Action Movies That Were Critically Acclaimed But Flopped at Box-office

Action films follow a formula to make it a blockbuster hit. Sometimes it creates a different world using the same procedure, and sometimes it might feel repetitive. Many filmmakers try to stand out fans’ expectations of the same old violence and action sequences by delivering a more realistic form of it but tend to experience box office setbacks. The 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road was a commercial hit and earned $375.2 against a budget of $185 million. It got a positive response from both critics and the audience. The movie held an approval rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 8.6/10. However, it does not necessarily mean that all action films do well at the box office, even if critics critically acclaim them. In this article, we prepared a list of action movies, which are commercial flops. Annihilation (Released in 2018) Annihilation, Alex Garland’s science fiction horror film, is based on Jeff VanderMeer’s 2014 novel. Natalie Portman is the movie’s lead character and other co-stars, including Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tuva Novotny. Film’s plot centers around a group of explorers who enter a mysterious quarantined area called “The Shimmer,” a zone for mutating animals and plants caused by aliens’ presence. It starts at the United Government’s secret service facility, where professor Lena is questioned as she is the only survivor of “The Shimmer.” Three years back, the Shimmer landed inside the lighthouse and is expanding its boundaries. Annihilation did a business of $43.1 million at the box office after spending $55 million on production. The film got a good response on Rotten Tomatoes of an approval rating of 88%, with an average of 7.7/10. The site’s critical review read that the film is very ambitious, which backs up the science fiction visual wonders. However, the box office collection is a complete opposite of the reviews, and the movie made a loss of around $10 million. Warrior (Released in 2011) The 2011 film Warrior is a sports drama created by Gavin O’Connor, who also co-wrote the script with Anthony Tambakis and Cliff Dorfman. The cast includes Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Frank Grillo, Jennifer Morrison, and Nick Nolte. Hardy and Edgerton played the role of estranged brothers Tommy Riordan Conlon and Brendan Conlon. The plot starts with Tommy Riordan, who comes to visit his father, Paddy Conlon. Since Tommy’s childhood, the father-son does not have a good relationship, as Paddy is an alcoholic and abusive father. Tommy’s older brother Brendan is a school teacher and is now facing a financial crisis. He has to take a home loan for his daughter’s open-heart surgery. To increase his income, Brendan decides to work as a part-time fighter. Warrior received a positive response from critics, and actor Nick Nolte was also nominated for the Academy Awards (Oscars) for the category of Best Supporting Actor. However, the project failed in the box office business and collected a gross of $23.3 million against a budget of $25 million. The movie got the average grade “A” on the scale of A+ to F in an audience poll by CinemaScore and held an approval rating of 83% based on 191 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating 7.3/10. Sadly, despite such a great response, the project lost around $2 million in the show business. Solo: A Star Wars Story (Released in 2018) Based on the characters of Star Wars created by George Lucas, the 2018 movie Solo: A Star Wars Story is a science fiction movie. Ron Howard directed the film and was written by Lawrence Kasdan and Jonathan Kasdan. The movie’s plot on the planet Corellia, two orphans Qi’ra and Han, escaped from a local gang. They bribe the officer with starship fuel to board the transport, but the gang captures Qi’ra before she can enter. Han promised her that he would come back for her and join the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet, with the given surname “Solo.” The movie got an approval rating of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 474 reviews with an average rating of 6.39/10. The critics of the website review the film as “flawed yet fun.” Solo collected a gross of $393.2 million at the box office and profited around $100 million in the production. Big Trouble In Little China (Released in 1986) John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China is a 1986 fantasy comedy film. Kurt Russell, Dennis Dun, Kim Cattrall, and James Hong are the cast of the movie. The movie’s plot follows a truck driver named Jack Burton, who wins a bet with his friend and restaurant owner, Wang Chi. Jack accompanies Chi to pick up Chi’s fiancee from the airport. During that journey, they come across some Chinese gang, called by the name Lords of Death. The gang tries to kidnap another Chinese girl and intended her to sell as a slave. Big Trouble in Little China is a commercial failure at the box office and lost around $10 million. The film’s production budget is $25 million, while it generates only $11 million in North America. It holds an approval rating of 78% based on 45 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6.67/10. The critics of Time, Richard Corliss, wrote that the movie has an uncanny reference to other films. Sorcerer (Released in 1977) Sorcerer is an adventure neo-noir thriller movie directed by William Friedkin. It is based on the french novel titled Le Salaire de la peur by the author George Arnaud. The movie cast Bruno Cremer, Roy Scheider, Ramon Bieri, and Amidou. The plot of the movie consists of four segments described as “vignettes.” They are Vignette #1: Veracruz, Mexico, Vignette #2: Jerusalem, Israel, Vignette #3: Paris, France, and Vignette#4: Elizabeth, New Jersey, Us. The film did horrible business at the box office. It collected around $9 million worldwide against a budget of $22 million. The film business entirely depends on audiences. If audiences accept the content, it’s a hit; otherwise, it gets lost within the next few weeks.