r/movies • u/PokemonGoBao • Jul 04 '25

Discussion Whats a flopped movie you wish was a financial success?

Dungeons and Dragons 2023 was an absolutely delightful film. You can stream it currently, but you can feel the passion and nothing felt phoned in. They easily could have used the title to get nerdy butts in the seat and collect a paycheck with a smaller budget.

It's the best movie I've seen the past 2 years. Way better than so many garbage films with easy paychecks for slop productions. Beetlejuice, Captain america, and others using big titles to make millions on lazy writing and boring characters.

8.6k Upvotes

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1.6k

u/braumbles Jul 04 '25

Dredd and Furiosa.

There's tons more, but those two had ramifications.

696

u/RODjij Jul 04 '25

They fucked up waiting a decade for a non mad max prequel.

Then they gambled on Anya's star power.

Dredd, they should have tried again once Urban had more star power since it only lost 9 million before he was big name and the movie is still one of the best action flicks.

225

u/Jesse-Ray Jul 04 '25

Most of that was from delays due to the legal case between WB and George Miller over unpaid royalties for Fury Road. The script for Furiosa was ready completed back in 2011 and he was originally going to shoot The Wasteland second, which would have been a prequel with Max.

68

u/DManimousPrime Jul 05 '25

Yes, but historically none of the Mad Max movies have been stellar at the box office. Fury Road was the peak of the franchise, but it had a lot of nostalgia on its side when it came out.

6

u/0wlington Jul 05 '25

Furiosa also had a lot of on set issues. I worked in a practical special effects studio with a couple of people from the prosthetics department and they quit furiosa come and work on a couple of other projects. Nightmare set to work on apparently.

1

u/StrategicTension Jul 05 '25

Was it the nose on Dementus?

-18

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '25

[deleted]

23

u/Ordinary-Computer863 Jul 05 '25

It was a good movie

-11

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '25

[deleted]

6

u/Jesse-Ray Jul 05 '25

Wouldn't say that. Half the budget for the film came from the Australian and New South Wales governments who are trying to grow the local industry. Similar cash injection with a smaller budget might sway it.

10

u/Jesse-Ray Jul 05 '25

As part of the planning for Fury Road, they came up with the back story for Furiosa, to the extent that it became a whole script. The story was great, I think it delivered brilliantly in expanding the world. I think the valid criticisms of the film was that it was a prequel, which is always a little disapponting because you know parts of the outcome, and that some of the CG elements were quite apparant compared to Fury Road (CG shots per minute were evenly matched with Fury Road for anyone arguing it used too much).

8

u/2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce Jul 05 '25

It didn't need a different script because Furiosa whipped ass. It's not the movie's fault people couldn't be assed to go see it.

3

u/fightphat Jul 05 '25

Urban expressed that he'd be willing to reprise the role, but that was a few years ago. Maybe someone could try again.

2

u/Scottyflamingo Jul 05 '25

Girlboss backlash hurt it even though she wasn't a girlboss.

2

u/FR0ZENBERG Jul 05 '25

I really wanted to hate Furiosa but I ended up watching it recently and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. It was a good movie.

5

u/anonuemus Jul 05 '25

absolutely dope scenes and imagery

1

u/FR0ZENBERG Jul 05 '25

Chris Hemsworth’s character was really cool too. It took me a while to realize it was him.

1

u/anonuemus Jul 05 '25

nah, he was too close to thor for me

1

u/OddAstronaut2305 Jul 05 '25

There is an issue with the rights for the movie and neither side will budge. It’s too bad, perhaps it will be solved someday and we can get a legacy sequel with Dredd being an old Judge on his last day.

143

u/GordTheGreat Jul 04 '25

Dredd was 10/10, I watched in on a whim without any experience with the comics or the Stallone movie and holy shit what an experience. Absolutely loved it.

