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The 50 Worst Opening Weekends of All Time, Adjusted for Inflation

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | October 2, 2012 |

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | October 2, 2012 |


Over the weekend, it was largely looked over amidst the relative success of Rian Johnson’s Looper and the biggest September opening of all time, Hotel Transylvania, but Won’t Back Down, an anti-teachers’ union propaganda film starring Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal had the second worst opening of all time for a film opening in over 2,500 theaters. Adjusted for inflation, Won’t Back Down actually tops the list. It sold about 320,000 tickets, which means that each screening of the film only got about 10 audience members. So, take that, union busters.

The thing about a movie that opens on 2,500 theaters is that, with a screen count like that, it means it opens in virtually every city in America with a multiplex. Prints are not cheap, so if a studio is going to spread a movie to that many cities, it’s generally also going to put a relatively big marketing push behind it. By the time a movie with that big of a roll out is released, the movie has been exposed to most people who are exposed to the mass media. At that point, statistically speaking, it’s a numbers game: $10 million is probably a baseline, what you’d expect at the very minimum for a film that a roll out that large. If you don’t get at least $10 million, it means that the marketing campaign is busted, that audiences don’t like the talent involved, or are not interested in the subject material.

You can fairly ascribe one of those three reasons to nearly every film on this list. What’s interesting to note, too, is that — adjusting for inflation — 17 of these films are from the last three years, which suggests that audiences need more than Jennifer Aniston or Drew Barrymore on the poster to entice them.

It’s appalling, however, how many of these I’ve seen, although they’re not all bad. 2012 releases are in bold.

1. Won’t Back Down — $2,571,300
2. The Rocker — $2,944,400
3. Lucky You — $3,159,600
4. Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil — $4,088,200
5. MacGruber — $4,115,300
6. Hoot — $4,124,100
7. Rumor Has It — $4,345,500
8. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising — $4,365,900
9. Hit and Run — $4,470,500
10. Firehouse Dog — $4,475,000
11. Prom — $4,689,300
12. The Words — $4,692,400
13. Pandorum — $4,756,200
14. Punisher: War Zone — $4,771,200
15. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story — $4,866,100
16. Joe Somebody — $5,035,500
17. The Express — $5,096,500
18. Raise Your Voice — $5,195,200
19. Whiteout — $5,284,100
20. Sorority Row — $5,439,600
21. Jonah Hex — $5,474,900
22. Zoom — $5,522,700
23. What’s Your Number? — $5,553,200
24. Surviving Christmas — $5,735,900
25. Meet Dave — $5,866,300
26. Imagine That — $5,916,700
27. Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer — $6,046,700
28. The Haunting of Molly Hartley — $6,057,800
29. Extraordinary Measures — $6,065,500
30. Repo Men — $6,180,100
31. Hot Rod — $6,190,700
32. Dredd — $6,201,200
33. Gulliver’s Travels — $6,315,600
34. Josie and the Pussycats — $6,464,800 32.0%
35. The Comebacks — $6,475,000
36. Flight of the Phoenix — $6,482,400
37. Disaster Movie — $6,519,900
38. The Next Three Days — $6,550,900
39. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant — $6,632,300
40. Furry Vengeance — $6,745,300
41. My Soul to Take — $6,850,800
42. Shorts — $6,891,500
43. The Invasion — $6,937,500
44. Just My Luck — $6,969,800
45. Did You Hear About the Morgans? — $6,973,000
46. Pride & Glory — $6,995,000
47. Katy Perry: Part of Me — $7,050,400
48. Mars Needs Moms — $7,055,200
49. Wicker Park — $7,060,800
50. Astro Boy — $7,064,100