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List of box office bombs (1960s)

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki

Further information: List of box office bombs, 1960s in film, 1960 in film, 1961 in film, 1962 in film, 1963 in film, 1964 in film, 1965 in film, 1966 in film, 1967 in film, 1968 in film, and 1969 in film

A[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
The Alamo 1960 John Wayne and producer Robert Fellows formed their own production company, Batjac.[1] As Wayne developed his vision of what a movie about the Alamo should be, he concluded he did not want to risk seeing that vision changed; he would produce and direct the movie himself, though not act in it. However, he was unable to enlist financial support for the project without the presumptive box-office guarantee his on-screen appearance would provide. In 1956, he signed with United Artists; UA would contribute $2.5 million to the movie's development and serve as distributor. In exchange, Batjac was to contribute an additional $1.5–2.5 million, and Wayne would star in the movie. Wayne secured the remainder of the financing from wealthy Texans who insisted the movie be shot in Texas.[2] In an interview in the UK with Robert Robinson after the movie was finished Wayne admitted he invested $1,500,000 of his own money in the Alamo and believed it was a good investment. Though the film had a large box-office take, its cost kept it from being a success and Wayne lost his personal investment. He sold his rights to United Artists, which had released it, and it made back its money.

C[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
Che! 1969 The film received mostly negative reviews at the time of its release. Critic Paul Brenner stated: "In this badly misconceived pseudo-biography of the legendary Cuban revolutionary—played, incredibly, by Omar Sharif—Che Guevara takes up the cause as a rebel fighter under the direction of Fidel Castro, played—also incredibly—by Jack Palance."[3] Che! was listed in the book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (1978). The Book of Lists (1977) labeled it "a cardboard, pseudo-historical drama" and noted that "Poor Sharif is forced to deliver lines such as 'The peasant is like a flower, and the revolutionary like a bee. Neither can survive or propagate without the other'".
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 1969 The film was the tenth most popular at the US box office in 1969.[4]
Cimarron 1960 According to MGM records the film earned $2,325,000 in the US and Canada and $2,500,000 overseas, resulting in an overall loss of $3,618,000.[5]
Cleopatra 1963 Cleopatra ended up costing $31 million, making it the most expensive film ever made at the time,[6] and almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox.[7] It was the highest-grossing film of 1963, earning box-office of $57.7 million in the United States (equivalent to $Error when using {{Inflation}}: |index=US (parameter 1) not a recognized index. million in 2018), yet lost money due to its production and marketing costs of $44 million (equivalent to $Error when using {{Inflation}}: |index=US (parameter 1) not a recognized index. million in 2018), making it the only film ever to be the highest-grossing film of the year to run at a loss.[7]

D[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
Doctor Dolittle 1967 The film had a notoriously protracted production with numerous setbacks along the way such as complications from poorly chosen shooting locations and the numerous technical difficulties inherent with the large number of animals required for the story. The film exceeded its original budget of $6 million by three times, and recouped $9 million upon release in 1967,[8] earning only $6.2 million in theatrical rentals.[9] The film also faced strong competition from the Walt Disney animated feature film, The Jungle Book, which had opened to considerable critical and audience acclaim two months earlier and was still in wide release. Doctor Dolittle's appeal as family fare was undermined when the press drew attention to racist content in the books, prompting demands to have them removed from public schools.[10] There is speculation that the film's poor reception may have had to do with the timing of its release. Doctor Dolittle came out soon after the smash hit The Sound of Music; starting with that film particularly, film musicals had become all the rage once again, and production studios went on a sort of musical spree. When the musical era began its downturn, Hollywood studios tried to revamp it by creating Roadshow releases that were seen as special events and had expensive tickets, but Roadshow releases became too common as well. By the time Doctor Dolittle had its Roadshow release, audiences were tired of the genre and wanted something different and the film lost $11 million.

F[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
The Fall of the Roman Empire 1964 The film was a financial failure at the box-office. Despite this, it is considered unusually intelligent and thoughtful for a film of the contemporary sword and sandal genre and also enjoys a 100% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[11] The film had its World Premiere at the Astoria Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London on March 24 1964 and ran there for 70 weeks. In spite of this the film was a costly financial failure for producer Samuel Bronston who, after making such epics as John Paul Jones (1959), King of Kings (1961), El Cid (1961), and 55 Days at Peking (1963) had to stop all business activities. A bankruptcy notice in the New York Times on 6 August 1965, stated the cost of The Fall of the Roman Empire at $18,436,625. He announced his return with a planned epic about Isabella of Spain, but the film was never made.[12]
The Flight of the Phoenix 1965 Though the film was a failure at the box office, it has since gained a large following. The film opened in selected theaters on December 15, 1965, with a full release in 1966. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times dismissed it as "grim and implausible",[13] while Variety praised the film as an "often-fascinating and superlative piece of filmmaking highlighted by standout performances and touches that show producer-director at his best."[14]
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 1962 MGM had become aware by April that the film was not going to be able to recoup its cost and started writing off the losses.[15] Ultimately the movie earned $1,600,000 in the US and Canada and $2,500,000 overseas. Once costs of prints and advertising were added, the studio recorded a loss of $5,853,000.[5]

G[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
A Gathering of Eagles 1963 A Gathering of Eagles received relatively weak critical reviews and did poorly at the box office. After more than forty years, opinions vary widely as to the causes of the poor reception. The period in which this film was released is notable for the release, one or two years later, of a number of films that were decidedly unsympathetic to the US military (e.g., Dr. Strangelove, Fail-Safe, etc.). These films asserted a position regarding "positive control" of nuclear weapons that ran counter to A Gathering of Eagles and appeared to much greater critical acclaim and box-office reception.

