Challenge: From Bomb to Blockbuster

Ultimate Paragon

Banned
This challenge is simple and open-ended: turn an infamous film flop into a successful picture. You can choose something notorious (Heaven's Gate, Mommie Dearest, Battlefield Earth) or something more obscure. I'd love to see what you guys come up with!
 
TheMann

TheMann

Speed Racer IMO needs to be somewhat more mature but still fun to watch, and they needed better dialogue and writing. Good actors and the CGI clearly wasn't the work of idiots, so get a decent storyline and tone down the ridiculousness to get a winner.
 

BeardedHoplite

Heaven's Gate might be salvageable by having the studio override Cimino about the budget and runtime. Might result in a less realized world and a less epic film, but it'll more likely save United Artists money and keep critics from seeing it as bloated. If it can scrape a profit then we might get to keep the "New Hollywood" thing going until some other big-name director makes TTL's version of Heaven's Gate
 

Mike Stearns

Ultimate Paragon said:
This challenge is simple and open-ended: turn an infamous film flop into a successful picture. You can choose something notorious (Heaven's Gate, Mommie Dearest, Battlefield Earth) or something more obscure. I'd love to see what you guys come up with!
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Battlefield Earth isn't that hard. Just keep L Ron Hubbard's family away from it. Apparently the original script would have made an amazing movie.
 

vampyre

Put the crew responsible for The Fifth Element in charge of the first Judge Dredd movie. The city in The Fifth Element was almost exactly how Megacity One should have looked and felt.
 

THE OBSERVER

BeardedHoplite said:
Heaven's Gate might be salvageable by having the studio override Cimino about the budget and runtime. Might result in a less realized world and a less epic film, but it'll more likely save United Artists money and keep critics from seeing it as bloated. If it can scrape a profit then we might get to keep the "New Hollywood" thing going until some other big-name director makes TTL's version of Heaven's Gate
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Think that works.
 

Bahamut-255

wietze said:
waterworld stays a hopeless case though
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Last I checked, Waterworld had mixed reviews and the real reason it Flopped at the Box Office was on account of its costs ($175 million to make + $60 million to advertise), which meant it needed to make about $470 million at the Box Office just to break even, falling some $200 million short - although VHS and DVD Sales and such made that happen eventually.

Basically, you've got to find a way to keep the costs within the Original $100 million budget (or at least less than 30% over) to negate the cost controversy that likely kept a number of people away, while at the same time making it easier to recoup the costs.

Not easy, but not impossible.
 

Yeezus

John Carter and the Princess of Mars (2010)
Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Music by Ramin Djawadi
Cinematography by Guillermo Navarro
Budget: $190 million
Box Office: $700 million
Studio: Legendary Pictures
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Starring Hugh Jackman as John Carter, Eva Green as Dejah Thoris and Ron Perlman as Tars Tarkas

"Guillermo del Toro's passionate take on the classic pulp character presents an engaging and well-crafted story accompanied by big, beautiful visuals and brilliantly staged action set-pieces, cementing the director as one of the most original storytellers of our time."

83th Academy Awards:

Best Makeup and Hairstyling - Won
Best Production Design - Won
Best Sound Editing - Nominated
Best Sound Mixing - Nominated
Best Visual Effects - Nominated

Sequels:

The first sequel, John Carter and the Gods of Mars was released to great success in 2012 while the last film of the trilogy, John Carter: The Warlord of Mars, comes out in 2014.
 

Hollis Hurlbut

Battlefield Earth: In 1995, John Travolta pitches the project to Quentin Tarantino, who had expressed a desire to try his hand at a sci-fi film. Unhappy with the plodding script, Tarantino convinces Travolta that a complete rewrite is needed. They hire Paul Haggis, a Scientologist who nevertheless appreciates the limitations of Hubbard's writing style. Haggis and Tarantino collaborate on a new script, which is consciously campy and ironic.

Travolta dies in a plane crash in late 1996. Tarantino considers retiring the project, but is persuaded by Tarantino's widow, Kelly Preston, to continue production. Principal filming commences in the spring of 1997. At this point, Haggis is the only major Scientologist involved with the production.

Despite Tarantino's secrecy, dailies are smuggled to the Church of Scientology, confirming their fears that Tarantino has taken great liberties with the source material. The villainous Psychlos are portrayed as tasteless interstellar boors who became aware of Earth by watching its television broadcasts. Their viceroy Terl (Larry Hagman) exploits human slaves to mine precious metals and reenact classic TV moments for his personal amusement. A group of human slave-actors, led by the hammy Johnny (George Clooney), exploit Terl's hackneyed expectations in order to take over his spaceship and destroy the Psychlo homeworld. The basic points of Hubbard's plot remain, but only as a framing device for Tarantino's profanity-laden postmodern satire.

