Can Hollywood Learn from Its Biggest Bombs?
The Sam Sanders Show
KCRW & Sam Sanders
4.9 • 711 Ratings
🗓️ 16 May 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Some movies are so bad, they become iconic. Think Cats, Joker: Folie à Deux, Madame Web, and The Flash—massive flops that cost studios millions and spark endless debate.
Sam breaks down why these high-profile films failed – and whether Hollywood is learning anything from its most embarrassing box office bombs. Lizzie Bassett and Chris Winterbauer of the What Went Wrong podcast join him to explore VFX disasters, star power misfires, and the curse of franchise fatigue. Why do these flops keep happening – can Hollywood learn anything from these box office disasters?
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The Sam Sanders Show is a production of KCRW and Sam Sanders Productions.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey listeners, it is the season of giving. |
| 0:03.0 | Get that warm, fuzzy feeling. |
| 0:05.1 | Make a donation, pick out some cozy KCRW merch, or send meals to local food banks. |
| 0:11.1 | Donate now at kCRW.com slash give. |
| 0:20.8 | Hey, y'all, it's the Sam Sanders show from KCRW. |
| 0:24.2 | Thank you so much for listening. |
| 0:26.0 | This is a show that asks big questions about the entertainment we love or hate. |
| 0:32.6 | And this week, hate. |
| 0:34.7 | We're going to go deep on a topic that I am obsessed with. Movie flops, bad films, |
| 0:40.9 | films that underperform, films that are such disappointments that they become part of movie history |
| 0:46.3 | for all the wrong reasons. We're going to look back on the biggest movie disasters of the last |
| 0:52.5 | decade. And to do this, I'm joined by Lizzie Bassett and |
| 0:56.3 | Chris Winterbauer. They're the host of the movie podcast, What Went Wrong? Let's get into it. |
| 1:04.6 | So we're going to run through hopefully four of the biggest flops of the last decade or so. |
| 1:12.3 | And I believe it's only fitting that we start this conversation |
| 1:16.0 | about the biggest flops of the last decade |
| 1:17.9 | by beginning with the flop that might never die, |
| 1:23.8 | 2019's movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Cats. |
| 1:29.2 | Tonight is a magical night. |
| 1:32.6 | Where I choose the cat that deserves a new life. |
| 1:41.2 | Going to the ball could get dangerous. |
| 1:46.4 | Oh, I get excited just saying that. |
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