Here are the 12 highest-grossing movies with a zero on Rotten Tomatoes — proving that critical failure doesn’t have to equal box-office failure.
But First, About Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer ratings can be polarizing. The site aggregates critics’ reviews to assign a numerical score, and those with a Tomatometer score of 75% or better are “Certified Fresh.” Such a score requires at least 80 reviews, or 40 for limited-release movies, from “Tomatometer” critics, including five from those the site designates Top Critics. Once a film gets this status, it keeps it unless it falls below 70%.
The idea of assigning numerical aggregated scores to films repulses some people who feel that nuance is lost in such a system. But still many movie fans use the scores in deciding what to see, making the Certified Fresh designation a modern, online version of Siskel & Ebert’s “two thumbs up.”
Attention on the phenomenon of movies with a zero on Rotten Tomatoes — meaning, unanimous negative reviews — was revived when Eli Roth’s new Borderlands just barely avoided a zero on Rotten Tomatoes. At present, there are only 40 movies with a zero on Rotten Tomatoes. But a few made good money despite receiving a zero. These are their stories.
Here are the top-grossing movies with a zero on Rotten Tomatoes, ranked from lowest to highest box office.
12 – Bolero (1984)
Bo Derek became an icon thanks to 1979’s 10, and Bolero was written and directed by her then-husband John.
Derek stars in 10 as a 23-year-old woman who travels around the world looking for the perfect man to be her first sexual partner. The general consensus is that Bolero is basically Skinamax level: Roger Ebert joked it was a movie built for VHS viewing, where one could fast forward and pause to their heart’s content.
Enough people went to the theater for it to make $8.9 million.
11 – Look Who’s Talking Now! (1993)
Look, 1989’s Look Who’s Talking is very silly. The whole idea is built on the hook, “What if you could hear a baby’s inner monologue, and the baby was a wise-cracking Bruce Willis type?”
However, the very talented Amy Heckerling directed, and though the movie got mixed reviews (58 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), it was a massive hit, scoring $297 million off of a budget of $7.5 million.
So yeah, we get why the studio greenlit Look Who’s Talking Too, which added another baby to the mix. The sequel was panned (13 percent) but it was still successful, making $120.9 million.
So they tried again. Heckerling did not return, and this time the premise turned to the dog‘s inner monologues. Finally, the series lost all its critical support, and Look Who’s Talking Now! absolutely tanked. It made $10.3 million. That’s good enough for a place on this list of poorly reviewed movies that made money, but it’s a huge dropoff from the previous films in the saga.
10 – Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002)
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever cost a whopping $70 million to make, but earned $20.2 million at the box office. It has a clumsy name, it was directed by a guy who worked under the mononym “Kaos,” and nobody knew who Ecks and Sever were.
There is an argument to be made that Ballistic is the most critically-reviled movie on Rotten Tomatoes. Now, you may be wondering how this distinction was landed on, given that there’s nothing lower than zero and this are, as we mentioned, 40 movies with a zero on Rotten Tomatoes. The answer: sheer tonnage.
It holds the distinction of having the most rotten reviews — 119 — of any movie to get no fresh designations.
9 – The Nutcracker in 3D (2010)
What if you did one of the only ballets most people have heard of — in 3D?
Elle Fanning plays the young protagonist, and John Turturro plays the Rat King. It was a big swing, and critics called it a miss.
Though the movie made $20.5 million, it cost a staggering $90 million to make.
8 – A Thousand Words (2012)
This one made a mere $22 million on a budget of $40 million, which is a high budget for a comedy. Murphy’s incredible past box office success made it seem like a gamble worth taking.
After A Thousand Words, Murphy only did one film until 2019, when Dolemite is My Name revitalized his career. And despite being on a list of movies with a zero on Rotten Tomatoes, Murphy is one of the highest-grossing actors ever. He’s used to seeing lots of zeroes — on his checks.
7 – Left Behind (2014)
Nicolas Cage in a film based on an inane novel about the Christian rapture.
Many not prone to reading Christian-bait (Christians deserve better than this) had likely heard of Left Behind, which earned plenty of lampooning for its silly take on the Rapture.