Scientologists are outraged, and the Church of Spiritual Technology sues to prevent the film's release. Their efforts are unsuccessful, and only increase public anticipation for the film. Battlefield Earth is released in December of 1998 and dedicated to the memory of John Travolta. It ultimately achieves a worldwide gross of $300 million, easily recouping its $70 million budget.

As a consequence of the film, Haggis defects from Scientology in 1999 and goes on to collaborate with Tarantino in his 2002 remake of Thunderball.
 

King Thomas

Banned
Have Quentin Tarantino direct Heaven's Gate-the Johnson County War with the right director would make a great film. From the lynching of John Averill and Ella Watson, to the massive posse surrounding the cattlemen and their hired guns at the KC ranch, to the US cavalry coming just as the cattlemen were about to be dynamited...if it had a good director I'd certainly watch it.
 

thekingsguard

Oh, I could do this for HOURS - I've thought about doing a video series called Bombs Away covering how certain movies bombed :D

As for some examples:

John Carter (2012): The original title of John Carter of Mars is kept, as is the original release date in June, and PR is much handled better.

The 13th Warrior (1999): John McTiernan and Michael Chrichton get along, thus saving the film production difficulties and stays on budget. Much the same, it is not released against The Sixth Sense.

The Last Stand (2013) - it is released any month outside of January

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) - Michael Cera is never taken as the lead actor, instead, the role is given to Aaron Taylor Johnson, who hot off the heels of Kickass, gives the film much needed positive PR as opposed to Cera's negative PR. The studios move the release date from the highly competitive August release (it got butchered by The Expendables and Inception) to a far easier October/November release.

Rise of the Guardians (2012) - released on Christmas, so Wreck-it Ralph doesn't compete for tickets.

Heaven's Gate (1980) - United Artists puts a tight leash on Cimino, and the film, while not a smash, is not the horror story is is OTL.

Sahara (2004) - Budget is kept on track, better use of marketing, released latter in Summer than it was.

The Alamo (2004) - released on time, allowing it to catch some of the post 9-11 jingoistic tail winds.

Green Lantern (2011) - The movie is not centered on Hal Jordon, but John Stewart, with Anthony Mackee cast, and is formally announced as the launching point of a formulate DC Universe. The more action-oriented focus brought by Stewart (being a Marine) and the dual PR storms over the first major black superhero and DC finally getting in the game with Marvel helps it double its budget and more.

Waterworld (1995) - Kevin Costner is not given absolute control, but instead, direction is given to one of the screenwriters - Joss Whedon. The budget is kept much smaller, the script much tighter, and the movie is a surprise hit.

Mission to Mars (2000) - the Script is given some polish, and gets better reviews as a result.

I can name more, often times, its the smallest of things that tanks a film. But there are a number of bombs - Cutthroat Island, Mars Needs Moms, After Earth, RIPD - simply cannot be saved.
 

Kalvan

Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Given the time for the special effects to bake to the same degree as the DVD and Blu-Ray director's cuts.

The Sound of Thunder: Actually put in the special effects. The story wasn't half bad.

My Science Project: Actually advertise the film. The only hype I saw for it was a trailer in front of Back to the Future.

Explorers: Don't release it so close to Back to the Future.

Superman Returns: Have Richard Donner actually direct the thing. Also, find some other villain than the Silver Age style Lex Luthor, like Parasite, Silver Banshee, Darkseid, Mongul, Doomsday, or the Elite.

The Monster Squad: Release it in October.

Spider-Man 3: Don't ram villains Sam Raimi doesn't want to use down his throat. Make better use of John Jamison if you absolutely must introduce the Symbiote Suit for the next film. Keep Gwen out of the film; use Betty Brandt or Felicia Hardy instead if you are going to emphasize the Love Square with Harry and Mary Jane.

Batman Forever and Batman and Robin: stop trying to cater to the Sixties TV show, especially when you are using the likes of Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and of all people Bane in your story! Joel Schumacher can do serious very well (just look at Veronica Guerin), just let him keep with a relatively serious style of Batman, and stop making all of his villains so over-the-top.

Mystery Men: Actually advertise the film. The only advance hype I saw for it was a trailer I saw before X-Men and The Phantom Menace.
 
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