Blast Zone: Movies That Bombed

We're ALIIIIIVE! We're back with a deep dive into late-80s kids sci-fi with Guttenberg-less sequel SHORT CIRCUIT 2

SHORT CIRCUIT 2
RELEASED: July 6, 1988
DIRECTED BY: Kenneth Johnson
STARRING: Fisher Stevens, Michael McKean, Cynthia Gibb, Jack Weston, Tim Blaney
BUDGET: $15M
BOX OFFICE: $21.6M
ESTIMATED LOSS: $8M 

NEXT EPISODE: We're hitting the road with our old pals Michael...

We're wrapping up our look back at 2025 with one of the most talked about (and expensive) movies of the year: Paul Thomas Anderson's epic ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
RELEASED: September 8, 2025
DIRECTED BY: Paul Thomas Anderson
STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti, Regina Hall
BUDGET: $175M 
BOX OFFICE: $207M 
ESTIMAT...

Bong Joon Ho is back with an original sci-fi movie! Did it make a bunch of money? We wouldn’t be talking about it if it did. It’s MICKEY 17

MICKEY 17
RELEASED: 
DIRECTED BY: Bong Joon Ho 
STARRING: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, Steven Yeun 
BUDGET: $118m 
BOX OFFICE: $133m
ESTIMATED LOSS: $80m 

NEXT EPISODE: We wrap up our 2025 retrospective 

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We're heading back into the MCU for one of their best movies in years, that still unfortunately underperformed at the box office. It's the THUNDERBOLTS ASTERISK.

THUNDERBOLTS*
RELEASED: May 2, 2025
DIRECTED BY: Jake Schreier
STARRING: Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Lewis Pullman, Hannah John-Kamen, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Gerladine Viswanathan
BUDGET: $180m
BOX OFFI...

We're back from our holiday break, and all January we'll be covering some noteworthy box office disappointments from 2025. We'll kick things off with Ari Aster's EDDINGTON

EDDINGTON
RELEASED: July 18, 2025
DIRECTED BY: Ari Aster
STARRING: Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Deirdre O'Connell, Michael Ward
BUDGET: $25m
BOX OFFICE: $13.1m 
ESTIMATED LOSS:  $20m

We're back! Join us on a trip to the optimistic days of the early 80s as we discuss the extremely bizarre but highly charming sci-fi comedy THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION

THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION
RELEASED: August 10, 1984
DIRECTED BY: W.D. Richter
STARRING: Peter Weller, Ellen Barkin, John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum
BUDGET: $17m
BOX OFFICE: ...

This week we cover our first, and definitely not our last, Guy Ritchie movie with 2015's throwback spy action comedy THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
RELEASED: August 14, 2015
DIRECTED BY: Guy Ritchie
STARRING: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Debicki
BUDGET: $84m 
BOX OFFICE: $110m 
ESTIMATED LOSS: $80m 

NEXT EPISODE: We get real weird and real 8...

We wrap up another successful Blastober with the final film from horror master Clive Barker: it's an interesting mix of cosmic horror and noir, 1995's LORD OF ILLUSIONS

LORD OF ILLUSIONS
RELEASED: August 25, 1995
DIRECTED BY: Clive Barker
STARRING: Scott Bakula, Famke Jannsen, Kevin J. O'Connor, Daniel von Bargen
BUDGET: $11M
BOX OFFICE: $13.3M
ESTIMATED LOSS: $8M

NEXT EPI...

Blastober barrels forth with 2001's creepy psychological horror FRAILTY! 

FRAILTY
DIRECTED BY: Bill Paxton
RELEASED: April 12, 2002
STARRING: Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe, Luke Askew, Jeremy Sumpter 
BUDGET: $11m
BOX OFFICE: $17,4m
ESTIMATED LOSS: $2m

NEXT EPISODE: We wrap up Blastober with the third and final feature from a Master of Horror. 

SHOW NOTES

More like... more like A Cure for Making Money. I'm still working on that one. For week 2 of Blastober we're covering Gore Verbinski's 2017 mindf*** A CURE FOR WELLNESS.