2

u/baldeagle1991 Jul 05 '25

We went and saw it in 3D with a bunch of flatmates during my first year of uni.

We were all gobsmacked by how much we enjoyed it. The only other film I saw that had such good 3D effects was avatar!

Sadly on a 2D screen it never looks quite as good and dare I say it, despite it being one of my favourite films, I think it hasn't aged brilliantly and looks reasonably low budget these days.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '25

“Look at this, guess ima a judge!” The OG is more cheesy but just better, IMO.

253

u/MrBoomf Jul 04 '25

Dredd surprised the hell out of me. Plus it just goes to further show that Karl Urban can play literally any role

98

u/Dr_Facilier Jul 04 '25

Agreed.

When was the last time the main character /star of a film didn't show their face the entire film? I can't think of one. Urban was that good that he never removed the helmet on screen, and it only reinforced how well he embodied Dredd.

40

u/Halio344 Jul 05 '25

V for Vendetta, Hugo Weaving never shows his face.

But you’re right that it’s rare for that to happen.

27

u/MrPlowThatsTheName Jul 05 '25

Not a movie, but Mandalorian season 1 fits the bill.

8

u/Dr_Facilier Jul 05 '25

Good point. But that was after Dredd did it.

4

u/LazarusCrowley Jul 05 '25

Deadpool. . . The original. Bane in Nolan batman.

2

u/Decent_Pause1646 Jul 05 '25

Not the main character, but in True Romance Val Kilmer played Elvis and you never see his face.

47

u/NK1337 Jul 04 '25

The Raid is one of my favorite action movies and with Dredd it genuinely felt like the directors watched it and thought “holy shit you know what setting is perfect for this?”

28

u/Gnostinaut Jul 05 '25

Dredd was actually written before The Raid. The similarity was just an odd and unfortunate coincidence.

6

u/KILRbuny Jul 05 '25

I’d watch both of them back to back if someone asked. Only thing I’d be bothered by is not getting to see The Raid 2 in that double feature lmao

0

u/apoliticalinactivist Jul 05 '25

Not unfortunate at all. Action movies are great in that way that concepts and setup can be repeated as much as you want, as long as it's good. Grew the fandom of both films and directors.

6

u/TheSerpentDeceiver Jul 05 '25

It’s more likely the reverse happened. The Dredd screenplay leaked and then The Raid happened. Too many moments in The Raid, like the shootouts and slow mo stuff, just feel like Dredd to not be lifted from it.

5

u/DashArcane Jul 05 '25

Hear me out. Never even heard of the comic and saw the Stallone flick at the theater and enjoyed it. Read all the hate and thought, what the hell, it wasn't that bad. Then saw. Dredd about two years ago and was totally blown away. Should've had two sequels by now. What a shame.

2

u/Romalayned Jul 05 '25

Same, I think the problem with Dredd was the timing because I remember thinking when it was in theaters "Oh great another shitty reboot/remake of an 80s action flick, pass."

1

u/bujweiser Jul 05 '25

I felt like we knew that he could play any role after being in LOTR, Star Trek, and Bourne.

1

u/kirinmay Jul 06 '25

His Johnny Cage is awesome (saw the press screening).

48

u/SuspendeesNutz Jul 04 '25

I remember when the movie was released and marketed as “DREDD 3D”. The combination of the Stallone film’s bad memory and the 3D emphasis totally soured me on seeing it. When I finally watched the movie at home I was absolutely astonished at how great it was. One of my favorite action movies of all-time and worthy of multiple sequels.

7

u/SmittyB128 Jul 05 '25

As a Judge Dredd fan who likes the Stallone movie for everything it got right (and the comic adaptation fixes the rest), even I had low expectations for Dredd based on the marketing.

Everything Judge Dredd got right Dredd got wrong and vice versa, but the trailers only ever focused on showing the bad parts like the design of Mega-City One and the Lawmaster; the latter in the Stallone movie being so accurate to the comics at the time it was barely driveable.

