Released: Aug. 1, 2003
Estimated Budget: $54 million
Domestic Opening Weekend: $3,753,518
Domestic Gross:$6,068,735
Lesson one in entertainment marketing: When people can’t pronounce your film’s name, it’s not a good sign. And not only was Gigli (pronounced Geely) an awkward title to say, it was an awkward movie to see. Ben Affleck plays the eponymous mobster hired to kidnap the mentally handicapped brother of a politician. Jennifer Lopez, who at the time was romantically linked with Affleck, plays the lesbian mob enforcer sent to make sure Gigli doesn’t screw up. Somehow, against all odds (did we mention she’s a lesbian?) they fall in love. With a budget of approximately $54 million, it managed an overall U.S. gross of about $6 million. After just three weeks of disastrous reviews and tepid box-office returns, the movie was pulled — but not before entering the lexicon as an unpronounceable synonym for “trainwreck.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_VxogXPAhM]