Action, comedy, or fantasy Big-budget film usually attempts to oppose spectacle with more serious purposes, and introduce social commentary to the genre. When the message is effectively carried out, the message is received by the audiences as part of the story. However, when the message occupies the major place and plot the minor one that the viewers see they can be preached but not entertained. The result? Negative box office collections and reviews. These are only the most prominent instances in which the sermon appeared to be placed in the spotlight of the show.
1. The Marvels (2023)
This is the next installment of the Marvel brand that changed the emphasis on making a particular group dynamic over having an engaging villain or a cohesive storyline. The mismatch of the tones with the previous, more somber franchise entry points sent away the majority of the fans and is among the poorest box office returns by the studio.
2. Charlie’s Angels (2019)
The reboot has been marketed rather hard in the realms of its feminist sensibility that was applied to frighten off part of its potential viewership by creating the perception that the reboot was not directed at them. The box office and critics were not impressed by weak action scenes and lack of subtle characters in males.
3. Ghostbusters (2016)
The remake featuring all women has been a subject of discussion in the online culture even before it was released. The jokes made in-film that took the form of criticizing the critics were not helpful in the least because it led to the further deepening of the schism and the hardcore fans that made the studio lose money.
4. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
The film has achieved this by killing John Connor earlier in the film and replacing him with a new face of the savior to test the emotional attachment of the long time fans. It was considered as an insult to the legacy of the franchise that did not have the right to good returns worldwide.
5. Strange World (2022)
The science fiction animated adventure film created by Disney bore heavily in the elements of environmentalism and socialization, but the didacticism made sure that the families feel like they have been giving a lecture, not watching an escapist film.
6. Lightyear (2022)
This spin-off of Pixar shifted the light entertainment of Toy Story world towards a heavy, serious, and gritty tone. It was surrounded by expectation of scandals of social aspects pre-release and the movie was not an exception.
7. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
The element of depicting an old and disappointed Indy getting straightened by a younger character did not coincide with the audience expectations. The generational comparison focus of the script was seen by some as being disrespectful to the heritage of the hero.
8. The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
The aspect of sequels and the necessity of companies were pitifully followed up by Lana Wachowski. This was a radical move but the implication of mentioning oneself created a degree of intimacy in some of the fans such that they are being told to not desire the same film they are viewing.
9. Tomorrowland (2015)
The movie was to be an excellent science fiction adventure and instead, it evolved to be a long monologue which incriminated the human race in the way the world has lost its glory. Lack of fit between marketing and tone led to a negative impact on its reception.
10. Downsizing (2017)
It turned out to be a tragicomedy about climate change and inequality as a quirky comedy on how to live small. The tonal bait-and-switch got a unanimous failing rating on Cinema Score audience.
11. Dark Phoenix (2019)
Their efforts to gender commentarize the X-Men saga failed miserably due to the lack of slowness in the dialogue, and confusing plot twist as numerous reshoots were made. It turned out to be the worst accession to the franchise.
12. The 355 (2022)
These incessant references to the feminized cast of this spy thriller overruled the need to follow the conventions of the genre to create something new and interesting to the audience.
13. Birds of Prey (2020)
The movie (the niche, due to the themes of emancipation and the slight use of male characters) and setting (the R-rating) were restrictive in terms of the audience, and the movie did not perform as well as the other DC releases.
14. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
The sequel ethical broadcasting was anti-intuitive to the activity of the first film. It was even patronizing to the audience because the open moralizing received critical review in the negative.
15. Eternals (2021)
It was the philosophical turn of Marvel that also wasted a healthy share of its screen time talking about morality and humanity in a slack pace and dumbed its characters down into a series of themes as opposed to human beings.
16. Wish (2023)
Produced on the 100th anniversary of Disney the miserable ingenuity and the uninspired music in the film did not auger the magic that was behind the previous animated hits thus making it a ineffective cultural agent.
17. Robin Hood (2018)
This re-telling was hard-boiled and also attempted to make the folk hero a political allegory of the day. Anachronism and the flashy writing were some of the notable features to the audience who had desired to see swashbuckling action.
18. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
These subplots concerning the rights of the droid found their way into the process of modernising the origin of Han Solo but were not applicable there. It failed in the box office as it was thought to be a box-checking film and not a narrative.
19. Men in Black: International (2019)
Putting aside the root cause of the issue as charming acting, joking about the gendered name of the organization, and a shallow plot made the movie seem like a relief to the perception of the times instead of a new sci-fi comedy.
20. Bros (2022)
The fact that the reception of the movie was confrontational scared off some portion of their potential audience and the movie started with poor returns as a reason to watch as opposed to a romantic comedy to have fun.
These examples show that audiences tend to embrace messages that are integrated seamlessly into the story, rather than delivered as the main event. In blockbuster filmmaking, entertainment value remains the primary draw and when it’s sidelined, even the most well-intentioned themes can struggle to find their audience.
