Movies That Already Bombed In 2020

For every major blockbuster that comes along in any given year, there's at least one other film that absolutely flops at the box office. We all know that flops are inevitable, but they're also fascinating for any number of reasons. Sometimes a film doesn't perform well because of marketing, sometimes it's bad word of mouth, and sometimes it's just one of those films that seemed like a good idea at the time, until it became clear that no one wanted to see it.

That said, 2020 is proving to be an interesting year at the box office for an entirely different reason, in that by mid-March it started to become clear that the threat of COVID-19 around the world meant that there essentially wouldn't be a box office for a while. As the world adjusts to control the spread of a pandemic, some films have suffered from shortened box office windows, while others were victims of extremely bad timing. However it happened, these are the movies that have had a tough time at the box office so far in 2020.

Dolittle, an adaptation of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle stories, was Robert Downey Jr.'s first major project since his exit from the ultra-profitable Marvel Cinematic Universe he reigned over for more than a decade. It was a longtime passion project of Downey's, a film packed with stars in its voice cast, and an attempt for the MCU's godfather to use his own box office clout to deliver some magical family fun at the box office.

Unfortunately, Dolittle was a troubled production, as various rewrites and reshoots led to the budget swelling to a massive $175 million. That made it tough to recoup costs in the first place, but then audiences just didn't seem to want to show up for the film, and critics savaged it. Downey's first major post-Marvel tentpole deflated rapidly, and while there was some hope that it could gain some ground in China, the coronavirus outbreak there led to its release getting cancelled. Dolittle bottomed out at about $223.3 million worldwide, which was likely not enough to earn back the cost of promoting and producing the film. Early estimates guessed the film could lose as much as $100 million when all was said and done, but the final tally on that hasn't yet been revealed.

The Rhythm Section, a Blake Lively-led revenge thriller in the vein of films like Taken, seemed to have potential to be a new badass female-driven action hit. They key word there is seemed, because the reality of the film's release ultimately spelled one of the worst box office duds ever recorded, with a number of contributing factors.

The film opened at the end of January (already a tough spot for many films) and grossed just $2.7 million domestically in its first weekend. That's the lowest box office haul for a film opening in more than 3,000 theaters ever, and one of the lowest openings of all time for a major studio release. 

So, what went wrong? According to Deadline, it began with lackluster test screenings that basically convinced executives at Paramount that the film wasn't worth pouring a ton of marketing money into. Add in a lackluster critical response and an opening weekend CinemaScore of C+, and it was a film that had no real buzz and no word of mouth to speak of. The film's lackluster domestic performance meant that it barely got an international release at all, and the box office total came to just $5.9 million, losing upwards of $30 million.

Even under normal circumstances, some films just don't do well at the box office. By the middle of March 2020, though, it became clear that movies this year would be dealing with anything but normal circumstances. As the coronavirus pandemic swept across the world, movie studios and theater chains had to make some difficult decisions. Releases were delayed indefinitely, while theaters began closing to limit the spread of the virus. While several upcoming blockbusters had their release dates postponed to wait for a more opportune time, a few films already in theaters — some of them potential box office goldmines — had their box office runs severely shortened. 

Onward, Pixar's latest major release, had a solid week or so on screens, pulling in $102.7 million worldwide — not bad for a start, but still well short of the total the studio may have hoped for. Meanwhile, Sony's superhero adventure Bloodshot managed $24.2 million after a March 13 opening, at a time when many people were already avoiding crowded theaters. Then there's The Hunt, a film that had already been delayed once, which pulled in just $6.3 million after its own March 13 opening, well below its budget. Faith-based drama I Still Believe opened the same weekend and fared a little better, but still came in low with $9.7 million. It's possible that future theatrical time or home releases can help studios gain some ground on these films, but again, it's just a case of bad timing. We may never know how high any of these films might have actually climbed.