10 Times A-List Actor Pairings Led to Cinema’s Biggest Disappointments

One thing Hollywood does not seem to catch on to is that just having a big-name star attached to a film does not guarantee it will hit big at the box office. No matter how much money is spent on a flashy marketing campaign focusing on those A-list actors, if the movie does not grab the audience’s attention, it will not really matter. Over the years, there have been plenty of films that, despite the star power and heavy marketing push, still failed to deliver for fans or bring in solid box office numbers.

Here are 10 such box office letdowns starring some of Hollywood’s biggest heavyweights.

City Heat

Warner Bros.’ 1984 production City Heat was backed to the maximum on the star power of Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds. It was a crime comedy set in the 1920s that ended up bombing at the box office in the same year that gave us big hits like Ghostbusters, The Terminator, and Beverly Hills Cop, the hit buddy-cop action-comedy. 

City Heat is now seen as one of the biggest flops of the ’80s. The film finished its run with a total gross of around $38.3 million, which was well below its $25 million budget. 

Righteous Kill

After sharing the screen in two legendary films, The Godfather Part II and Heat, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino teamed up again for the rather forgettable thriller Righteous Kill. The movie had a hefty production budget of $60 million and made just under $80 million at the box office. 

Considering the millions spent on marketing Righteous Kill, it was clear the film was a commercial letdown. In a 2019 interview with Variety, Robert De Niro even admitted that he knew the movie was bad the moment they got into it. 

Father’s Day

Robin Williams and Billy Crystal made a fantastic comedy duo, and they also came together for Father’s Day at a peak moment in their careers. But despite their star power, a pretty unusual but unique plot and the fact that they went on one of the most popular sitcoms of the time for promotion, the film only managed to bring in $35.7 million at the worldwide box office, well below its $85 million budget.

Williams and Crystal just could not rescue the film from its awkward, uneven script. Even worse, audiences had already seen them deliver much stronger performances in other films released around the same time, which further made the movie a bitter disappointment. 

The Mexican

Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts had been searching for a project to do together for nearly a decade. When they finally teamed up for The Mexican in 2001, both actors agreed to take pay cuts to fit the film into a modest $35 million budget, a fraction of what they typically earned per movie at the time. 

Even with such a star-studded cast and solid creative backing, the movie earned just a C-plus grade from the industry’s CinemaScore. Nonetheless, The Mexican topped the box office in its opening weekend, bringing in $20.1 million, and eventually made $147.8 million worldwide, delivering a decent return on DreamWorks’s investment.

Grudge Match

Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone joined forces to play two aging boxers settling an old rivalry in one final fight in the 2013 American sports comedy Grudge Match. The film seemed very promising when it was first announced, especially with the star power both veteran actors brought to the table, but once it hit theaters, it was dubbed fairly underwhelming. 

The movie only earned $45 million worldwide on a $40 million budget and received mostly negative reviews, with many critics pointing out the film’s reliance on tired, overused clichés in its storyline. 

The Tourist

Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie were two of Hollywood’s biggest stars at the time, but even their combined star power could not save The Tourist. This was the first time the two icons had appeared together on screen, and despite the buzz and the intriguing thriller plot, the one thing the film lacked was chemistry between them.

The suspense and romance that were promised never really came to life and the film could not become the thrilling adventure it had the potential to be.

The Tourist, however, did moderately well at the box office- the $100 million budget film ultimately grossed $278.3 million. 

The Lake House

The Lake House brought Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves back together for the first time since they co-starred in Speed in 1994. However, the film had a hard time meeting both commercial and critical expectations. With earnings of $106 million worldwide, it fell short of what was expected for a film featuring two well-known stars like Bullock and Reeves.

The Lake House received mixed-to-poor reviews and many critics pointed out its lack of emotional depth and the weak, underdeveloped script. Despite this, the film has gained a loyal cult following over the years.

Cowboys & Aliens

Cowboys & Aliens starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, was pitched as a high-concept film that mixed Western and science fiction elements. However, blending these two very different genres left some viewers feeling disconnected. Many found the concept too ridiculous, while others thought the fusion of the two genres just did not work well enough.

With a hefty budget of $163 million, the film made over $200 million at the box office. Despite the financial return, it received mostly negative to mixed reviews because of its slow pacing, weak character development, and a lackluster script.

Basic

Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta’s Basic was a military thriller directed by John McTiernan. Even with big-name stars and a well-known director behind it, the film could not even make back its production budget at the box office, let alone turn a profit.

The film’s marketing campaign also played a part in its failure. It did not do a good job of conveying the movie’s genre or tone. The trailers mainly focused on the star power of Jackson and Travolta, but they did not effectively explain the film’s complex plot or highlight what made it stand out from other thrillers.

The Campaign

The Campaign starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis was a political satire that tried to blend Ferrell’s slapstick comedy with Galifianakis’s quirky style. While the film did manage to make back its production budget, it still fell short of expectations, especially given the strong marketing push and the star power of its leads.

The box office gross was lower than expected for a comedy featuring stars like Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis- with $112 million worldwide gross against a budget of $86 million.

What do you think about these 10 flops with big movie stars? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!