Total. Audience. Rejection.
James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe in Victor Frankenstein.
20th Century Fox
Some of the most financially successful films of all time have opened this year, but for every Jurassic World, Furious 7, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015 has also seen an unusual litany of true belly flops at the box office. These aren't just expensive movies that have done poorly, like Pan and Jupiter Ascending; these are movies that have faced near total audience rejection, opening in more than 2,000 theaters in North America and earning less than $4 million in opening weekend box office returns — these are mega-flops.
The latest film to join such ignoble ranks is Victor Frankenstein. The reimagining of Mary Shelley's classic horror tale, which stars James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, just opened over the Thanksgiving holiday in over 2,700 theaters and earned just under $2 million in its first three days. Comparing Victor Frankenstein's box office to its mega-flop peers is complicated, since the film opened on Wednesday and played over the Thanksgiving holiday, meaning its opening three days did not occur over a traditional Friday-Saturday-Sunday weekend. Sure, Victor Frankenstein's box office outlook could indeed improve on Saturday and Sunday, but it would take a miracle to jolt enough life into its grosses for the movie to climb out of its deep financial hole.
Each of the films on this list represent a genuine creative risk, a major commercial gamble, or both, and each faced such profound audience indifference (and possible ignorance) that they all are among the worst box office performers of all time.
Here they are, ranked in order of their debut per theater averages, the clearest and fairest measure of their financial failings.
Jem and the Holograms
Domestic opening weekend: $1.38 million
Number of theaters: 2,413
Per theater average: $570
Total domestic gross to date: $2.18 million
It turns out when you take a beloved '80s campy sci-fi fantasy cartoon series and turn it into a relatively grounded millennial drama about fame in the viral age, you make a movie for no one, and end up with the worst wide release by a major studio in modern Hollywood history. Even worse: This film won't be able to make back its tiny $5 million budget.
Universal Pictures
Victor Frankenstein
Domestic opening three-day gross: $1.99 million
Number of theaters: 2,797
Per theater average: $711
Total domestic gross to date: $1.99 million
Victor Frankenstein's dismal debut is especially sour news for Radcliffe, who has yet to headline a major hit since the modest success of his 2012 horror movie The Woman in Black.
Curiously, 20th Century Fox had initially slated Victor Frankenstein to open on Oct. 2, a much more forgiving month for a big-budget horror film. But the studio ended up switching the opening dates for this movie and The Martian — which at least paid off handsomely for the latter sci-fi adventure.
20th Century Fox
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