Box Office Hits 2006

The biggest box office bombs:

• Year's bombs include "King's Men," "Fountain," "Instinct 2"
• Big stars -- Sean Penn, Russell Crowe -- featured in films
• "Basic Instinct 2" may have been most unprofitable


LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Oscar winners Russell Crowe, Nicolas Cage and Sean Penn starred in some of the year's biggest box office bombs, according to an analysis published Sunday by Variety, proving A-list stars are not invincible.

Crowe struck out with the romantic comedy "A Good Year," Cage with the horror remake "Wicker Man," and Penn with another remake, the political saga "All the King's Men."

High-profile directors such as M. Night Shyamalan ("Lady in the Water") and Wolfgang Petersen ("Poseidon") also made the hall of shame with their waterlogged movies.

The other films among its 10 biggest box office bombs were the erotic thriller sequel "Basic Instinct 2," the World War I aviation saga "Flyboys," the cartoon "Flushed Away," the transcendental love story "The Fountain," and the urban kidnapping thriller "Freedomland."

Variety said its alphabetically ordered list was determined by looking primarily at the ratio between a film's cost and its revenues. It noted that financial loss could be divided among various studios and other equity investors, while international box office receipts and DVD sales can restore some luster. (Watch some of the year's flops Video)

Based on figures cited in the article, the most unprofitable film appeared to be "Basic Instinct 2," a $70 million film that earned $5 million domestically, and continued actress Sharon Stone's 11-year string of bombs. But the German-backed film's domestic distributor, Sony Corp.'s Columbia Pictures, said at the time of its release that its financial exposure was limited.

More-spectacular misfires included "Flushed Away" with a $90 million shortfall between cost and domestic sales, and "Poseidon," which had a $100 million deficit, although it did well overseas.

Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Pictures, which had a dismal year at the box office, was the domestic distributor of four of the pictures: "The Fountain," "Lady in the Water," "Poseidon" and "Wicker Man." (Time Warner is also the parent company of CNN.) Columbia Pictures, the market leader with 13 No. 1 movies in 2006, also released "All the King's Men" and "Freedomland."

Closely held Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. handled "Flyboys," although software billionaire Larry Ellison put up almost half the $60 million budget. News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox released "A Good Year," and Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures "Flushed Away."

On that basis, the biggest bomb of 2006 was probably Zyzzyx Road, which took in an estimated $30 in box office receipts.

What if they released a movie and nobody came?

I don't know how much it cost to make the film, but if Basic Instinct 2 bombed with a cost-receipts ratio of 14-1, then the cost of making Zyzzyx Road would have to have been less than $420 in order to beat that mark.

Still trying to find the top ten box office list for 2006 but here's the foreign film list:

1 Apocalypto $ 43.8 2,465 $ 17,773 Maya
2 Jet Li's Fearless 24.6 1,810 13,608 Mandarin
3 The Protector 12.0 1,541 7,813 Thai
4 Volver 5.1 117 43,675 Spanish
5 Cache 3.7 90 40,556 French
6 Water 3.3 91 36,044 Hindi
7 Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna 3.3 64 51,250 Hindi
8 Tsotsi 2.9 122 23,852 Afrikaans
9 La Mujer De Mi Hermano 2.8 217 12,949 Spanish
10 Dhoom 2 2.6 63 40,778 Hindi

Here's the top ten grossing (ooops, no slasher movies, though) ) films of 2006:

1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," $423.3 million
2. "Cars," $244.1 million
3. "X-Men: The Last Stand," $234.4 million
4. "The Da Vinci Code," $217.5 million
5. "Superman Returns," $200.1 million
6. "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $195.3 million
7. "Happy Feet," $176.2 million
8. "Over the Hedge," $155.0 million
9. "Casino Royale," $153.4 million
10. "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," $148.2 million

Reposted from CNN -- posted from work yesterday and tried to correct Box Office Mojo's spreadsheet but too complicated!

I've actually only seen "Pirates" on DVD and many of the others are now on DVD. I thought POTC: DMC was a great follow-up and enjoyed it just as much as the first, but I am a fan of Johnny Depp even when he slightly hams it up. It's appropriate in that movie.

I have the DVD of Water. It is a very sad story but beautifully done.