The term box office bomb or flop generally refers to a film that is viewed as highly unsuccessful or unprofitable during its theatrical run, sometimes preceding hype regarding its production, cost or marketing efforts. To earn this distinction, the film must also fail to earn more than the reported cost of its production, distribution and marketing by a wide margin.
Gauging the financial success of a film is difficult, and because there is no definitive definition, what makes Box-office bomb can be very subjective. Not all films that fail to earn back their estimated costs during their theatrical runs are bombs, and the label is generally applied to films that miss earnings projections by a wide margin, particularly when they are very expensive to produce, and sometimes in conjunction with middling or poor reviews (though critical reception has nothing to do with box office performance).
Read more about Box Office Bomb: Possible Success of Flops, Studios Pushed Into Financial Ruin, Independent Films
Famous quotes containing the words box, office and/or bomb:
“Appeal. In law, to put the dice into the box for another throw.”
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“[A] Dada exhibition. Another one! What’s the matter with everyone wanting to make a museum piece out of Dada? Dada was a bomb ... can you imagine anyone, around half a century after a bomb explodes, wanting to collect the pieces, sticking it together and displaying it?”
—Max Ernst (1891–1976)