Movies That Scored Big At The Box Office Despite Terrible Rotten Tomatoes Scores

Hollywood has placed increasing blame for its box office flops on the power of Rotten Tomatoes, saying that the review aggregator's influence, especially with young people, is preventing films from finding an audience. While it's hard to deny Rotten Tomatoes' increasing cultural ubiquity, plenty of films make money regardless of their scores on the platform. Here are some movies that scored big at the box office despite terrible Rotten Tomatoes scores.

Wonder Woman broke the DCEU's critical curse by earning one of the best ratings ever for a superhero film on Rotten Tomatoes, but before that, the budding cinematic universe was plagued by some pretty rotten ratings, including a disappointing 27 percent for 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, as it turns out, people will still head to theaters to see Batman and Superman duke it out regardless of what critics have to say about it.

In fact, Dawn of Justice was able to bring in $166 million in its opening weekend. While it experienced a 69.1 percent drop in its second week, the film still went on to earn $330.4 million domestic as part of a worldwide total of $873.3 million. Considering this is good for 50th on the list of all-time at the domestic box office totals, Warner Bros. can't have been too upset about the bad reviews.

If there's any movie that's critic-proof, it's one marketed to younger viewers. Kids are much more likely to push their parents to see something based off their gut reaction from watching trailers or seeing posters, and while parents may be more into reading up on what they could be getting into, their little ones can be awfully convincing. 

The Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise is proof. While all the movies in the franchise have been trashed by critics (the first film sits at a 27 percent; the second, The Squeakuel, at 21 percent; the third, Chipwrecked, at 12 percent; and the fourth, The Road Chip, at 16 percent), they remain some of the most financially successful kids' films of all time.

The 2007 franchise launcher ranks as the 155th highest-grossing domestic movie of all time and the 47th highest-grossing PG-rated film. That film, which earned $217.3 million domestic and $361.3 million worldwide, was eclipsed by its sequel, which brought in a $219.6 million domestic haul and $443.1 million worldwide.

The critical failures, as well as franchise fatigue, may have started to weigh on the kids' series later on, with Chipwrecked and The Road Chip both failing to find the same level of appeal at the box office. Still, with a $342.7 million total for Chipwrecked and $234.8 million for The Road Chip, neither film is something to sing sad songs about.

Suicide Squad followed a fairly similar trajectory to its DCEU counterpart Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. While fans eagerly anticipated the film for months, their expectations may have been tempered slightly when reviews came out, with the film earning a dismal 25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it didn't matter much in terms of the movie's box office total. 

Suicide Squad currently holds the title for the best August opening of all time, pulling in $133.7 million in its first weekend. Again like Batman v. Superman, though, it was plagued by a sharp drop in its second week, falling 67.4 percent. Still, the movie went on to gross an impressive $325.1 million domestic and an additional $420.5 million worldwide, making it 16th on the list of all-time top-grossing superhero films. Add on an Oscar win for makeup, and Suicide Squad clearly proves that it's good to be bad.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a favorite with children, so it makes sense that anytime they come to the big screen, they're able to do big business. This was the case for the Megan Fox-starring 2014 reboot of the series, which, despite dismal reviews, was hugely popular at the box office. 

The film hit a 22 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but young audiences turned out in droves to see it, leading to a $65.6 million opening weekend and a $191.2 million total domestic gross. Worldwide, the movie's $493.3 million total is good to make it Nickelodeon's top-grossing film of all time—and to put it in the top 200 all-time earners.

The sequel, 2016's Out of the Shadows, fared slightly better with critics but slightly worse at the box office. The movie hit a 37 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was only able to parlay that into a $35.3 million opening weekend and an $82 million domestic total. Viewers may not have been in the mood for another trip into the sewers, but whenever the next inevitable reboot happens, we're betting on solid box office returns regardless of the Tomatometer.

Critics loved Meet the Parents, but they weren't happy with either of its sequels. While 2004's Meet the Fockers received negative reviews, earning a 39 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 2010's Little Fockers was thoroughly panned, falling to a miserable nine percent.

Fans didn't listen: Little Fockers steady with the rest of the franchise, pulling in $148.4 million domestic on its way to a $310.7 million worldwide total. This is about on par with the first film, which earned $166.2 million domestic and $330.4 million worldwide. While that film didn't have the name recognition, it did have the benefit of much, much better reviews, earning an 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

The real success story of the franchise, though, is Meet the Fockers, which took its not-so-great reviews and earned the biggest box office total of the franchise, opening to a healthy $46.1 million and going on to bring in $279.3 million domestic and an additional $237.4 million worldwide. After the receipts were all counted, it was the top-grossing live-action comedy sequel of all time, as well as the fourth highest-grossing film of 2004.