MomSkoop
Sometimes even the biggest Hollywood stars cannot save a movie from flopping at the box office. Studios pour millions of dollars into productions packed with A-list talent, hoping star power alone will fill theater seats.
But audiences do not always show up, and critics do not always agree that a big name equals a great film. Here are 17 movies that had incredibly famous casts yet still struggled to make their money back.
1. Amsterdam (2022)
Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Robert De Niro, and even Taylor Swift all showed up for Amsterdam, and yet the film barely made a ripple at the box office.
Directed by David O.
Russell, the movie cost around $80 million to make but earned only about $6 million worldwide.
That is a stunning gap between investment and return.
The story follows three friends who accidentally become witnesses to a conspiracy in 1930s America.
Critics were split, with many finding the plot too messy to follow.
Audiences seemed to agree, staying away in large numbers.
Amsterdam stands as one of the most expensive flops in recent memory, proving that stacking a cast with famous faces is never a guaranteed formula for success.
2. Babylon (2022)
Few movies in recent years arrived with as much buzz as Babylon, the wild and extravagant love letter to old Hollywood directed by Damien Chazelle.
Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, and Tobey Maguire all starred in this nearly three-hour epic.
Despite the excitement, the film earned only around $15 million domestically against a reported $78 million budget.
Babylon tried to capture the chaotic energy of 1920s Hollywood, blending comedy, drama, and spectacle into one giant package.
Some critics loved it, while others found it exhausting and self-indulgent.
Casual moviegoers largely skipped it entirely.
The film’s failure was a real surprise given the talent involved, and it remains a fascinating case study in how ambition does not always translate into ticket sales.
3. Cats (2019)
Cats became one of the most talked-about cinematic disasters in years, though not for the reasons the studio had hoped.
Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Hudson, and Taylor Swift all appeared in this big-budget adaptation of the beloved Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
The CGI-enhanced human-cat hybrid visuals disturbed many viewers before the film even opened.
Made for around $95 million, the movie earned just over $73 million worldwide, making it a significant financial loss for Universal Pictures.
Critics mocked the uncanny visual effects, and audiences were either confused or genuinely unsettled by the character designs.
The studio even released a patched version of the film to theaters to fix some effects mid-run.
Cats remains a pop culture punchline that no star-studded lineup could rescue.
4. The Last Duel (2021)
Ridley Scott directed The Last Duel, a gripping medieval drama starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, and Ben Affleck.
The film received strong reviews and was praised for its bold storytelling structure, which retells the same events from three different perspectives.
Yet audiences simply did not turn up in the numbers the studio had hoped for.
Made for around $100 million, the movie grossed only about $30 million globally.
Scott publicly blamed younger audiences and their social media habits for the disappointing turnout.
Whether or not that was fair, the film clearly struggled to connect with a wide crowd.
The Last Duel is genuinely one of the better films on this list, which makes its box-office failure all the more frustrating for everyone who worked hard to bring it to life.
5. The 355 (2022)
The 355 brought together an impressive international lineup of female stars, including Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger, and Fan Bingbing, for a globe-trotting spy thriller.
The concept sounded exciting on paper, combining top-tier talent with a genre that usually performs well at the box office.
Unfortunately, the results were underwhelming.
The film earned around $27 million worldwide against a $75 million budget.
Critics found the story formulaic and predictable, feeling like a checklist of spy movie clichés rather than something fresh.
Audiences who might have been drawn in by the cast largely stayed home.
It is a shame, because the idea of a female-led international spy ensemble had real potential.
The execution just did not match the ambition behind putting such a powerful group of actresses together on screen.
6. Dolittle (2020)
Robert Downey Jr. took on the iconic role of Dr. Dolittle in this 2020 reboot, supported by voice actors including Emma Thompson, Antonio Banderas, and Michael Sheen.
Coming off the massive success of the Avengers films, expectations were high that Downey could carry another big franchise.
Instead, Dolittle became one of the biggest disappointments of that year.
The film cost an estimated $175 million to produce, plus additional reshoots that pushed costs even higher, yet it earned only around $245 million globally.
