As the name suggests, event films are a big deal. Each year, Hollywood is alive with promotions of the next big box office winner. Millions are spent on marketing films that studios hope will be their next big success. When there is a new Star Wars or Mission Impossible film, promotional material will be seen every day until their release.

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When a studio feels it has a "sure thing," they pull out all the promotional stops. Most of the time it works. Sometimes there are the head-scratchers or films that should have played to the audiences but failed at the box office. Here are 10 financial losers that should have caught box office fire.

Warrior - 2011

Gavin O'Connor's emotionally powerful sports drama about two estranged brothers who are forced to compete against one another in an MMA championship was to be one of the big contenders of the 2012 Fall movie season. Everything seemed to be right. MMA was hitting the peak of its popularity, star Tom Hardy was on the verge of superstardom, and O'Connor had directed a successful sports film (the 2004 hockey film, Miracle).

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With a cast that included Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte, the studio would have a big hit. Sadly, the film failed to connect with audiences, despite great reviews. A box office failure, Warrior found a following on home video, and Nick Nolte was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

A Simple Plan - 1998

Sam Raimi took a break from genre filmmaking to direct A Simple Plan, an old-style thriller about two brothers and their friend who find a crashed plane and a bag of money. Hitchcockian suspense and Shakespeare level drama ensues.

Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton played the brothers, while Brent Briscoe played their friend. The film is considered one of the great thrillers of its decade and its screenplay was nominated for an Oscar, as was Thornton for Best Supporting Actor. However, the film never found an audience and lost money for its studio.

The BFG - 2016

Mark Rylance in The BFG

Steven Spielberg doing a children's film written by Melissa Matheson (E.T.), based on a story from Roald Dahl, and featuring a John Williams score, what could go wrong?

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Critics were mixed on The BFG, but there were more good reviews than bad and the studio did serious promotion. This was to be one of 2016's big early Summer releases and everyone expected another heart-warming classic. Audiences chose to ignore the film. This is a shame, as the film captures the innocence and magic of the director's films such as E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This one should've been as big as its titular giant.

The 'Burbs - 1989

Joe Dante was riding high with a series of box office and critical hits, the biggest being Gremlins, which became one of the top financial successes of the 80s. Tom Hanks was riding high as well, with a string of hit comedies and his first Oscar nomination for 1988's Big. When the two teamed up for a Horror/Comedy called The 'Burbs, the studio braced for financial gold.

While the film doubled its 18 million dollar budget, it was considered a flop, as so much was spent on marketing and Dante and Hanks' salaries. Critics were vicious and the film was never the hit anyone intended. Time has been kind. The film has a cult following and is rightfully seen as a dark comedy classic.

Man On The Moon - 1999

Milos Forman directed the story of Andy Kaufman casting Jim Carrey in the lead, as well as Paul Giamatti, Danny De Vito, and fresh off her Oscar nomination for Forman's The People Vs. Larry Flynt, Courtney Love. Man On The Moon was to be one of the big Fall Oscar contenders.

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The film is a fantastic drama and gets to the soul of Kaufman's wild brilliance. Carrey does some serious "method" acting in what is his finest performance. Sadly, perhaps the comedian was too polarizing a figure, as the film did poorly at the box office and faded quickly. While Carrey won a SAG and Golden Globes for his work, the Oscar nominations were not to be.

Cloud Atlas - 2012

Tom Hanks holds a little girl while looking on from Cloud Atlas

Directed by The Wachowski's and Tom Tykwer, Cloud Atlas was an expensive studio film that was to be the sci-fi event of its year. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and Hugh Grant led a strong cast and were gifted with a literate and exciting screenplay. Each actor played multiple roles and the film spanned centuries and galaxies.

It could've been the large plot, many different languages, or strange story, but audiences ignored it completely. On a 100-plus million dollar budget, the smart and impressive film only made less than 30 million.

John Carter - 2012

Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs books and featuring the live-action directing debut of Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo and WALL-E), John Carter was poised to be one of 2012's biggest hits. Backed by Disney, the story played to both young and old and was an exciting adventure tale with marvelous FX and great battle scenes.

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Whether it was the change in title (Burrough's book is called John Carter of Mars) or the untried lead actor (Taylor Kitsch), audiences couldn't have cared less. The film lost over 150 million dollars and is one of the all-time biggest financial flops in film.

Grindhouse - 2007

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez teamed up to give genre fans the experience the filmmakers had growing up, a three-hour double feature of horror and excitement, separated by fake trailers. This was to bring a new generation of fans to the old-fashioned drive-in experience. The film starred Kurt Russell, Rose McGowan, Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis, and more. Grindhouse was fast, funny, exciting, popcorn-chomping entertainment.

Audiences didn't care, as the film sank quickly at the box office. Be it the lengthy run time or perhaps the niche subject, the film was a financial failure. This is surprising, as the fanbase of Tarantino and Rodriguez alone should've guaranteed at least an 80 million dollar return.

Heaven's Gate - 1980

Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate is the most infamous flop in film history. It went millions over budget and bankrupted United Artists. The press seemed to take delight in reporting the film's day to day struggles while Cimino was filming. When the film premiered, critics came at it with guns blazing and it was a towering financial failure.

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That said, the film has been restored and is now seen as the proper classic that it is. It isn't structurally perfect, but the screenplay and the stunning cinematography are now seen in a more favorable light. The film is finally considered by many to be one of Cimino's great works.

The Insider - 1999

Michael Mann was coming off back to back successes. 1992's The Last of the Mohicans and 1995's Heat were huge critical and commercial hits for the filmmaker. 1999's The Insider should've been another triumph. Russell Crowe and Al Pacino give two of the finest performances of their respective careers in the true-life story of Jeffery Wigand, the man who worked for "Big Tobacco" but became a whistleblower once he found out they were purposely misleading the public on the health hazards of smoking.

Almost every critic had the film on their "Best of 1999" list and many consider the film to be Mann's best. Most likely, it was the subject matter that scared audiences away. Sadly, mainstream audiences missed one of the most riveting and well-done tales of journalistic and personal integrity from that decade.

NEXT: 9 Flops From The 2000s That Deserve A Second Chance