4. “The Promise”
Shortfall: $79.4 million
(Budget: $90 million; worldwide gross: $10.6 million)
A big-budget indie movie, starring Oscar Isaac, and set against the backdrop of the Armenian genocide, “The Promise” struggled to find a U.S. distributor partly because of geopolitics, producer Eric Esrailian told The Hollywood Reporter: “It became clear that the government of Turkey was going to have an influence on this movie.” Turkey denies the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during World War I were genocide.
3. “The Adventures of Pluto Nash”
Shortfall: $92.9 million
(Budget: $100 million; worldwide gross: $7.1 million)
Eddie Murphy’s had his share of hits and misses. None of his misses has come up as lopsided at the box office as this 2002 outer-space comedy.