A movie can have all the right components when it begins production. It could have a great director, a great production team, and a stellar cast and crew. It could even have an amazing composer or original song written for it. On paper, a film can seem like a guaranteed win. But sometimes the idea and the execution aren’t in line, and that’s when movies flop. Sometimes, a great song written for a blockbuster still doesn’t save the film. It doesn’t change the millions of dollars lost. This is an interesting idea to explore, so let’s look through some songs written by big artists and respected composers alike who couldn’t save the film.
Black Adam
While it may seem like any superhero movie is going to be a slam dunk given the popularity of both Marvel and DC adaptations, Black Adam didn’t quite reach the heights of its predecessors. Perhaps it could also be from the fact that it’s the 11th film made in the DC Universe, and by 2022, the hype for superhero films began to fizzle out. While it grossed $393 million, it was considered a bomb because it failed to break even with their initial budget. Even putting Lorne Balfe at the helm writing the score for the film couldn’t save it. Balfe is a composer who has a reputation of writing music for DC's The Dark Knight Trilogy and The Lego Batman Movie, yet the music didn’t stand out in this film, earning no awards.
Birds of Prey
Birds of Prey isn’t really considered a flop. In fact, it made double back its budget. But it was considered a disappointment because it saw a significant drop in sales in its second weekend and going forward. “Diamonds” by Megan Thee Stallion and Normani was written for the film. Although Megan Thee Stallion is a popular musician capable of writing great songs, it couldn’t save Bird of Prey, a movie that fell into the background due to its odd choices in marketing including not advertising it as a Harley Quinn film and being one of the first in the DC universe to have an R rating. The rating caused problems reaching wider audiences and made the film get banned and releasing in places like China. Plus, it was released during the COVID-19 pandemic. So unfortunately, a Megan Thee Stallion song (that was well received by Billboard standards) couldn’t save the film from its already many setbacks.
Charlie’s Angels (2019)
Remakes and reboots already have a hard time trying to measure up to the original work, but when you release a film that hadn’t garnered much interest in the first place, you’re getting set up to fail in some capacity. The 2019 Charlie’s Angels was a box-office flop, grossing $73.3 million globally against an estimated production budget of $55 million and an estimated advertising budget of $50 million (Source). With that lack of money made back, even a song like “Don’t Call Me Angel” performed by the three icons Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey, and Miley Cyrus couldn’t save this film from falling into obscurity. To remake a film, you need either fans who want a fresh take or a modern audience interested in the story, and the film sadly had too small an audience on either side.
Cats
One would think a movie based on an extremely successful and beloved 1981 Westend musical would be a slam dunk as a movie. And yet...Cats, released in 2019, is considered one of the worst films of all time, according to critics. It grossed $75.5 million on a budget of $80–100 million, resulting in an estimated loss of $71 million after ancillary costs. This level of loss makes it one of the biggest box office bombs in history. Many who have criticized it complain that it feels drawn out, that it’s basically two hours of the same formula over and over. Despite the original music being iconic and Cats being considered a quintessential megamusical, the 2019 iteration couldn’t be saved by the legacy behind it. The music created for the film doesn’t seem to get as much criticism and was well made, even conducting recordings partly at Abbey Road Studios with contributions from the London Symphony Orchestra. Still, well-made music cannot save a movie with a poor script and cursed-looking CGI.
Madame Web
One doesn’t have to look far to see all the problems with Madame Web and why it was a critical failure. From the weak marketing to deadpan dialogue deliveries to a nonsensical script, the film was already doomed before release when fans were criticizing the movie trailers. It only got worse when viewers noticed entire scenes referenced in the trailers were cut from the film and much of the film felt disjointed, as if connecting scenes were cut. After only four weeks, Sony pulled Madame Web from the theater, finishing its domestic box office run with only $43M ($100.3 million globally) against a production budget of $80–100 million. So, it should come as no surprise that even a composer like Johan Söderqvist who created the score for Madame Web and also scored for award winning films like Let the Right One In and Things We Lost in the Fire couldn’t save the already doomed film.
Wonder Woman 1984
Wonder Woman 1984 came out at a rough time for the industry – during the pandemic. Due to delays, the film didn’t come out until December 2020. Despite it being the top streaming film of 2020, the movie failed to break even, in part from being put to streaming so soon and for it only grossing $170 million worldwide against a production budget of $200 million. Beyond those setbacks, the movie left many fans disappointed with the lack of depth in the film’s villain and the surface-level 1980s setting. Even a score written by the genius composer Hans Zimmer couldn’t save a film with that many criticisms. Zimmer had a history of creating music for other DC Universe films including Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but the score for Wonder Woman 1984 didn’t stand out or garner more than one nomination.
Fantastic Four (2015)
Aside from no one asking for a reboot of a franchise only 10 years after the first 2005 film, 2015’s Fantastic Four had a director behind it that had some controversy for blaming studio meddling for his badly received film. Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank, only made $26.2 million in its opening weekend, one of the lowest openings of all time for a big-budget studio superhero movie. It was rejected by critics and audiences alike for its terrible script. Even having a legend like Marco Beltrami working on the score (the man who scored 1996’s Scream) and original songs "Another Body" performed by El-P and "Fantastic" performed by RM (of the K-pop group BTS) and Mandy Ventrice couldn’t save the film.
Emoji Movie
While the 2017 Sony comedy Emoji Movie saw commercial success, it was heavily laid into by critics and the public, especially in the initial marketing before its theater release. From its cringe humor and excessive use of product placement, to its flat voice performances, and a lack of originality, the film often shows up on lists of the worst films of 2017. Sony, however, thought they had the next Wreck It Ralph on their hands and brought in Ricky Reed to create an original song for the film called, “Good Vibrations.” While it was a well-received song, it couldn’t save the film from people who had criticisms about the movie overall.
Sometimes a great song or great composer isn’t enough to save a film. There needs to be an overall good body of work there, and that wasn’t the case for the films above. What songs do you like from a movie you didn’t like? What box office flop on this list do you think deserves a second chance to redeem itself? Let us know in the comments!
Special thanks to the following resources for helping me put this together...
Note: All the box office numbers come from the film’s Wikipedia pages.
Written by Kristen Petronio
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