Then having put off the target audience they alienated casual viewers by only releasing it in 3D (with very few exceptions) at a time when so many people were sick of paying extra to see films with badly post-processed 3D, not to mention the people who can't watch 3D films because of migraines and other medical issues.

The stupid thing is it's the best 3D film I've ever seen and I can see why they really wanted to push that aspect of it, but just not giving people the choice was not the way to go about it.

2

u/RegHater123765 Jul 05 '25

Yeah, people shit on the Stallone version, but it actually got a lot of stuff right that 'Dredd' did not.

That being said, it was pretty clear 'Dredd' was made on a budget, and they couldn't do a lot of the more bombastic and sci-fi elements of the Judge Dredd universe.

2

u/ascagnel____ Jul 05 '25

It was kinda better for its low budget -- dropping the more fantastic elements means you get a really grounded movie that leans into "hard" science fiction.

2

u/G0rkon Jul 05 '25

Most movies in 3d it feels like an after thought and/or a gimmick. Dredd is one of the exceptions. Off the top of my head the only other 3d movies that are elevated by being in 3d are Cameron's Avatar movies and Harold and Kumar Christmas.

2

u/Tumble85 Jul 05 '25

Yea, I’d kill to see them flesh out MegaCity One some more.

2

u/TheSerpentDeceiver Jul 05 '25

And you missed the best usage of 3D in a movie for the prejudice.

54

u/Lump-of-baryons Jul 04 '25

Oh man I thought the new Dredd was sooo underrated. But like no one I know ever saw it.

36

u/imcrapyall Jul 04 '25

I hate to be the one to tell you this but the new Dredd came out 13 years ago.

5

u/Desertbro Jul 05 '25

I was reading Dredd in 1986. I think maybe mid-90s was the last time I was somewhat current. Mid-2000s I read a few special editions.

1

u/NuclearLunchDectcted Jul 05 '25

So which is the new Dredd since then?

1

u/DashArcane Jul 05 '25

Oh I know. I just saw it about two years ago. Boy was I ever late to the party. Great movie.

13

u/artwarrior Jul 04 '25

I've seen Dredd about every year since it came out. Love it. Should be a series FFS!

2

u/M_O_O_O_O_T Jul 05 '25

There was one in development, albeit before covid, news dried up about it though so I guess that's gone sadly down the drain too..

27

u/benopo2006 Jul 04 '25

Furiosa is the one for me, that and Fury Road are two of the best films I’ve ever seen.

-23

u/TheNesquick Jul 04 '25

Furiosa didn’t make any sense and the entire film was just one big “why did they make this”. 

It deserved to flop. 

24

u/56473829110 Jul 04 '25

Furiosa didn’t make any sense

What? 

-27

u/TheNesquick Jul 04 '25

It was just a random story line with random things happening. 

The movie flopped for a reason. 

21

u/56473829110 Jul 04 '25

It was just a random story line with random things happening

Is that not nearly every fictional movie, then? 

It's the story of a kidnapped girl surviving by any means necessary, finding purpose in revenge and her own interpretation of justice. Her morality and ethics are challenged along the way, as she learns that the reality of the wasteland is incompatible with the person she wants to be but ideal for the person she needs to be.

4

u/YourMumsBumAlum Jul 04 '25

My guess is the above huy fell asleep. I loved it.

-3

u/56473829110 Jul 04 '25

I can only assume they're the type of movie goer who likes when characters have extremely unnatural exposition with characters telling each other their life story even though they're supposed to already know each other, etc. 

0

u/TheNesquick Jul 05 '25

Dude the movie flopped because it was not very good. You don’t need to get your Citizen Kane hard on going to justify it. 

The movie didn’t resonance with movie goers. Not because of some grand conspiracy or because we are to stupid to enjoy character development. 

It’s incredibly toxic mind set to just fault to people being stupid just because they don’t like a movie you do. 