That sounds like a lot, but marketing costs meant the studio likely lost tens of millions.
Critics were unkind, calling it chaotic and unfunny.
Downey himself seemed uncomfortable in the role, and the film’s bizarre tone never quite found its footing.
It was a rocky start to what was supposed to be a new franchise.
7. Jupiter Ascending (2015)
The Wachowskis, who created The Matrix, returned with Jupiter Ascending, a sprawling space opera starring Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, and Eddie Redmayne.
The film had ambitious world-building, stunning visuals, and a production budget of around $176 million.
On paper, it had everything needed for a blockbuster hit.
In reality, it earned only about $184 million worldwide, which was far below what was needed to break even once marketing costs were added.
Critics were mostly unkind, pointing to a confusing plot and over-the-top performances, particularly from Redmayne, who chewed every piece of scenery in sight.
Audiences found the story hard to follow despite the flashy effects.
Jupiter Ascending is now remembered more as a curiosity than a success, a film that tried to build a universe but could not find enough people willing to visit it.
8. Pan (2015)
Pan was Warner Bros.’ attempt to reimagine the origin story of Peter Pan, with Hugh Jackman playing the villain Blackbeard and Rooney Mara, Garrett Hedlund, and Amanda Seyfried rounding out the cast.
The studio clearly had big dreams for the film, spending around $150 million on production alone.
Those dreams did not come true at the box office.
Pan earned roughly $128 million globally, a significant loss when marketing expenses are factored in.
Critics found the story overcomplicated and the tone inconsistent, neither fun enough for kids nor engaging enough for adults.
Jackman’s campy performance as Blackbeard divided audiences sharply.
The film was meant to launch a new franchise but ended up going nowhere.
Pan is a textbook example of a studio betting big on a beloved property and misjudging what fans actually wanted to see.
9. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Guy Ritchie brought his fast-talking, flashy style to the Arthurian legend with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, casting Charlie Hunnam in the lead role alongside Jude Law, Eric Bana, and Djimon Hounsou.
The film had a gritty, modernized energy that felt unlike any previous take on the King Arthur myth.
Warner Bros. hoped it would kick off a six-film franchise.
Instead, the movie earned only about $148 million worldwide against a $175 million budget, making it a significant money-loser.
Critics were divided, and general audiences seemed indifferent to yet another reimagining of a classic story.
The planned sequels were quietly shelved.
Hunnam, despite being a talented actor, never quite clicked as Arthur for mainstream audiences.
The film has since found a small cult following, but that was cold comfort for a studio that had invested so heavily in its future.
10. How Do You Know (2010)
How Do You Know assembled one of the most impressive casts ever seen in a romantic comedy.
Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, and the legendary Jack Nicholson all starred in this film written and directed by James L.
Brooks, who had previously made As Good as It Gets.
With that pedigree, a hit seemed almost guaranteed.
The movie cost a reported $120 million to make, an almost unheard-of budget for a romantic comedy.
It earned only around $30 million at the domestic box office, making it one of the costliest flops of that year.
Critics found it meandering and surprisingly joyless given its comedic premise.
How Do You Know is a cautionary tale about how throwing money and famous names at a project does not automatically produce chemistry or charm on screen.
11. Town and Country (2001)
Town and Country had a production so troubled that it became legendary in Hollywood long before anyone saw the finished film.
Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Andie MacDowell starred in this romantic comedy that went through years of reshoots and ballooning costs.
The budget reportedly swelled from $35 million to over $90 million.
When it finally opened in 2001, the film earned a dismal $6.7 million at the domestic box office.
Critics were brutal, calling it an embarrassing waste of talent.
The production had taken so long that some scenes felt dated by the time audiences actually saw them.
Town and Country is now studied in film school as a prime example of how runaway production problems can doom even the most star-studded project before it ever reaches theaters.
12. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
Based on Tom Wolfe’s celebrated satirical novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities arrived in 1990 with enormous expectations and an equally enormous cast.
Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, and Morgan Freeman headlined the film, which was directed by Brian De Palma.
The book had been a massive bestseller, and the film seemed destined for awards season glory.
Instead, it became one of the most famous flops in Hollywood history.
