Flop.

Every year they happen.  It is the unfortunate truth that is faced by movies in Hollywood.  Some times they will lose money.  You just hope that you aren’t ever in consideration for the John Carter Memorial Award.

There are some really good films that have fallen into this category.  Heck, some people would go as far as to argue for John Carter.  Not me, mind you, but I know some think that movie gets a bad rap.

However, with some movies and their inflated budgets, they are setting themselves up for failure.  Something like Joker this year had a low budget and made a lot of money.  Large budgets make it a challenge as it is.

Other reasons for a film to be a flop could include poor scheduling, bad word of mouth, bad critical reactions, too much competition, limited appeal, too many risks, terrible marketing etc.

Previous winners:  John Carter, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Expendables 3, Jem and the Holograms, Pan, Rock the Casbah, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Robin Hood (2018), Mortal Engines

This year, there were some unfortunate flops.  Just this past weekend, the $100 million budgeted Cats made about 6 million in their opening weekend.  Most super hero movies do fairly well, but Hellboy this year was a huge flop.  Charlie’s Angels was extremely unsuccessful.  The Kid Who Would Be King was a lot of fun and a great movie, but it lost a lot of money.  Will Smith’s sci-fi picture, Gemini Man failed to live up to its expectations.  The Goldfinch barely made any money either, and failed to receive any support from anyone.

I was prepared to give this “award” to Terminator: Dark Fate, which did terrible and may have finally ended this franchise for once and all.  However, then there was a film that had an epic flop on its opening weekend.  A film that made $625,000 in 2000 theaters domestically.  It was one of the worst openings of all time.  As it secured its John Carter Memorial Award for 2019.

Playmobil: The Movie.