H[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
The Happiest Millionaire 1967 Walt Disney acquired the rights to the play in the early 1960s, but he had no intent of making it into a musical at first. After noting the collective box office success of Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music, the first of which he actually produced, the film's original producer, Bill Walsh, decided to make the film into a musical. Afterwards, Walt reassigned him to Blackbeard's Ghost, replacing him with Bill Anderson.[16] The film opened at 164 minutes to mixed reviews. Robert Sherman was in England during the film's Hollywood premiere at the Pantages Theatre, but he became furious when he discovered in the Los Angeles Times that a theater in the vicinity was showing a double feature of The Shaggy Dog and The Absent-Minded Professor at a much lower price.[17] In order to satisfy requests from Radio City Music Hall, the site of the film's New York premiere, Disney cut 20 minutes from the film after the LA Premiere. For the general release, the film was shortened even further to 118 minutes. After that, it never had any theatrical reissues or appeared on TV until 1984 (coincidentally, the same year the real Cordelia Drexel Biddle died), when the 164-minute version was screened at the Los Angeles International Film Expo and aired on The Disney Channel.[18]
Head 1968 A poor audience response at an August 1968 screening in Los Angeles eventually forced the producers to edit the picture from its original 110-minute length. The 86-minute Head premiered in New York City on November 6, 1968; the film later debuted in Hollywood on November 20. It was not a commercial success.[19] This was in part because Head, being an antithesis of The Monkees sitcom, comprehensively demolished the group's carefully groomed public image while the older, hipper counterculture audience they had been reaching for rejected The Monkees' efforts out of hand.[19]
Hello, Dolly! 1969 The film opened strongly and initially grossed more than The Sound of Music, but lost momentum and became a disappointment at the box office.[20] It grossed $33.2 million at the box office in the United States,[8] earning a theatrical rental (the distributor's share of the box office after deducting the exhibitor's cut)[21][22] of $15.2 million,[23][24] ranking it in the top five highest-grossing films of the 1969–1970 season.[24][25][26] In total, it earned $26 million in theatrical rentals for Fox,[8] against its $25.335 million production budget.[23] Despite performing well at the box office, it still lost its backers an estimated $10 million.[26]
Hols: Prince of the Sun 1968 Unsuccessful in its original 1968 theatrical run, Horus, Prince of the Sun is today recognized as a milestone in the history of anime. The movie was released straight to television in the United States by AIP-TV under the title The Little Norse Prince. The AIP library was eventually purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which aired "The Little Norse Prince" on US television.
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit 1968 The film received mostly negative reviews, due to the predictable script. It failed at the box office, too.

M[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
The Misfits 1961 The Misfits failed to meet expectations at the box office, and has been historically referred to as a "box office disaster" of its day.[27] Despite being shot in black and white, the final cost was about $4 million. Its original domestic gross was just over its estimated budget of $4,000,000, making $4,100,000 in its initial USA release. It has brought larger profits to United Artists since its release on DVD.
Mutiny on the Bounty 1962 Given its enormously inflated budget of $19 million, the film was a box office flop,[28] despite being the 6th highest-grossing film of 1962. It grossed only $13,680,000 domestically,[8] earning $9.8 million in US theatrical rentals.[29] (It needed to make $30 million to recoup its budget.)[30]

O[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
One, Two, Three 1961 One, Two, Three did not do well at either the U.S. or German box office. The lighthearted East-West Berlin story felt much more sinister at the release, since the Berlin Wall had been built after principal photography began.[31] The film recorded a loss of $1.6 million.[32] However, it was re-released in 1985 in France and Germany and became a box office success, especially in West Berlin.[31]

P[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
Playtime 1967 On its original French release, Playtime was acclaimed by most critics.[citation needed] However, it was commercially unsuccessful, failing to earn back a significant portion of its production costs. The film was entered into the 6th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Silver Prize.[33] One reason for the film's commercial failure may have been Jacques Tati's insistence that the film be limited to those theaters equipped with 70 mm projectors and stereophonic sound (he refused to provide a 35 mm version for smaller theaters).
Pollyanna 1960 When the movie failed to bring in half of the $6 million that was expected, Walt Disney opined: "I think the picture would have done better with a different title. Girls and women went to it, but men tended to stay away because it sounded sweet and sticky.""[34]

