20 Movies That Were Supposed to Be Huge, Then Flopped

There’s an outdated expression in sports activities, one which’s usually repeated by longtime ESPN anchor Chris Berman: “That’s why they play the sport.” In different phrases: It doesn’t matter what the oddsmakers say, it doesn’t matter how issues stack up on paper. On any given day, any staff can beat one other. That’s why they play the sport.

The identical is true of flicks. On paper, the mix of an incredible director and nice actors ought to at all times lead to a masterpiece. And studios spend tens (and generally a whole bunch) of tens of millions of {dollars} to make their merchandise appear to be surefire hits. However that’s why they play the sport. (So to talk.)

The checklist beneath incorporates 20 films that, by all rights, ought to have been large. Big, even! They characteristic a number of the largest stars in historical past, working with a number of the most proficient filmmakers to ever decide up a digicam, usually engaged on materials based mostly on enormously standard novels, comics, and tv reveals. Most have been backed with huge publicity campaigns and promotional tie-ins. Some have been billed for months and even years because the begins of main new franchises. Why not? With these kinds of inventive and industrial pedigrees, how might they miss? Nicely, by some means they did — and generally in actually spectacular vogue.

Listed below are 20 films that have been presupposed to be huge — till they really opened in theaters to a collective shrug. All of them went down in historical past as famous box-office flops. And that’s why they play the sport…