{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreibee4gdlk4bl2jevulzyynmyydnqipotir7ithusm2hakaxtir5oy",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:b7afdzqsmwksxypciqnplglk/app.bsky.feed.post/3moiochx4ubr2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreidizzd65tdteanqnkoxiif3zq6wfhfcrffdg5eg35pzcwszaymqte"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "size": 68271
  },
  "path": "/2026/06/17/8-biggest-box-office-flops-2026-far-28813487/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-17T14:48:47.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "Entertainment",
    "Film",
    "Movies",
    "Steven Spielberg",
    "The Rocky Horror Picture Show",
    "The Big Lebowski?",
    "animated adaptation of George Orwell’s classic satirical novel, Animal Farm",
    "Glenn Close",
    "Woody Harrelson",
    "historical action epic Desert Warrior,",
    "Anthony Mackie",
    "Rotten Tomatoes",
    "American sword-and-sorcery superhero movie",
    "Idris Elba",
    "alien",
    "Donald Trump",
    "the documentary.",
    "10% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes,",
    "Freelance writer Kimberley Bond shared her verdict",
    "Mercy is a science fiction thriller",
    "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple",
    "Mother Mary",
    "The Devil Wears Prada 2,",
    "massive commercial and cultural success,",
    "the nicher Mother Mary",
    "woman of the moment Jessie Buckley",
    "March’s The Bride!",
    "The American Gothic romance film",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
  ],
  "textContent": "From an Anne Hathaway movie to a documentary about the First Lady (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)\n\nWhether you’re a veteran director like Steven Spielberg or a newcomer to the movie scene, chances are, you’re going to have at least one ‘flop’ in your career.\n\nWhile some may be worse than others (both in terms of losing money _and_ the actual plot), many go on to become cult favourites.\n\nMay we direct you to now-iconic movies like The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Big Lebowski?\n\nThis year, there have already been a few box office bombs — it’s too early to tell whether they’ll become classics or remain on the scrap heap.\n\nKeen to find out what they are? Behold, the 8 biggest flops of 2026:\n\n## Animal Farm\n\nBritish actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis had been working on an animated adaptation of George Orwell’s classic satirical novel, Animal Farm, for 15 years.\n\nHaving been developing the project since 2011, the movie finally hit the box office in May.\n\nFor those uninitiated with the 1945 dystopian story, it follows a group of farm animals who overthrow their human master for a better life.\n\nHowever, when pig Napoleon seizes power, their hopes for freedom are crushed.\n\nThe animated movie — released by Angel Studios and featuring a star-studded voice cast of Seth Rogen, Glenn Close, and Woody Harrelson — cost $34.8 (£26m) to make.\n\nSadly, during its opening weekend, Animal Farm only brought in an estimated $3.3 million (£2.46m) domestically.\n\nIt also struggled to compete with other huge releases happening at the time, such as The Devil Wears Prada 2.\n\nThe satirical classic has been turned into an animated movie (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)\n\n## Desert Warrior\n\nNext up, it’s the historical action epic Desert Warrior, which had a $151.7 million (£113.2m) price tag.\n\nThe film was directed by Rupert Wyatt and starred Anthony Mackie, and became known as the most expensive project ever produced in Saudi Arabia when it was released in April.\n\nStill, its large budget didn’t attract fans, as Deadline reported the film grossed less than $600,000 (£447,675) worldwide during its initial theatrical release.\n\nPlus, Desert Warrior was poorly promoted and marketed — hardly any audiences had a clue it was being released.\n\nDesert Warrior didn’t capture the world’s attention (Picture: Vertical)\n\nSo, what was the storyline for it to flop this badly? Not to mention receiving a 26% critics’ Tomatometer score on review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes.\n\nSet in 7th-century Arabia, Princess Hind flees into the desert to escape the ruthless Emperor Kisra.\n\nIn order to survive, she becomes a warrior with the help of a legendary bandit and works to unite warring tribes.\n\nScathing reviews include The Hollywood Reporters: ‘The film was shot five years ago and is only reaching theaters now, but it’s likely to be swept away as quickly as desert sands.’\n\nThe Audience consensus is a little kinder, though. It reads: ‘A sword-and-sandal outing,  _Desert Warrior_ greatly benefits from its sweeping Arabian scenery and resonant themes of honor and survival.’\n\n## Masters of the Universe\n\nOK, so this film was only released at the beginning of the month, so we can’t be _too_ hard on it just yet.\n\nDespite a star-studded cast, the movie failed to make an impression (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock)\n\nThe American sword-and-sorcery superhero movie based on Mattel’s media franchise stars Camila Mendes, Kristin Wiig, Idris Elba, and Jared Leto, to name a few.\n\nIn a nutshell, it centres around a young man on Earth who discovers a secret legacy as the prince of an alien planet.\n\nTo return to his planet and protect his kingdom, he must recover a magic sword.\n\nWhile Amazon MGM had hopes of sparking a modern franchise with the film (it’s reported it had an almost $201.1 million/£150 million budget), it only raked in a weak $55.8m (£41.69m) at the box office.\n\nRotten Tomato critics and fans aren’t as harsh. The former consensus says: ‘By the power of Grayskull and with a little help from its self-deprecating script and spirited cast, Masters of the Universe is a delightful adventure that finds the humanity in He-Man.’\n\nMeanwhile, the audience says: ‘A glossy, action spectacle that wears its heart on its jacked sleeve,  _Masters of the Universe_ is a stud of a film.’