S[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
Star! 1968 Star! was a commercial disappointment in its initial run, suffering about 20 minutes of studio-requested and director-approved cuts while still in its roadshow engagements. Hoping to recoup some of its estimated $14 million cost, 20th Century Fox executive Richard Zanuck decided to do some primitive "market research" (testing three titles: "Music for the Lady", "Those Were the Happy Days" and "Star!") before withdrawing the film in the spring of 1969. The studio then substantially cut the film and re-marketed it under a new title, Those Were the Happy Times. The short retitled version was released in the fall of 1969. The changes left some holes in the plot, and the move did little to improve box office receipts.
Sweet Charity 1969 The film cost $20 million to make, but made only $8 million at the box office,[8] which nearly sank Universal Pictures.[35] According to Variety, the film earned rentals of $4,025,000 in the US and Canada.[36]

T[edit]

Film Year of release Notes
Toys in the Attic 1963 The film recorded a loss of $1.2 million.[32]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 262.
  2. ↑ Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 263.
  3. ↑ Brenner, Paul. Che! at AllMovie. Last accessed: January 9, 2008.
  4. ↑ "The World's Top Twenty Films." The Sunday Times [London] 27 Sept. 1970: 27. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. accessed 5 Apr. 2014
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Hall & Neale (2010)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 John Patterson "Cleopatra, the film that killed off big-budget epics", The Guardian, 15 July 2013
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 "Box Office Information for Hello, Dolly!". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
  9. ↑ Solomon p 230.
  10. ↑ Harris, pg. 378.
  11. ↑ "The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "'Isabella Of Spain' Samuel Bronston Productions".
  13. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (1966-02-01). "Movie Review—Screen: From the Ashes:'Flight of the Phoenix' on View at 2 Theaters". The New York Times (nytimes.com). Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  14. ↑ Variety staff (1964). Flight of the Phoenix, film review, Variety, December 31, 1964. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  15. ↑ DECLINE IN PROFIT SHOWN BY M-G-M: Quarter Earnings at 15c a Share, Against $1.78 in Like '6l Period GEORGIA-PACIFIC A.V. ROE CANADA COMPANIES ISSUE EARNING FIGURES OTHER COMPANY REPORTS New York Times (1923-Current file) [New York, N.Y] 16 Apr 1962: 56.
  16. ↑ Gheiz, Didier (2009). Walt's People - Volume 8. Xlibris Corporation. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-4415-5183-2. Search this book on
  17. ↑ Gheiz, Didier (2009). Walt's People - Volume 8. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 203, 206–208. ISBN 978-1-4415-5183-2. Search this book on
  18. ↑ Holliss, Richard; Brian Sibley (1988). The Disney Studio Story. London: Octopus Books Limited. p. 202. ISBN 0-517-57078-5. Search this book on
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 King, Susan (November 12, 2008). "A Monkees 'Head' trip". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  20. ↑ Nickens, Christopher; Swenson, Karen. The Films of Barbra Streisand. Citadel Press. pp. 54–64. ISBN 9780806519548. Retrieved 19 January 2017. Search this book on
  21. ↑ Cones, John W. (1997). The feature film distribution deal: a critical analysis of the single most important film industry agreement. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-8093-2082-0. Search this book on
  22. ↑ "Box Office Tracking By Time – Key Terminology: Gross". Box office Mojo. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Solomon, Aubrey (2002), Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Filmmakers Series, 20, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 216 (background for figures), 231 (theatrical rental) & 256 (budget), ISBN 9780810842441
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Williams, Linda Ruth; Hammond, Michael (2006). Contemporary American Cinema. McGraw-Hill. p. 176. ISBN 9780335218318. Search this book on
  25. ↑ Krämer, Peter (2005). The new Hollywood: from Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars. Wallflower Press. p. 44. ISBN 9781904764588. Search this book on
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 LoBianco, Lorraine. "Hello, Dolly! (1969) – Articles". TCM database. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Sunday Editor's Pick: The Misfits (1961)". AltScreen. 16 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
  28. ↑ Trivia for Mutiny on the Bounty. IMDb. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Top Rental Films of 1963", Variety, 8 January 1964 pg 37.
  30. ↑ TAHITI WAS PARADISE. (1961, Dec 17). The Times of India (1861-Current) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/744310855?accountid=13902
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Wolf, Martin (10 August 2008). "Billy Wilder und der Kalte Krieg: Cola gegen Kommunisten" [Billy Wilder and the Cold War: Cola Against Communists]. Spiegel Online (in Deutsch). Germany. Retrieved 2011-09-11. Eins, zwei, drei widerfuhr historische Gerechtigkeit: Als der Film 1985 erneut in die Kinos kam, wurde er zum Publikumshit, vor allem in West-Berlin.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, University of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p. 171
  33. ↑ "6th Moscow International Film Festival (1969)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
  34. ↑ New York Times: Pollyanna, Ex-Bubblehead
  35. ↑ "Sweet Charity (1969): review". AllMovie. 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  36. ↑ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 50

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