s know that that is definitely not the case. This brings us to the great Geena Davis and the not-so-great “Cutthroat Island.” A film that, for a while, held the Guinness World Record as the biggest box-office bomb of all time. The wannabe blockbuster made only $10 million at the US box office and $18 million worldwide. With a budget coming in as high as $115 million by some estimates, that equates to about $100 million in losses - which, adjusted for inflation, totals just over $200 million today.
#3: Antonio Banderas
“The 13th Warrior” (1999) You could understand why both the studio and Antonio Banderas would’ve thought they had a box office hit on their hands with “The 13th Warrior.” Along with Banderas headlining the movie, the film was based on a book by Michael Crichton - the man who wrote the book “Jurassic Park.” It was being directed by John McTiernan - the man who was behind the camera on “Die Hard.” Everyone involved with this movie had had plenty of box office success in the past. Unfortunately, that success didn’t translate to this 1999 movie. “The 13th Warrior” earned $61 million which, set against its high production and marketing budget, meant losses estimated to be as high as 129 million bucks.
#2: Johnny Depp
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“The Lone Ranger” (2013) While Armie Hammer played the titular Lone Ranger, it was Johnny Depp as Tonto who was meant to bring in the crowds and the box office dollars. The film did rack up $260 million around the world. However, with a production budget estimated to be in the $225-250 million range, and even more spent to promote it, “The Lone Ranger” ended up losing Disney upwards of $190 million. Depp wasn’t immune to box office failure prior to “The Lone Ranger” either though. Back in 1999, he starred in “The Astronaut's Wife” - a film that failed to gross $20 million but cost the studio almost $80 million to make.
#1: Taylor Kitsch
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“John Carter” (2012) Taylor Kitsch was a relatively unknown actor back in 2006. That all changed with his turn in “Friday Night Lights.” After the show ended, it looked like Kitsch was set for movie stardom when he was cast as the lead in the big-budget Disney sci-fi action-adventure film, “John Carter.” To use a football analogy, Kitsch just couldn’t take the film across the goal line. While a box office haul of $284 million sounds okay - in this case, it equates to about a $200 million loss. A couple of months after the release of “John Carter,” Kitsch got the chance to redeem himself with his lead turn in “Battleship.” But again, the end zone eluded him as that one lost about $150 million. What do you think of these stars and their box office bombs? Let us know in the comments.