The film earned around $15 million domestically against a $47 million budget, and critics tore it apart.
The casting choices were widely criticized, with many feeling Hanks was miscast as the arrogant lead character.
A book called The Devil’s Candy was later written about the film’s chaotic production and became almost as famous as the movie itself.
The Bonfire of the Vanities remains a sobering reminder that adapting beloved books is always a risky gamble.
13. Ishtar (1987)
Ishtar holds a special place in Hollywood history as one of the most notorious box-office disasters of all time.
Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman starred as two hapless singer-songwriters who accidentally get caught up in a Cold War spy plot in North Africa.
Director Elaine May had a sharp comedic reputation, and the pairing of Beatty and Hoffman sounded genuinely fun.
The film cost around $55 million to produce, an astronomical sum for 1987, and earned only about $14 million at the domestic box office.
Critics were savage, and the film became a cultural shorthand for Hollywood excess and failure.
Interestingly, some film scholars have since revisited Ishtar and found real charm in it.
But the damage to its reputation was done quickly and completely, cementing its status as the go-to example of a mega-budget misfire.
14. The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)
Eddie Murphy was one of the biggest comedy stars in the world when The Adventures of Pluto Nash went into production, so Warner Bros. invested heavily in the project.
The sci-fi comedy, also featuring Rosario Dawson, Randy Quaid, and John Cleese, was set on the moon in the future and cost around $100 million to make.
It sat on a shelf for nearly two years before finally being released.
That delay was a bad sign, and audiences confirmed the studio’s fears.
The film earned a jaw-dropping $4.4 million at the domestic box office, making it one of the biggest financial disasters in Warner Bros. history at that time.
Critics were equally unkind, calling it flat and unfunny.
Pluto Nash is a fascinating example of a film where everything seemed to go wrong at once, from script to execution to timing, despite having a genuinely likable star at the center.
15. The Goldfinch (2019)
Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Goldfinch seemed like perfect Oscar bait when it was adapted for the screen in 2019.
Ansel Elgort starred alongside Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright, Sarah Paulson, and Luke Wilson in a sweeping drama about loss, art, and identity.
The film had a reported budget of around $45 million and the full weight of critical expectation behind it.
Critics were surprisingly harsh, with many calling it a cold and emotionally distant adaptation of a deeply personal book.
Audiences responded accordingly, and the film earned only about $5 million in its opening weekend.
A wider release did little to improve matters.
The Goldfinch is a painful reminder that prestige does not equal connection.
A beautiful cast and a celebrated source novel could not compensate for a film that somehow failed to make viewers feel anything at all.
16. The Current War (2017)
The rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse over the future of electrical power sounds like a gripping story, and The Current War had the cast to bring it to life.
Benedict Cumberbatch played Edison, Michael Shannon portrayed Westinghouse, and Nicholas Hoult and Tom Holland rounded out the ensemble.
The film had an interesting behind-the-scenes story too, getting caught up in the Harvey Weinstein scandal and delayed for two years.
When it finally opened in 2019 in a re-edited form, audiences barely noticed.
The film earned around $5 million domestically, a disappointing result for such a talented group of performers.
Critics were mixed, with some praising the performances while others found the storytelling choppy and unsatisfying.
The Current War is a case where real history, great actors, and genuine drama still could not spark enough audience interest to light up the box office.
17. Serenity (2019)
Serenity arrived in January 2019 with a cast that seemed designed to generate awards buzz.
Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway starred together, supported by Diane Lane and Jason Clarke, in what appeared to be a steamy noir thriller set on a tropical island.
Early trailers were intriguing, and the pairing of McConaughey and Hathaway generated genuine excitement.
Then the film opened, and critics revealed a twist so bizarre that many viewers felt genuinely confused and cheated.
The movie earned only around $9 million globally against a $25 million budget.
Word of mouth collapsed almost immediately after opening weekend.
Serenity is now talked about mostly as a curiosity, a film people watch just to experience its strange, unexpected narrative turn.
McConaughey and Hathaway gave committed performances, but no amount of star charisma could make the film’s unusual storytelling choices land with a mainstream crowd.