So whilst Steven Spielberg is one of the most successful directors arguably inventing the summer blockbuster and making many of the highest earning films ever he’s also had his fair share of films that have failed at the box office. We take a look at the Spielberg flops here…
So first up we should probably dispel a myth. After the massive success of Jaws and Close encounters of the Third Kind he went on to make the 1979 comedy ‘1941’ a big bombastic slapstick film with huge set pieces that cost for the time a huge $35m. It’s generally regarded as his first flop film and critically it was but it turned a small profit at the box office earning $92m. It was also a bit of a wake up call for the director realizing that the studios would not tolerate over schedule and over budget films and so he made sure that his next film would come in on budget and on schedule and would put him back in favour. That film was Raiders of the Lost Ark.
His first proper flop was his second serious film. Empire of the Sun (1987) starring Christian Bale was based on J G Ballard’s novel and adapted by Tom Stoppard A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II. A Starry cast included John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson and even Ben Stiller yet despite earning six nominations (though not for Spielberg himself) audiences were generally disinterested and the film only earned a paltry £22m ( ten years previously Close Encounters of the Third Kind had made $306m)
Ten years later he would return to more serious topics with the release of Amistad. Set in 1839 it centred on the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free. A weighty topic for exploration and a great cast that included Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman but audiences were not interested perhaps because they were still coming off the sugar rush summer rollercoaster that was the year before with the first Jurassic Park sequel and whilst that film had made $618m Amistad made only $44m. Buts it is not as though audiences were not willing to see serious Spielberg films as four years previously he had made his masterpiece Schindlers List that earned £322m and the year after Amistad was released he made Saving Private Ryan which made $482m
Perhaps it was 2016’s The BFG that was the biggest surprise flop. Based on a beloved children’s book by author Roald Dahl it was a big budget film blockbuster that earned $195m. A decent enough tally if the film had not cost $140m meaning that it needed to make around $350m to break even making it a rare and very expensive flop.
2021 and 2022 would see back to back flops. The first being his remake of West Side Story that earned good reviews but audiences largely ignored it and the film made only $76m. This was followed by a deeply personal and autobiographical drama The Fabelmans (or The Spielberg’s as it really was). Again it was another well regarded drama picking up seven Oscar nominations including one for Spielberg as director but it did even worse earning only $44m.
Perhaps it was this this rare back to back failure that has seen Spielberg take some time out since 2022 and will see him return in 2026 with what is described as an ‘Event Film’ which is likely to return him to blockbuster status
related feature : What are Steven Spielberg’s top earning films if you adjust for ticket price inflation…..?
related feature : John Rhys Davies talks supernatural horror, ‘The Gates’ plus ‘Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny’
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