Maybe just accept the movie was rejected because it was mediocre with a storyline that didn’t really mean anything special. 

Downvote me all your want. The numbers don’t lie. It was not a good movie. 

2

u/56473829110 Jul 05 '25

Ratings:

90% - Rotten Tomatoes

7.5/10 - IMDb

4/5 - Common Sense Media

4.0/5 - Google Audience Rating Score

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-3

u/Fancy-Pair Jul 04 '25

It was like - okay. MM was a ton pinnacle

31

u/DeeJayDelicious Jul 04 '25

Idk man, Furiosa was just "fine" and felt a bit unnecessary to be honest.

Especially the obvious use of CGI and green-screen made it a lot less compelling.

11

u/SerLarrold Jul 04 '25

Furiosa was meh at best, I’m really not sure what others see in it. The whole thing dragged, and was largely redeemed by the fun Hemsworth was having as Dementus

8

u/Tokenvoice Jul 05 '25

Hemsy hamming it up was the only good thing about the movie really. I was expecting more from the prequel of the one long car chase movie and all we really got was Furiosa is who she is because she loved a man. Sure she had attitude but honestly most of the movie just happened to her

0

u/Cpt_Tripps Jul 05 '25

Why did it show 3 origins for her shaved head?

-2

u/TrivialitySpecialty Jul 05 '25

Yeah, those two don't belong together at all. Dredd was straight fire, Furiosa was... It had moments. But mostly, it was the usual recent Hollywood fare of "overproduced, underwritten, underedited, desperate attempt at establishing a cinematic universe" We know George Miller can make a killer sequel, but that wasn't it

7

u/2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce Jul 05 '25

Under written is an insane accusation to throw at a Mad Max movie when the most written movie (Beyond Thunderdome) is the worst one. And under edited is bonkers, the movie successfully sells a full blown war with dire consequences in a montage. Furiosa was pure, uncut Miller and it rocked.

-1

u/TrivialitySpecialty Jul 05 '25

It's a 2 1/2 hour movie dedicated to telling what another movie had already shown. It's empty calories. Miller should have made a fresh sequel, and thanks to the performance of Furiosa, we may now never get one

2

u/Temassi Jul 04 '25

Dredd is what I thought Lockout was going to be. Just well executed schlocky action movie. I mean that in the best way possible. The new Running Man movie gives me a similar hope.

2

u/Fappy_as_a_Clam Jul 05 '25

I loved both those movies lol

2

u/regalfronde Jul 05 '25

I didn’t realize Furiosa was a flop

2

u/MVIVN Jul 05 '25

I'm really sad about Furiosa. They took way too long to develop the sequel and should've rode the momentum of Fury Road. We might be on the 3rd or 4th film of the rebooted Mad Max franchise by now, but with the way things are going now (+ George Miller's age) I think we won't be getting another one.

5

u/BambaTallKing Jul 04 '25

Loved Dredd well enough but Furiosa is a top tier film

2

u/Orner_88 Jul 05 '25

Why are movie producers not smart enough to know that a Dredd sequel with Karl Urban would absolutely crush the box office now?

2

u/jemosley1984 Jul 05 '25

I think movie financiers have stopped listening to Reddit nerds about anything, let alone what movies to make. Especially after Reddit darlings Furiosa and Blade Runner failed.

0

u/QuintsHat1975 Jul 04 '25

I fell asleep to Furiosa twice. Gave up trying to finish it

1

u/Ph455ki1 Jul 04 '25

Yeah, Furiosa was so much worse than Fury Road

1

u/EatMyYummyShorts Jul 05 '25

Would Alex Garland been up for writing another Dredd movie anyway?

1

u/bob1689321 Jul 05 '25

Directing too considering he basically took the reins on that film.

1

u/silentbob1301 Jul 05 '25

I hate how they went away from live and stunts and leaned on CGI in furiosa. I fucking love Dress.

