Summary
- Ben Affleck's career has been marked by both hits and flops, with his success not guaranteed even after winning an Oscar for "Good Will Hunting."
- Films like "Forces of Nature" and "Pearl Harbor" may not have been huge box office hits, but they still made a decent amount of money.
- "Gigli" was Affleck's worst box office flop, grossing only $7.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $75.6 million. Meanwhile, his latest film "Hypnotic" has been a critical and financial disappointment.
Hollywood has always been full of ups and downs for Ben Affleck with the Oscar winner’s personal life typically coming under scrutiny, along with his filmography.
As fans may know, Affleck first gained recognition for Good Will Hunting, that film that he co-wrote and starred in with best bud Matt Damon. Since then, the actor has had other hits, but he’s also suffered several flops. And just when everyone thought that things couldn’t get any worse for Affleck, he starred in what is considered his biggest flop yet.
Following The Success Of 'Good Will Hunting,' Ben Affleck Suffered Several Movie Flops
The movie business has always been tricky, and Affleck knows it. Sure, Affleck and Damon were off to a good start after Good Will Hunting, but the men soon learned that winning an Oscar for the movie doesn’t necessarily guarantee another hit.
In Affleck’s case, he ended up making a series of underwhelming movies soon after doing hits like Michael Bay’s Armageddon and John Madden’s Oscar-winning film, Shakespeare In Love.
For instance, he starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the 1999 romantic comedy Forces of Nature, which underperformed at the box office (it only earned a respectable $93.9 million against a reported production budget of $75 million) despite the film’s star power.
Just a couple of years later, Affleck also joined Bay’s war epic Pearl Harbor, which only raked in $450 million against a whopping production budget of $140 million.
'Gigli' Had Been His Worst-Rated Film For Years...
Now, Pearl Harbor and Forces of Nature may not have been huge box office hits, but they still made a decent amount of money. Not long after, however, Affleck would star in Gigli, which would be his worst box office flop yet.
To be clear, when Affleck started working on the movie, it looked like Gigli was destined to be a hit. For starters, the film was written and directed by Martin Brest, who is best known for hits like Scent of a Woman, Midnight Run, Beverly Hills Cop, and the Brad Pitt starrer Meet Joe Black. In addition, Gigli also benefited from the buzz around Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.
After meeting on the set of the movie, Affleck and Lopez soon got romantic behind the scenes. By the time that Gigli premiered, the celebrity couple was already known as ‘Bennifer.’ And while fans may have loved seeing the stars together, it wasn’t enough to convince them to get behind Gigli.
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Throughout its theatrical run, Gigli would only gross a measly $7.2 million worldwide against a reported production budget of $75.6 million. Aside from being a real box office bomb, the movie would also prove to be a huge critical disappointment. And while Affleck and Lopez still look back on Gigli with great fondness, its failure led to Brest’s Hollywood exodus.
Just a year later, the Hollywood couple would also share the big screen together in Kevin Smith’s Jersey Girl, which became another box office bomb. The dramedy romance would only gross around $35.4 million worldwide against an estimated production budget of $35 million. Affleck and Lopez haven’t shared the big screen again after that.
But He Has Since Done Something Worse
Years after Gigli (and Jersey Girl), Affleck managed to revitalize his career with critical hits such as The Town, Gone Girl, and Argo, which also won him a second Oscar. And while he would suffer some box office disappointments in the years that followed, perhaps nothing could have prepared Affleck for the epic misfire that is Hypnotic.
Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, the film stars Affleck as a detective who gets caught up in a web of mysteries after his daughter disappears without a trace. The cast also includes Alice Braga, William Fichtner, and Mayans M.C. star JD Pardo. During an interview with The A.V. Club, Rodriguez revealed that he’s had the film in mind for years, as far back as when he was making his second Spy Kids movie.
But it’s only recently that he finally decided to do it. He also got Affleck to star in the movie by ensuring that production would take a lot less than two months (the COVID shutdown gave them only 24 days to finish shooting).
The actor was also thrilled to learn that they were going to “shoot this from the hip, like the old days.” In the end, they make a reality-bending film that is almost in the vein of Christopher Nolan’s Inception, only it fails to hit the mark.
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So far, Hypnotic has only scored a rotten 33% score on Rotten Tomatoes and the critical consensus is that the movie is a real snooze fest. Since its release, the movie has only earned a disappointing $8.7 million against a production budget of $65 million.
Meanwhile, Affleck has several films in the works, including the Aquaman sequel with Jason Momoa. The actor was also announced to be directing and starring in a remake of the thriller Witness for the Prosecution, which is based on a play by Agatha Christie, but the project hasn’t progressed for years.
Affleck is also rumored to be attached to a sequel to The Accountant. Perhaps, soon enough, Hypnotic would just be a bad memory.
