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What counts as a 2021 box-office bomb?
There is no single industry definition of “box-office bomb,” and the available figures do not establish a comprehensive ranking of 2021 films by studio losses. A film can be called a theatrical underperformer based on its gross relative to expectations or reported production budget, but neither measure reveals its final profit or loss.
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- Production budget is not total cost. It does not necessarily include marketing, distribution, financing, or other expenses.
- Box-office gross is not studio revenue. Theaters retain part of ticket sales, and distribution terms affect what reaches a studio.
- Other revenue matters. Streaming, home video, and other rights can add value, but the figures here do not quantify them.
Accordingly, the figures below document theatrical performance; they do not prove how much either film gained or lost overall.
Two notable theatrical underperformers
| Film | Worldwide gross | Domestic gross | Reported production budget | What the figures show |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Side Story (2021) | $76,016,171 (The Numbers, accessed 2026) | $38,530,322 (The Numbers, accessed 2026) | $100,000,000 (The Numbers, accessed 2026) | Worldwide gross was about 0.76 times the reported production budget; this is a rough comparison, not a loss calculation. |
| The Last Duel | $30,552,111 (Box Office Mojo, accessed 2026) | $10,853,945 (Box Office Mojo, accessed 2026) | Not stated in the cited Box Office Mojo figures | Worldwide and domestic theatrical grosses are documented; no comparable loss estimate is established here. |
West Side Story (2021)
Steven Spielberg’s film opened domestically on December 10, 2021, with $10,574,618, according to The Numbers. Its reported $76,016,171 worldwide gross was below its reported $100 million production budget. That comparison signals a challenging theatrical result, but it cannot be read as a $23,983,829 loss: it omits other costs and revenue, and the studio does not keep the full ticket gross.
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The Numbers lists a March 2, 2022 video release and estimates 602,740 DVD units and 809,579 Blu-ray units. Those estimates show that the film had a physical-media release; they do not establish the revenue or profitability of home-video sales.
The Last Duel
Ridley Scott’s historical drama opened domestically on October 15, 2021, to $4,759,151. Box Office Mojo reports a worldwide gross of $30,552,111, including $10,853,945 domestic and $19,698,166 international. Its domestic weekly gross fell from $4,759,151 on opening weekend to $2,066,168 in the second weekend and $553,461 in the third. Those figures describe the theatrical run, not the film’s final financial result.
Why 2021 grosses are hard to compare
The 2021 theatrical market was still recovering from the COVID-19 disruption, and release strategies varied. Some major studios offered films in theaters and on streaming at the same time or close together, making a theatrical gross less complete as a measure of a film’s commercial reach than it might appear.
In TIME’s 2021 reporting, Warner Bros. domestic distribution head Jeff Goldstein said of In the Heights: “Our experience, which is backed up on In the Heights, is that if the movie hits a high level in theaters, it hits a high level on the service. If it hits a low level in theaters, it hits a low level on HBO Max.” TIME also noted that HBO Max did not disclose viewing figures. Goldstein’s comment is a studio executive’s perspective, not independently verifiable streaming-performance data.
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Check the chart’s scope before comparing films
A calendar-year box-office chart and a chart of films released during that year answer different questions. The Numbers distinguishes its 2021 calendar-year chart—which includes money earned in 2021 by films released earlier—from its chart of films released in 2021. Combining those scopes can mislabel a film’s performance or create a misleading ranking.
For a meaningful comparison, keep the measures consistent: identify the release year, use worldwide or domestic gross consistently, state the source and access date, and label any gross-to-budget comparison as a rough indicator rather than a loss. Also account for release timing and whether streaming availability overlapped with the theatrical run.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Did these films actually lose money?
The cited data does not establish a definitive loss amount for either film, or a complete, methodologically consistent ranking of the biggest studio losses among 2021 releases. Determining a film’s financial outcome would require more than subtracting its production budget from its box-office gross. Marketing and distribution costs, theaters’ share of ticket sales, distribution arrangements, streaming value, home-video revenue, and other rights all matter, and the figures cited here do not resolve them.
Box-office performance also is not a verdict on artistic quality. Filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Edgar Wright have criticized reducing films to their cost and grosses; those are opinions about how movies are evaluated, not financial evidence.
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