Movies That Were Box Office Disasters, In Honor of ‘After Earth’

Movie #5 – Waterworld

Year – 1995

Waterworld is one of the most infamous film flops in the history of cinema. At the time it was the most expensive movie ever made coming in at $175 million. But back then Kevin Costner was box office gold. Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, The Bodyguard – the dude was on fire. So when he pitched a big-budget, sci-fi epic it sounded like a good idea. Maybe even a safe bet. Hell, you had one of the world’s biggest movie stars who was adored by both men and women starring in classy summer blockbuster.

But somewhere it all went wrong. The script underwent 36 different involving six different writers. They were forced to stop production three times due to hurricane alerts. Despite all the money they spent, they never researched weather patterns off Hawaii’s Kona coast, where the film was shot. Had they bothered they would have learned that the area was subject to 45mph winds which wreaked havoc with their sets.

And then there was Costner. He was put up in a hotel that cost $4,500 a night. His room had a private swimming pool. Ummm, you’re spending every day shooting a film in water. Why would you spend your downtime swimming?

Unlike most of these films, it was universally drubbed by critics. Granted it was met with a tepid response. And most of the negative reviews couldn’t help but mention the film’s budget and cost overruns. In many ways, the film was deemed a failure before it even opened. But unlike, say, Heaven’s Gate, there are no critics sticking up for this film retroactively. It was met with a resounding “meh”.