\n\n## Melania\n\nCoupled with the fact that Melania was directed by Brett Ratner, who was effectively exiled from the industry in 2017 when multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct, and that the First Lady’s husband, Donald Trump, is one of the most controversial people on the planet, it wasn’t looking good for the documentary.\n\nThe film details Melania’s life in the lead-up to the second presidential inauguration. However, many reviewers branded it as a highly orchestrated piece of propaganda.\n\nMelania Trump documented her life as First Lady for the second time (Picture: Amazon/Everett/Shutterstock)\n\nThis saw it earn a 10% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and gross around $16.26m (£12.13m) domestically and about £223,765 internationally.\n\nIn the UK, Yahoo reported it earned only $44,597 (£33,266) in its opening weekend.\n\nJust weeks after Melania’s release, it was pulled from cinemas.\n\nFreelance writer Kimberley Bond shared her verdict in an opinion piece for **Metro.** She described it as a ‘beige vanity exercise’ and agreed with thepeople in the cinema that it was ‘two hours [she] won’t get back.’\n\n## Mercy\n\nWith a $59.8 million (£44.6 million) budget, Mercy is a science fiction thriller starring Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson.\n\nChris Pratt might leave this movie off his CV (Picture: MGM/Everett/Shutterstock)\n\nIt’s set in a near-future LA, where justice is served by a highly advanced AI system called Mercy.\n\nWhen Pratt’s character, an LAPD police detective named Chris, is accused of murder, his fate is in the hands of Ferguson’s emotionless AI judge, who gives him just 90-minutes to prove his innocence.\n\nWhile the premise does sound enticing, especially during an era where AI and tech advancements are moving at such a fast pace, the film failed to capture an audience, grossing $24.3m (£18.12m) domestically and $54.6m (£40.7m) worldwide.\n\nIt also marked the worst box office debut of Chris Pratt’s career.\n\n## 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple\n\nThe critics loved this movie, even though it was a financial disaster (Picture: Sony Pictures/Shutterstock)\n\nWhen you attach established actors like Cillian Murphy and Ralph Fiennes to a picture, you just presume it’s going to be a hit, right?\n\nWell, this wasn’t the case for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a post-apocalyptic horror film and sequel to Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later.\n\nThe premise is as follows, according to Netflix: ‘Decades after an unstoppable plague tears through the UK, a former doctor searches for a cure, while a teenager fights to escape a violent gang.’\n\nCompared to some of the other films in this list, it pulled in a respectable $58m (£43.29m) worldwide against a reported budget of roughly £46.9 million.\n\nOf course, that’s not enough to break even, let alone make a profit.\n\nHowever, the movie was a success in the eyes of the critics, as it pulled in a near-perfect 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.\n\nSimilarly, the Popcornmeter, which is where the general audience shares their two cents, achieved a score of 88%.\n\n## Mother Mary\n\nAnne Hathaway is having quite the year.\n\nThe Oscar-winner has an unprecedented lineup of five major films slated for release in 2026, including April’s Mother Mary (which we’re here to talk about), May’s The Devil Wears Prada 2, July’s The Odyssey, August’s The End of Oak Street, and October’s Verity.\n\nDue to the last three still awaiting release, we’ve only got Mother Mary and TDWP to analyse.\n\nAs we all know, the long-awaited sequel to Lauren Weisberger’s iconic novel was a massive commercial and cultural success, and officially propelled the franchise past the $1bn (£744.8m) mark.\n\nUnfortunately, the nicher Mother Mary didn’t do as well. Despite this being expected — TDWP is way more commercial than the David Lowery-directed psychosexual pop-drama — having Anne Hathaway and Michaela Cole attached to the bill should have piqued interest.\n\nCharli XCX, Jack Antonoff and FKA Twigs lent their musical talents to the soundtrack (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)\n\nHowever, it ended up being a box office and critical flop, costing around $19.9m (£14.89m) to make but only making about $2.98m (£2.23m).\n\nShould Rotten Tomatoes’ 70% Tomatometer propel you to watch it, here’s a rough plot outline: When iconic pop star Mother Mary (Hathaway) reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance, long-buried wounds rise to the surface.\n\n##  Metro's verdict\n\n**Metro’s** Senior Film & Entertainment Reporter Tori Brazier said she surrendered to the weirdness and gave it a respectable 3 out of 5 stars.\n\nHer verdict? Mother Mary is a marmite movie, and to be admired for Lowery’s unfettered vision. It’s further elevated by its powerhouse central duo, and reminds everyone that Anne Hathaway is a quietly brilliant talent.\n\n## The Bride!\n\nLast but not least, woman of the moment Jessie Buckley and acclaimed actor Christian Bale starred in March’s The Bride!\n\nMaybe The Bride! was just too arty for the masses (Picture: Warner Bros/Everett/ Shutterstock)\n\nThe American Gothic romance film was also written by Maggie Gyllenhaal and is her maximalist take on Bride of Frankenstein.\n\nIn 1930s Chicago, groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious brings a murdered young woman back to life to be a companion for Frankenstein’s monster.\n\nBut things didn’t go to plan for Frankenstein or Gyllenhaal, as the film was a major flop, for many reasons.\n\nFirst, its $89.9m (£67.09m) production budget was way too high for an arthouse, genre-bending crime story. The movie ended up grossing just $23.88m (£17.82m).\n\nSecondly, it gained mixed reviews (57% on the Tomatometer) and poor audience reception.\n\n##  Metro's verdict\n\nTori also reviewed The Bride!, and said that while she wanted to love it, it was ‘too much of a monster mash.’\n\nShe concluded: ‘The Bride! is dazzling to behold but a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster mash-up of ideas.’\n\n\n\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "8 of the biggest box office flops of 2026 so far"
}