A CURE FOR WELLNESS
DIRECTED BY: Gore Verbinski
RELEASED: February 17, 2017
STARRING: Dane DeHaan, Mia Goth, Jason Isaacs
BUDGET: $40m 
BOX OFFICE: $26.6m
ESTIMATED LOSS: $30m

NEXT EPISODE: It may not be a pe...

We're kicking off another Blastober with a movie about something really spooky: road rage. It's 2001's JOY RIDE

JOY RIDE
RELEASED: October 5, 2001
DIRECTED BY: John Stahl
STARRING: Paul Walker, Steve Zahn, Leelee Sobieski, Jim Beaver, Ted Levine
BUDGET: $23M
BOX OFFICE: $36.6M
ESTIMATED LOSS: $15M 

NEXT EPISODE: You'll have to tune in and see what spooky movie we pick ne...

We’re going back to 1999 for the Tarantino-lite cult classic GO 

GO
DIRECTED BY: Doug Liman 
RELEASED: April 9, 1999
STARRING: Sarah Polley, Timothy Olyphant, William Fichtner, Jay Mohr, Katie Holmes, Scott Wolf 
BUDGET: $20M 
BOX OFFICE: $28.5M 
ESTIMATED LOSS: $12M

NEXT EPISODE: We’re kicking off Blastober! So you gotta tune in to see what we’re covering.

0:00 Intro 
2:58 Sho...

Episode 157 - Keanu

Is this the cutest cat ever put on film? We debate this and other important questions as we discuss the 2016 Key and Peele movie KEANU

KEANU
RELEASED: April 29, 2016
DIRECTED BY: Peter Atencio
STARRING: Jordan Peele, Keegan Michael Key, Tiffany Haddish, Method Man, Nia Long, Will Forte
BUDGET: $15M
BOX OFFICE: $20.7M
ESTIMATED LOSS: $15M

NEXT EPISODE: Of...

Soar with us, leaves on the wind! It's 2005's sci-fi western/continuation of a beloved canceled TV property SERENITY

SERENITY
RELEASED: September 30, 2005
DIRECTED BY: Joss Whedon
STARRING: Nathan Fillion, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Summer Glau, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher
BUDGET: $39M
BOX OFFICE: $40.4M
ESTIMATED LOSS: $20M 

NEXT EPISODE: We coul...

We're going on a Toy Story sidequest without any toys. It's 2022's LIGHTYEAR. 

LIGHTYEAR
RELEASED: June 17, 2022
DIRECTED BY: Angus MacLane
STARRING: Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohne, Taika Waititi, Uzo Abuba, James Brolin, Dale Soules
BUDGET: $200M
BOX OFFICE: $226.4M
ESTIMATED LOSS: $106M

NEXT EPISODE: Would you believe your eyes, if we covered FIREFLY? Well close enou...

The movie that bombed so hard it killed a multi-billion dollar franchise. This is DARK PHOENIX

DARK PHOENIX
RELEASED: June 7, 2019
DIRECTED BY: Simon Kinsberg
STARRING: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender
BUDGET: $200M
BOX OFFICE: $252.4M
ESTIMATED LOSS: $130M 

NEXT EPISODE: To infinity, and b-bomb! It's LIG...

Are you an Elvis fan? What about JFK? Cuz this movie kinda has those guys in it. It’s 2002’s cult classic BUBBA HO-TEP

BUBBA HO-TEP
RELEASED: June 9, 2002
DIRECTED BY: Don Coscarelli
STARRING: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Bob Ivy
BUDGET: $1M 
BOX OFFICE: $1.2M
ESTIMATED LOSS: Total

Next episode: Let's get this over with. It's X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX.  

0:00 Intro 
2:32 ...

Hold onto your (high) hat, cuz we’re going to MILLER’S CROSSING! 

MILLER’S CROSSING
RELEASED: September 22, 1990
DIRECTED BY: The Coen Brothers 
STARRING: Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Albert Finney, Jon Polito 
BUDGET: $10M - $14M 
BOX OFFICE: $5M 
ESTIMATED LOSS: total 

NEXT EPISODE: Put on your blue suede shoes, cuz it’s time for BUBBA HO-TEP

0:00 Intro 
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