As part of this week's midpoint celebration, Movieline has already run through the 2011 films that are most likely to contend in this year's Academy Awards race. But what about the titles that completely fell short of moviegoer and studio expectations? Ahead, Movieline recalls the five biggest box office disappointments of 2011 thus far.
Worldwide Gross (To Date): $69.2 million
Early Buzz: No one was expecting Ron Howard's relationship comedy to be anything groundbreaking, but with popular funnymen Vince Vaughn and Kevin James toplining and screenwriter du jour Allan Loeb (Just Go With It, The Switch) responsible for the script, studios expected the film to at least break even with its estimated $70 million budget.
The Results: Unfortunately for Universal, The Dilemma's marketing was easily trumped by Columbia's Green Hornet campaign. The Michael Gondry superhero flick, which premiered the same day, ended up grossing nearly twice as much as The Dilemma on its Martin Luther King Jr. Day opening weekend ($40 million vs. $20.5 million). Meanwhile, critics deemed the film an "odd choice" for Ron Howard to take on. Moviegoers weren't running to theaters to see co-stars Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder, whose combined star power sadly can't rival even one of Brooklyn Decker's breasts. The controversy over that unfunny gay joke in the movie's trailer (Vince Vaughn says, "Ladies and gentleman, electric cars are gay.") probably didn't boost ticket sales either.
The Consequences: None for Kevin James, who is rebounding this weekend with another painfully unfunny comedy. But The Dilemma could mark the beginning of the end of the Vince Vaughn star era (his only verified upcoming project is a Stephen Frears dramedy called Lay the Favorite). As for Ron Howard, studios may think twice before giving him another project that is intended to be funny.
Worldwide Gross (To Date): $89.8 million
Early Buzz: After achieving box-office success with two graphic-novel adaptations, 300 and Watchmen, Zack Snyder teased his original project as "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns." Fan boys and girls were excited to see it and detractors were amped to prove that the director was incapable of producing anything other than awesome slo-mo action sequences.
The Results: Embarrassing! After all that hype, Sucker Punch was sucker punched at the box office by Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. Maybe audiences weren't blown away by the hypersexy, Lolita-esque trailer featuring the relatively unknown star Emily Browning. Or maybe they just listened to the scathing reviews that called the film "an unerotic unthrilling erotic thriller" and suggested that Snyder's DGA membership be revoked. (Or maybe they were turned off by that one, slightly-unhinged fan who composed a rambling essay entitled "The Problem Isn't Zack Snyder. The Problem Is You.")
The Consequences: Miraculously, Zack Snyder survived this mess and was given the keys to Man of Steel by Warner Bros. More practically, talk of a 300 sequel has cooled down since the sad Sucker Punch showing. Meanwhile, Browning will have another chance to woo audiences in Julia Leigh's Sleeping Beauty.
· Arthur
Worldwide Gross (To Date): $45.7 million
Early Buzz: Having played second and third fiddle successfully in Get Him to the Greek and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Russell Brand was in a very delicate make-or-break position with the release of Jason Winer's Arthur remake: Would audiences be able to tolerate his zany energy in a primary role and accept Brand as a leading man? How about when paired with a disciplinarian played by the great Helen Mirren? We here at Movieline were just excited to see our crush object Greta Gerwig in leading love interest capacity.
The Results: So, audiences didn't love Brand in his first legitimate leading role, but it was less because of his inability to compete with the lovable original Arthur (played by Dudley Moore) than the realization that this movie shouldn't have been remade in the first place. Moviegoers revealed that they much prefer Brand in ensemble and/or animated capacity by flocking to see his other movie in theaters (Hop) and letting Arthur limp into the box office with a weak second-place opening weekend.
The Consequences: Hopefully, Warner Bros. has learned its lesson and will stop remaking mini-classics that do not demand a remake. (Then again, do Tarzan and The Thin Man reboots count?) Meanwhile, Brand has returned to the safety of ensemble projects with the star-studded Rock of Ages.
Worldwide Gross (To Date): $24.9 million
Early Buzz: While the concept of this David Gordon Green comedy seemed promising (McBride plays a medieval stoner prince who sets out to help his brother, James Franco, rescue his virgin girlfriend, played by Zooey Deschanel), the first trailer indicated that there were minimal jokes and that this may just be a vanity project for a few future Oscar winners who'd like to earn a paycheck while (fake) getting stoned and fighting monsters. The only redeeming quality that Your Highness promised was Natalie Portman's backside, featured in all trailers.
The Results: Even with recent Oscar winner Portman, Oscar-nominee Franco and the usually hilarious McBride doing the heavy lifting, Your Highness bombed at the box office. Audiences listened to the scathing reviews, which called the stoner comedy unfunny, disappointing and seemingly made by stoners rather than for them. Three months later, Your Highness hasn't come anywhere close to recouping its estimated $50 million budget.
The Consequences: After its impressive flop at the box office, Movieline evaluated just who would win and lose out because of their involvement to this project -- the principal losers being Franco and Green, who failed to replicate their R-rated Pineapple Express box-office success. The director now has two, more modestly budgeted projects in the works (the film The Sitter, with Jonah Hill, and the Comedy Central show Black Jack, with Ving Rhames), while Universal has rebounded nicely with the success of its more worthy 2011 comedy, Bridesmaids.
Worldwide Gross (To Date): $138.9 million
Early Buzz: Once upon a time, Ryan Reynolds was set to star in one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, a DC comic-book adaptation with a bloated ($300 million including marketing!!) budget thanks to a visual-effects overhaul after the film's initial trailer was panned. The film earned positive marks after an early screening but oddly, most of the buzz in the days ahead of the film's release was related to that mammoth budget or co-star Blake Lively's R-rated cell phone pictures that coincidentally leaked just days ahead of the film's release.
The Results: Regardless of whether or not Warner Bros. had a hand in the Blake Lively photo leak, when it even looks like your studio is making a last-ditch marketing effort for a $300 million project via a few topless bathroom shots of your lead actress, it's not a good sign for anyone. Regardless of the buzz (good and bad), Green Lantern bombed with critics and fizzled at the box office.
The Consequences: Even after the disappointing opening weekend, Warner Bros. has maintained that it will not give up hope on a Green Lantern sequel. Perhaps overseas returns, which will continue to grow as the film rolls out abroad through August, have a chance of saving the Warner Bros. superhero flick from embarrassment and will play a hand in its franchise continuation. At this point, however, no one is excited to see Ryan Reynolds back in that CGI superhero bodysuit just yet.
*All box office figures were taken from BoxOfficeMojo.com