Yep, this year was a bloodbath.
Why are films so highly budgeted these days? Why did something like “After the Hunt,” a film that largely takes place in interior spaces, cost $80M to produce? It certainly didn’t help that the film’s star, Julia Roberts — who hasn’t had a true blockbuster hit in decades — was paid $20M.
Studios are still largely run by people who made their careers in an era when that approach made sense — when having the right big name on the poster could genuinely make or break a film. That thinking won’t fully disappear from the studio ecosystem until that generation steps back from day-to-day decision-making.
What this tells me is that many studios remain led by executives who came up in a time when star power truly determined a movie’s fate — when the right name on a poster could singlehandedly decide a release’s success or failure.
Yet the year’s biggest box-office bomb, “Snow White,” which reportedly lost upward of $200M, didn’t fail because it paid a massive sum to a single actor. From the get-go, “Snow White” was mired in controversy. You could point to any number of reasons for its downfall: the CGI dwarves? Rachel Zegler? Multiple delays? Disney’s never-ending string of live-action remakes?
During production, the film blew past its originally intended $180M budget — largely due to multiple rounds of reshoots and rewrites, and, most pertinently, a Peter Dinklage–led backlash over the dwarves. After Dinklage spoke out against casting little people in the roles, Disney faced significant pushback and ultimately replaced them with CGI creations.
What I want to know is how much money could have been saved had Disney ignored Dinklage’s ranting, skipped the CGI, and stuck with the original plan of casting seven actors with dwarfism.
Below is a list of the biggest box office bombs of 2025, based on reported grosses, budgets, and estimated losses from multiple sources. Some figures are approximations where full studio data isn’t public, but these represent the most widely cited flops of the year.
1. Snow White – Estimated loss: ~$200M+
With some outlets claiming the film cost $350M, who really knows how much Disney’s live-action remake actually lost? For now, we’re sticking with the “official” reported $270M budget, paired with a rough $205M worldwide gross — not to mention the millions Disney spent on marketing — making it the year’s biggest financial failure.
2. Mission: Impossible Final Reckoning — Estimated loss: ~150M+
Sure, it grossed $595 million worldwide, but this Tom Cruise‑starring sequel cost over $400 million to produce and failed to reach the box office heights of previous installments. The trades can spin it any way they want, but this one is firmly in the red and was a major money loser for Paramount. The situation is so dire that we don’t expect another film to be greenlit until an eventual reboot, likely sometime in the next decade.
3. Tron: Ares – Estimated loss: ~$132M+
Deadline’s sources say the film actually cost $220M, not the $170M originally reported. Yes — close to a quarter of a billion dollars for a movie nobody asked for. That $142M worldwide gross sticks out like a sore thumb. As one talent rep told the trade, “There was no specific vision, to be honest. The idea that Disney would spend a quarter of a billion dollars on a Jared Leto film in a franchise that hasn’t worked in four decades is insane.”
4. The Running Man – Estimated loss: ~$100M+
Another high-budget bomb ($110M to produce). What went wrong? There are plenty of theories. Paramount clearly believed Glen Powell could open a movie on name recognition alone. Weak or misaligned marketing may have also failed to spark real interest. Add in lukewarm reviews and soft word-of-mouth, and the result was total failure.
5. After the Hunt – Estimated loss: ~$90M+
The real shocker is that this Amazon/MGM #MeToo-themed film cost around $80M to produce — what? Add in the fact that it earned just $9M worldwide, and this Luca Guadagnino-directed film enters disaster territory. Critics hated it (38% on RT), and audiences even more so, with a pathetic 23% “definite recommend” on Screen Engine/ComScore PostTrak and a C- CinemaScore.
6. Elio – Estimated loss: ~$100M+
Pixar’s original sci-fi underperformed, earning $154M against a budget we’re still not sure of. Disney’s official line pegged the budget at $150M. However, THR’s sources, including a former crew member, suggest the number was around $250M. It certainly didn’t help that original director Adrian Molina’s version was nearly overhauled after he was fired, making the box office failure sting even more.
7. Mickey 17 – Estimated loss: ~$80M
To be fair, Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi film was greenlit by previous Warner Bros. studio chief Toby Emmerich with a $118M budget, and his replacements, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, were newly on the job when it went into production. Reshoots, added costs, and multiple release delays didn’t help.
8. The Smashing Machine – Estimated loss: ~$40M+
Dwayne Johnson’s arthouse turn grossed just $21M on a reported $50M+ budget. As good as Johnson was as troubled MMA fighter Mark Kerr, the film proved to be little more than a curiosity for his fanbase. At this point, his most reliable path to box office success may be IP: “Fast & Furious,” “Jumanji,” or “Jungle Cruise.”
9. The Alto Knights – Estimated loss: ~$50M+
Barry Levinson somehow got $50M to make his mob movie “Alto Knights,” starring Robert De Niro. The film has been described as Warner Bros. head honcho David Zaslav’s “pet project.” It ended its worldwide run with just $10M.
10. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – Estimated loss: ~$35M+
Sony’s romantic fantasy grossed about $20M against a $45M net production budget. It carried an R rating — a tough sell for a romance, even one headlined by Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell. To make matters worse, Sony paid $50M for the “hot package” at EFM 2024. All told, it was a major career setback for filmmaker Kogonada.
11. Kiss of the Spider Woman — Estimated loss: ~$35M+
Despite the presence of Jennifer Lopez, this musical was a notable box‑office disappointment. With a reported production budget of around $30M+, it grossed only about $2M worldwide, resulting in significant commercial losses for its backers. Whatever Oscar buzz it had after its Sundance premiere has completely dissipated these last few months.
Hill, coming off the miserable reviews for this year's “Outcome,” now has yet another film destined for a long delay. This time, it's “Cut Off,” his third directorial effort, which was set to hit theaters this July