What will be the biggest movie of all time? It is not like there is an award for that, but let’s pretend there is. So, here we go. It is said that there are nine games in the history of film that hold the record for the most box office earnings. The top two spots go to Wizard of Oz (1939) and Avatar (2010). The rest of the positions are divided between The Lion King (1994) and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). With a worldwide gross of over 7.7 billion USD, Avatar became the highest-grossing film of all time, dethroning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
Now that we have established the facts about the largest films of all time, it is time to focus on something more exciting. How about the worst films? There are many contenders here, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume the mantle of worst film ever made has been filled by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). This is a movie which received a 24% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on an audience score of 47 average on Metacritic. This is far from ideal. A perfect score on both platforms would be a 100%, representing perfect audiences and perfect critics, respectively. For reference, the average movie review on Rotten Tomatoes is 3.3 stars.
Many will argue that this is Batman’s best and only suitable remake, and I would have to agree. If the point of this exercise is to select the worst film of all time, then there could be no better candidate than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). The fact that it was hailed as the worst film ever made by fans and pundits alike only confirms that assumption.
This is not to say that I think it was exactly bad. Far from it. Rather, it is to point out that it is the worst film of all time because it is the only film, so far, that can lay claim to being the worst. There are, however, fans out there who want to see more misery than pleasure, and they have aniright to go around. Let us look at some of the other contenders for the honor of being the worst.
The Room (2003)
Starring Matt Simmons, Jennifer Aniston, Julian Paparazzo and Benedict Cumberbatch, The Room (2003) is the second worst film of all time based on Rotten Tomatoes scores. It currently holds the place of honor on the Webshitery, a website that rate the quality of movies and television shows based on their popularity across social media. According to Film Buff, an audience score of 22% and a 49% critics’ score would place The Room in second place on the list of the greatest movies ever made.
This is a movie that you either love or hate. To some, it is a masterpiece. To others, it is the definition of mediocrity. The room is supposed to be the perfect 10 out of 10, and it mostly defies this idea. In 2003 alone it earned over 4.5 million USD at the box office. Its production budget was approximately 16.7 million USD, and it was released direct-to-video in 2003 but was remade in 2017 with a major sequel titled The Room (2017)
House of Gucci (2005)
Another contender for the honor of being the worst is the 2005 Italian movie House of Gucci. Based on a novel by Marcello Fabia and directed by Claudio Ferro, House of Gucci is described as a blinding success that was widely considered to be the worst movie ever made. The Webshitery currently places House of Gucci at number five on its list of the greatest movies of all time. One of the reasons it is so infamous is that it was the subject of an Academy Award winning short film by the singer/songwriter Madonna. She co-wrote and starred in the film with Elia Salvati, and it was one of the last films she released before she retired in 2016.
Honey 2 (2006)
Romania’s Honey 2 (2006) is one of the films that made Meryl Stark a contender for the title of worst actress of all time. The title belongs to Meryl Stark, who portrays a singer named Mia in this movie. In addition to being rated the worst by movie reviews, Honey 2 is also rated the worst by audience and critics in the MIA Fan Club. Based on a novel by Liviu Sorescu, Honey 2 is the second part of a spin-off of Stark’s first movie, Honey, which was based on the legendary Honey epic by the Romanian fusion band Calypso Moon. Many see the film as a transitional movie between the end of the 1990s and the start of the 21st century.
The Last Airbender (2012)
This is the third contender for the title of the worst film ever made. Based on the video game The Last Airbender, the 2012 Japanese movie is often called a masterpiece of mediocrity. A 24% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 57% critics’ score would placelist this Japanese movie in fourth position on the greatest movies of all time. At the box office, the film only earned approximately 5.5 million USD, which is equal to about one fifth of its production budget.