People online complain about Hollywood not taking enough risks today. Agree to disagree. Risks are being taken, even if they are not good ones. History has shown we will get more flops than blockbusters. Something, something, can’t make an omelet without cracking a few eggs, yeah?
Here are 11 films that took risks that paid off in a major way and 11 that fell flat on their faces:
1.
SUCCESS: Les Miserables recorded all the songs live, and it captured all the emotions perfectly.
2.
MISFIRE: Cats made the actors into CGI felines but ended up scaring movie-goers.
3.
SUCCESS: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs delivers the first full-length animated film.
4.
MISFIRE: John Carter spent at least $250M but failed to capture audiences on a national scale.
5.
SUCCESS: Iron Man launches the entire MCU on the backs of Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau.
6.
MISFIRE: The Mummy (2017) tried to create a cinematic universe for the Universal Monsters, and it was dead on arrival.
7.
SUCCESS: Avatar created big blue aliens with motion capture and made one of the highest-grossing films ever.
8.
MISFIRE: After Earth spent a lot of cash on a father-son project that lost money.
9.
SUCCESS: Batman took a known-to-be campy superhero and turned him into the gritty dark knight we know today.
10.
MISFIRE: Black Adam turns a villain into an anti-hero and is just another Dwayne Johnson flick.
11.
SUCCESS: The Lord of the Rings trilogy got the green light for all three movies without knowing if it would succeed.
12.
MISFIRE: Waterworld cost a fortune (at the time) and sunk in theaters.
13.
SUCCESS: Die Hard traded out the potential for a big, muscle-y lead and instead cast the charismatic Bruce Willis.
14.
MISFIRE: Wonder Woman 1984 ditched everything that worked in the first film and potentially cost fans a trilogy.
15.
SUCCESS: Titanic went from being treated as a joke to one of the most-watched movies ever.
16.
MISFIRE: Exodus: Gods and Kings was a major bust…of biblical proportions.
17.
SUCCESS: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl does the impossible and makes an extremely compelling adaptation of a theme park ride.
18.
MISFIRE: Pan offered a chance at a potentially interesting origin story of a beloved fictional character but delivered a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
19.
SUCCESS: Get Out gives comedian Jordan Peele a shot at a horror thriller, and he makes arguably the greatest directorial debut of all time.
20.
MISFIRE: The BFG was a Big Flop, Guys.
21.
SUCCESS: Mad Max: Fury Road revived a franchise by making one of the best action films of all time.
22.
MISFIRE: The Phantom Menace tried to explain the Force in Star Wars, and it just didn’t work with the fan base.
Can you think of any films that took major risks, whether they paid off or not? Comment below!
