If Forbes' "Hollywood's Biggest Turkeys of 2015" list is any indication, not even an A-list star can guarantee a movie will make money at the box office.
The year's biggest financial flop was Bill Murray's Rock the Kasbah, which features Murray as a "washed-up tour manager [who] finds himself in Kabul trying to turn a young Afghani woman into a TV singing competition winner." The film grossed $2.9 million on an estimated $15 million budget — meaning it made back only 19 percent of the money that it cost to produce.
Murray was far from the only A-lister with a flop on his hands this year. Sean Penn's The Gunman ranks second-least profitable, with only a 27 percent return rate. Also on the list are Chris Hemsworth's Blackhat, Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone's Aloha, and Johnny Depp's Mortdecai:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
1. Rock the Kasbah (19 percent return)2. The Gunman (27 percent)3. Blackhat (28 percent)4. Unfinished Business (41 percent)5. Jem and the Holograms (46 percent)6. Self/Less (47 percent)7. American Ultra (55 percent)8. We Are Your Friends (60 percent)9. Aloha (71 percent)10. Mortdecai (79 percent)11. Pan (80 percent)12. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (94 percent)13. Jupiter Ascending (104 percent)14. Tomorrowland (110 percent)15. Crimson Peak (114 percent)[Vulture]
These 15 flops aside, 2015 has been a really good year for box office sales. Forbes reports that this year's sales are projected to hit record levels and top $11 billion for the first time in industry history. According to IMDb's estimates, the year's number-one earning movie was Jurassic World, which raked in a whopping $652 million — nearly 225 times Rock the Kasbah's earnings.
-
ABC shelves ‘Kimmel Live’ after Trump FCC threatSpeed Read ‘A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the president doesn’t like what they say’
-
September 18 editorial cartoonsCartoons Thursday's political cartoons include a man who would be king, an inconsistent court, and social media in the trash
-
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues – laughs are sadly ‘thin on the ground’Talking Point Disappointing sequel to the classic rock’n’roll spoof
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
