Released: Aug. 16, 2002 Budget: $100 million (estimated) Domestic Opening Weekend: $2,182,900 Domestic Gross: $4,411,102
For all his hit films, Eddie Murphy has offered us more than his share of big-screen bombs as well. Imagine That, Meet Dave and I Spy all lost money, and even some films that turned a profit earned him snickers and jeers (Norbit, anyone?). In 2002 Murphy hit an all-time low with The Adventures of Pluto Nash, one of the biggest flops of all time. The film featured Murphy as a nightclub owner living on the moon in the year 2087, which may also be the year people finally forget just how boring, clichéd and painfully unfunny this movie proved to be. The $100 million spent to make Pluto (and millions more spent to market it) yielded a grand total of $7 million at the box office. A professional actor, even Murphy couldn’t bluff about the dud, acknowledging in an interview with Barbara Walters, “I know two or three people that liked this movie.”
Released: July 28, 1995 Estimated Budget: $175 million Domestic Opening Weekend: $21,171,780 Domestic Gross:$88,246,220
There are plenty of things $175 million can buy, but commercial success is not one of them. At the time of its production, Waterworld set a record for most expensive movie ever made (although it would be surpassed two years later by Titanic). But poor reception and bad reviews led to box-office revenues of only $88.2 million. Apparently no one wanted to watch a movie about a postapocalyptic world in which Kevin Costner has gills. Upon seeing the film, Roger Ebert said he didn’t loathe it but he “couldn’t quite recommend it.” This came from a man who liked Speed 2: Cruise Control.
Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud” has died. He was 79.
As we prepare for the Game of Thrones finale, we recognize Joffrey and nine other baddies who showed us that terrible, horrible things can come in small packages