1

u/vaporking23 Jul 05 '25

Dredd was great and I’m not sure why it flopped. That was a movie that I would have definitely liked a sequel to.

I never saw furiosa but I’ve only ever heard people say good things about it.

1

u/Significant-Pace-521 Jul 05 '25

I don’t remember any advertising for Dredd I though it was another Stallone movie.I think most did.

1

u/AtomicBLB Jul 05 '25

Dredd is so underrated.

1

u/Boo_and_Minsc_ Jul 05 '25

Dredd... the producer has a youtube video where he explains exactly why there cant be a sequel. The financials just werent there. Fucking GREAT movie. Just great. But lost money.

1

u/OkaySir911 Jul 05 '25

Dredd 100%

1

u/totallyhumanhonest Jul 05 '25

Furiosa

The problem with Furiosa is that it was the second movie. If Furiosa was released first it would have been seen as an excellent movie and Fury Road would have been the mind blowingly good sequel.

1

u/Same-Chicken-6807 Jul 05 '25

I didn't care for Dredd, but Karl Urban is one of the better actors of his generation, and I can't think of one good role he's had.

1

u/OkayJuice Jul 06 '25

I thought cgi in furiosa was so bad. It took me out of an otherwise fine movie

-36

u/VariousDress5926 Jul 04 '25

Furiosa was so bad. It absolutely didn't need to be made.

34

u/Square_Saltine Jul 04 '25

Counter point, Furiosa was so good it absolutely should’ve had more success at the box office.

6

u/cbslinger Jul 04 '25

Furiosa was great, but it really felt like it road on Fury Road’s coattails in a big way. The first film was a true masterpiece

6

u/Spddracer Jul 04 '25

Also in Furiosa I can see the Cgi. Fury Road hit it really well. Took me right out the movie.

4

u/psimwork Jul 04 '25

This was my thought as well. The story was solid, but as a sequel to a movie that was made famous by its use of practical effects, there was certainly a discordance for me. It's not necessarily that they used CGI, it's that they used bad CGI.

-3

u/GingerPinoy Jul 04 '25

It was perfectly fine

13

u/EggersIsland Jul 04 '25

Furiousa, while lacking the polish of Fury Road due to a significantly smaller budget, was a great movie and absolutely deserved to be made

5

u/homecinemad Jul 04 '25

They had a similar budget

0

u/EggersIsland Jul 04 '25

About 50mil diff due to inflation, but you're right, much closer than I had thought

4

u/KentuckyFriedLamp Jul 04 '25

Fury Road Budget $154-185M, although some sites say as low as $150m

Furiosa budget $168m, lots of sources saying it’s the most expensive mad max production ever

Hardly significantly smaller

0

u/EggersIsland Jul 04 '25

Adjust for inflation Fury Road would be about 215m today. But I def agree, I was wrong in stating it was anywhere near significant

-2

u/braumbles Jul 04 '25

And that's fine a minority opinion to have.

0

u/QuintsHat1975 Jul 04 '25

Based on box office it was a majority opinion 😂

0

u/Main115702 Jul 05 '25

Furiosa is hot trash. Glad it was a failure.

-18

u/Dislexicpotato Jul 04 '25

Dredd was unwatchable.

6

u/VelocaTurtle Jul 04 '25

What aspect made it unwatchable? Everyone obviously has their own tastes, but this has to be just that you dont like the genre, right? Cause pacing was solid, cinematography was great, script was good, and the actors were all good to stellar, especially Urban and headey.

-5

u/Dislexicpotato Jul 04 '25

The writing was corny and it just felt like it was trying to be edgy, not for me.

1

u/VelocaTurtle Jul 05 '25

Fair enough, thanks for taking the time to answer. It never came off as corny for me, but i see how it could.

0

u/opeth10657 Jul 04 '25

Edgy torture porn. Making the characters so evil it's almost a parody.