There have been a number of films/documentaries starring popular bands that have grossed significant returns and have earned the love of fans and critics alike. This list won’t be highlighting those films.
Since the Foo Fighters’ comedy-horror film Studio 666 failed to impress at the box office when it opened this past weekend, we take a look at that film and other band films that (in)famously flopped.
Studio 666
Studio 666 received a massive marketing push with Dave Grohl showing up seemingly everywhere in the lead up to the release of the film, but according to Billboard, the film only took in $1.6 million in its opening weekend screening in 2,306 theaters in the United States. The film received 56% over on Rotten Tomatoes, but it managed an 81% audience score, so maybe it’ll receive a cult home-viewing following. (After all, you can’t take your bong into a movie theater. I hear that’s frowned upon.)
Tenacious D In: The Pick of Destiny
Speaking of not being able to take your bong into a movie theater, Tenacious D In: The Pick of Destiny is another film that was a financial flop. Per Box Office Mojo, The Pick of Destiny produced a net loss of about $6 million after it grossed just under $14 million, but its budget was $20 million. Rotten Tomatoes summarized the film with, “Tenacious D fans will find this movie hilarious; everybody else will see only a low-brow concept movie and a small assembly of jokes stretched past the 100-minute mark.”
Metallica: Through The Never
It may have been “Certified Fresh” and had a decent audience score, but 2013’s Metallica: Through The Never was a financial bomb. It grossed just under $8 million worldwide, but it had a budget of $18 million. Yikes!
Under The Cherry Moon
Surely after the success of Purple Rain, Prince could repeat that success, right? Wrong! Rotten Tomatoes summarizes it best saying, “‘Under the Cherry Moon’ may satisfy the most rabid Prince fans, but everyone else will be better served with this vanity project’s far superior soundtrack.”
Head
Head was billed as the “most extraordinary adventure, western, comedy, love story, mystery, drama, musical, documentary satire ever made (And that’s putting it mildly).” In reality, the film co-written/co-directed by Jack Nicholson was an attempt to shed their teen idol image cultivated by The Monkees television series, which had been canceled just before the film was released. However, it seemed to serve as the final nail in the group’s coffin in the ’60s.
KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park
Oof! KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park was only a TV movie, but its awfulness continues to live in infamy. Paul Stanley said of the film in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “I embrace it like an ugly child. You have to realize that we were like these imbeciles who got to take over the school. We knew nothing about acting, nothing about filmmaking. We were sold the idea of the film in a sentence that was virtually, ‘A Hard Day’s Night meets Star Wars.’ Well, it was far from either.”
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Oh, geez…where to even begin with this mess? Few band films, if any, are as infamous as 1978’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Taking its narrative from the iconic Beatles album of the same name, the film stars The Bee Gees as the Lonely Hearts Club Band and Peter Frampton as Billy Shears. The film was produced by RSO Records founder Robert Stigwood who was fresh off the massive successes of Saturday Night Fever and Grease, so it’s no wonder why the project received the green light. However, the acting is just horrible. The only redeeming part of the film is its soundtrack which yielded some great Beatles covers with notable standouts being Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Got to Get You into My Life” and Aerosmith’s “Come Together.”