10 Recent Box Office Flops That Were Actually Great Movies

Understanding Box Office Flops

There were quite a few recent box office flops that were actually great movies. Overall, box office gross is a great metric for gauging not just the national or global commercial success of a movie, but its cultural impact as well. At the same time, a film's financial performance is scarcely enough to provide a truly objective judgment of whether a film is worth watching or not.

Ezra Miller's Barry Allen arrives to the rescue in The Flash

Indeed, there are plenty of great movies that bombed at the box office, and many of them are also some of the best films of the 20th and 21st centuries. Technically, movies are considered bombs, flops, or failures when they fail to gross at least twice their budget, as this means that they couldn't break even to prevent losses. While studios use box office metrics to determine commercial viability, these numbers are also highly influenced by external factors such as streaming, audience values, and other things that affect how viewers consume films today. In fact, many of the worst box office performers in recent years are also undeniably interesting movies.

The Flash (2023)

The Flash, with a budget of $220 million, had a box office gross of $270.6 million. Despite the controversies and marketing issues, The Flash is easily the best movie in the last year of the old and now-defunct DCEU. Michael Keaton reprising his role as Bruce Wayne provided exactly the right amount of camp and genuine sentimentality to The Flash, and so did the other Justice League cameos. Through The Flash, the DCEU's foray into multiverse-based storytelling remains an objectively great contribution to the modern superhero genre, even though the film failed miserably at the box office.

Michael Keaton's Batman with the Ezra Miller's past and current Barry Allens in The Flash

RELATED: The Flash Review: A Multiverse Masterpiece

Ezra Miller's Barry Allen with missing tooth at the end of The Flash

The Creator (2023)

The Creator, with a budget of $80 million, had a box office gross of $104 million. The Creator's fantastic VFX makes it undeniably one of the best-looking films of 2023. The overarching plot isn't revolutionary, as the movie unravels an epic war between humanity and advanced AI, touching on the same bases as countless other sci-fi movies. However, combined with John David Washington's performance as the soldier at the center of this war, The Creator's clever rehash of classic genre tropes results in a fresh and compelling world that actually feels ripe for expansion in potential sequels.

John David Washington as Joshua breathing heavily in The Creator.

RELATED: The Creator Review: A Brutal, Emotional & Visually Stunning Sci-Fi Epic

Sergeant Joshua Taylor (John David Washington) and Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) walking across the stylized landscape in a cropped image of the poster for The Creator

Tár (2022)

Tár, with a budget of $25 million, had a box office gross of $29.2 million. Alongside the way the story is presented, the intense performance of Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár has led audiences to question whether Tár is a real or fictional story. Interestingly, despite Blanchett's convincing portrayal, Lydia Tár is not a real person. Unfortunately, the way Tár brilliantly blurs the lines between fiction and reality wasn't enough to save it from being a significant flop. Ironically, critics have observed this to be a result of the clever conceit on which the fake biographical movie is built upon. While it may have bombed, Tár remains a formidable entry into the psychological drama genre in 2022.

Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett) sitting at the audience seats in the theater in Tar

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, with a budget of $300 million, had a box office gross of $384 million. Despite facing stiff competition and the lack of Steven Spielberg's name on the main billing, the movie masterfully strikes the balance between nostalgic franchise fare and contemporary action adventure cinema. It's not a perfect film, but it is a fitting farewell to Harrison Ford's tenure as the turn of the century's most famous archaeologist.

Indy (Harrison Ford) wearing a shocked expression in an old fashioned bomber aircraft in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, with a budget of $70 million, had a box office gross of $46.2 million. Audiences were reluctant to see it in theaters due to Pixar garnering a mixed reputation over the years. At the same time, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken remains a great family-friendly film with good messages, and stands as a clever remix of established children's movie tropes. In the end, the film's terrible box office performance only makes this visually stunning coming-of-age movie an underrated gem.

Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) scratches her head in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

RELATED: 10 Biggest Reasons DreamWorks' New Animated Movie Bombed So Badly At The Box Office

Conclusion

Despite their box office failures, these movies are a testament to the fact that commercial success doesn't always equate to creative merit. The films discussed here have all received critical acclaim and have left a lasting impact on audiences, proving that a movie's worth extends far beyond its financial performance. As the industry continues to evolve, it's important to recognize the value of these overlooked gems and give them the attention they deserve.