2011's biggest bombs

[TheSeeker]

I'm surprised Conan The Barbarian isn't on that list. According to Box Office Mojo it had a budget of 90 million and only took in about 21 million domestically.

 

[the G-man]

Looking into it, it seems that Warner Bros. canceled the sequels in late 2008, either because of the global recession (the studio's version of events) or because of pressure from the Catholic Church (Sam Elliot's and Philip Pullman's version, corroborated by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights). It could be either, or both. The odd thing was that the movie didn't seem particularly anti-Catholic, despite the widespread assertions that it was; maybe I don't know enough about Christianity.

The whole "Magisterium" is quite blatantly the Catholic Church.

That said, I have a very hard time believing that the Catholic Church has that kind of leverage over a studio, enough to make it turn away from potentially hundreds of millions in profits. If they did it would come into play a lot more.

Yeah. If the Catholic Church was that powerful, there never would have been a "Life of Brian" or "Last Temptation of Christ," just to name two. And all TV and movie priests would be like Bing Crosby circa "the Bells of St Mary" again.

 

[Harvey]

Looking into it, it seems that Warner Bros. canceled the sequels in late 2008, either because of the global recession (the studio's version of events) or because of pressure from the Catholic Church (Sam Elliot's and Philip Pullman's version, corroborated by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights). It could be either, or both. The odd thing was that the movie didn't seem particularly anti-Catholic, despite the widespread assertions that it was; maybe I don't know enough about Christianity.

The whole "Magisterium" is quite blatantly the Catholic Church.

That said, I have a very hard time believing that the Catholic Church has that kind of leverage over a studio, enough to make it turn away from potentially hundreds of millions in profits. If they did it would come into play a lot more.

They used to be that powerful, when they more or less controlled the PCA -- Hollywood's self-censoring organization set up in 1930 -- but that fell apart in the late 1960s.

 

[Jax]

neither is Harrison Ford anymore (he hasn't had a hit since Air Force One in 1997

Indy 4 & What Lies Beneath, Box office takings disagree.

 

[Starbreaker]

Indy 4 was a critical success and made quite a bit of money... and What Lies Beneath had huge word of mouth success.

 

[Distorted Humor]

The Golden Compass was expensive to make, and killed a studio. Not many executives would then step in a make a sequel.

As for its anti-religion tilt. It would have no problem in today's secular society.

 

[Dream]

I still don't understand how the studio that brought us the Lord of the Rings trilogy could die like that. Were they putting their money in burning dumpsters or something?

 

[Distorted Humor]

I still don't understand how the studio that brought us the Lord of the Rings trilogy could die like that. Were they putting their money in burning dumpsters or something?

They bet big on LoTR, and won the jackpot, and they tried to do it again, finding the next hot fantasy epic, but they couldn't find a good director, and also had tons of lawsuits about not paying folks for LoTR.