Box office bomb

The term box office bomb (or box office flop) usually means a movie that is not successful or does not make much money at the box office.

One example of a box office bomb is the action-thriller Money Train (released in November 1995). That movie made only $9 million above its $68 million overall budget.

Another box office bomb was Cutthroat Island, which was released in December 1995. That movie cost $98 million, but took in only $10,017,322 at the box office.^[1]

A movie might make a lot of money at the box office but not enough to cover the cost of making the film and also other costs such as advertising and promoting the movie and make a profit. The money earned at box office must be shared with the cinema owners and on average the movie studio gets only half of the total gross.^[2][3]

References

1. "Cutthroat Island". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
2. Hornaday, Ann (April 5, 2018). "We're awash in box-office statistics. But what do the numbers really mean?". The Washington Post.
3. Harmetz, Aljean (28 January 1987). "WHERE MOVIE TICKET INCOME GOES". The New York Times.