Even with a built-in audience for fans of the books, the film only made $27.4 million. Enough for this list of movies with a zero on Rotten Tomatoes, but not exactly impressive.
6 – The Queen’s Corgi (2019)
One perk of working in this realm: You get to learn about Belgian animated movies you otherwise would never have heard of. Yes, this is a film based upon Queen Elizabeth II having corgis. This seems to be the extent of reality in this movie.
Rex is the Queen’s favorite corgi. He gets lost. He goes on an adventure. He gets found. Donald and Melania Trump are characters in The Queen’s Corgi. Some notable British character actors lent their voices.
The Queen’s Corgi, at a robust 85 minutes, somehow made $31.4 million. France seems to be the main culprit of that. Maybe we should do the whole Freedom Fries thing again.
5 – Pinocchio (2002)
Most people had never heard of Roberto Benigni before he surprised the world by winning Best Actor for 1997’s Life is Beautiful at the Oscars. Remember? He freaked out and walked over the chairs and all that stuff. Benigni used that momentum to fuel his next project, a new version of Pinocchio.
As with Life is Beautiful, Benigni directed and starred in Pinocchio. No, he didn’t choose to play Geppetto, the human adult man at the center of the story. He played Pinocchio, the little wooden boy.
Pinocchio made $41.3 million worldwide, but almost all of that came from Benigni’s native Italy. In the United States it made $3.67 million.
4 – One Missed Call (2008)
Japanese horror, aka J-horror, had a moment in the United States. Many J-horror movies were remade for American audiences, and some, like The Ring, did well. Others, like The Grudge, managed to do just fine. Then, there’s One Missed Call.
The Japanese original was directed by Takashi Miike, which is to say it is horrifying as much as it is “horror,” underpinned by an elegant revoltingness. Few American directors can do this.
The American version made $45.8 million, but One Missed Call was truly reviled by critics.
3 – Problem Child (1990)
While Problem Child made $72.2 million, it also earned not a single positive review from a critic.
Still, it gets some love from fans even today because of nostalgia for John Ritter, who plays half of a couple that adopts a kind of monstrous young boy (Michael Oliver). Most adoptions go much better.
The thing about the fresh/rotten dichotomy is that there is a lot of room for differing opinions within “fresh” or “rotten.” There are certainly reviews that have fallen just on the opposite side of that fresh/rotten line that are more closely aligned than, say, a slightly-negative review and a full-out pan.
2 – Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987)
Of the seven movies in the Police Academy franchise, Citizens on Patrol is the only one to get a zero on Rotten Tomatoes. How did it end up with this ignominious distinction, despite a cast that includes future screen icon Sharon Stone?
Citizens on Patrol is right in the middle of a seven-movie run, and was the last one that still had Steve Guttenberg in the mix as Casey Mahoney.
Despite the critics not supporting it, it made $76.8 million, which kept the series going. Also, the editor of this piece would like to add that this is favorite of all the movies with a zero on Rotten Tomatoes.
1 — Staying Alive (1983)
1977’s Saturday Night Fever was a massive hit. The soundtrack, built around the Bee Gees, is one of the biggest soundtracks ever, and the film cemented John Travolta’s movie stardom.
Enter Staying Alive. Travolta returned to star in the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, and Sylvester Stallone — who had written and starred in the Best Picture winner Rocky — both co-wrote and directed Staying Alive.
Frothy soundtrack aside, Saturday Night Fever is a searing, dark portrayal of New York nightlife. Staying Alive is about Tony Manero (Travolta) trying to make it as a Broadway dancer. Critics weren’t impressed.
Still: Staying Alive was a sequel to a huge hit, Travolta was a star, and the film made a whopping $127 million — earning the cool position of being the top-grossing of all movies with a zero on rotten tomatoes. Take that, critics.
Liked This List of the Highest Grossing Movies With a Zero on Rotten Tomatoes?
You might also like this list of Gen X Film Stars Gone Too Soon, or this profile of Nicolas Cage, who has made many excellent movies, despite the one on this list.
Editor’s Note: Corrects formatting and changes headline.