2019 was a record-breaking year at the box-office for many. Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing movie of all time when it exceeded $3 billion at the box office. The DC thriller, Joker, became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time and Disney’s live-action remake of The Lion King pulled in a whopping $1.6 billion.
Unfortunately, not every filmmaker’s dreams came true in 2019. Here are the year’s biggest flops and our guess as to why things went so wrong.
Cats
With a production budget of $100 million and an all-star cast, director Tom Hooper was hoping to hit the jackpot with his adaptation of the popular musical, Cats. Unfortunately, the movie took in shy of $11 million, making it one of the biggest flops of the year.
Why It Flopped: Cats was doomed to flop the moment the first trailer started trending on social media for all the wrong reasons. The CGI human-cat-hybrids may have looked impressive, but they gave people the creeps. It’s no wonder hardly anyone went to see the movie.
Dark Phoenix
Sophie Turner’s debut in the X-Men universe did not pull in the viewers the producers had hoped. The film pulled in just $252 million at the box office, resulting in an estimated loss of $120 million.
Why It Flopped: 2019 was the year of Marvel. After Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel, viewers had superhero fatigue. The summer release of the film was just poor timing. Coupled with the fact the film got bad reviews, there just wasn’t enough incentive for fans to go and see the movie.
Charlie’s Angels
The Charlie’s Angels reboot pulled in just $57 million at the box office. The feminist reboot was meant to rewrite the story in a way that was empowering for women, but people didn’t bite.
Why It Flopped: Elizabeth Banks’ efforts at a feminist reboot were admirable, but the truth is, Charlie’s Angels is a story that just doesn’t work in 2019/20. The film was created as a male fantasy and when Banks tried to adapt it for a new generation, we discovered that the story itself just isn’t that interesting. And so it flopped.
