Although a hefty dose of controversy can cause
some movies to bomb at the box office, plenty
of others have made some serious bank despite
ticking a load of people off — and some
made it big because they annoyed people.
So what are these movies, how much money did
they make, and just how did they cause so
much controversy?
Here are the most successful controversial
movies of all time.
Tom Hanks and Ron Howard may just be the two
nicest guys in Hollywood — but the two still
somehow courted serious controversy when they
became attached to the screen adaptation of
one of the most contentious, and successful,
novels of modern times: The Da Vinci Code.
While the scholarship behind The Da Vinci
Code has largely been dismissed by experts,
its central claims — that Jesus Christ was
secretly married to Mary Magdalene
— helped make the novel an international
bestseller.
The controversy surrounding the 2006 movie
was largely the same for the 2003 novel, with
people claiming it was both historically inaccurate
and anti-Catholic.
Critics panned it when it was released, too,
giving it a measly 25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
And moviegoers weren't too impressed either,
giving it a mediocre 57 percent audience score.
Nevertheless, the film's popular source material
was enough to score a $77 million opening
weekend, and by the time it was out of theaters,
it had earned a $217 million domestic haul,
as well as an astounding $758 million worldwide
gross.
Studios didn't see any financial upside in
Mel Gibson's graphic retelling of Jesus Christ's
final hours, especially considering the actor-turned-director
wanted to film in the "dead" languages of Aramaic and Latin.
And since Gibson couldn't find financing for
his passion project, he paid nearly $30 million
on it straight out of his own wallet.
But that was just the start of the firestorm.
Leading up to The Passion of the Christ's
2004 Ash Wednesday release day, the film became
a lightning rod for controversy centered around
its gory violence and alleged anti-Semitism.
Regarding the former, Roger Ebert said:
"This is the most violent film I have ever
seen."
Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League highlighted
what they perceived as the movie's anti-semitic views,
saying:
"The ramifications of this film will reach
far beyond Hollywood, with [...] the possibility
that it will fuel new anti-Semitism."
But for this movie, Gibson circumvented the
traditional movie publicity route, instead
targeting evangelical Christians, and his
gamble paid off.
The Passion of the Christ had an $83 million
opening weekend, eventually earning $370 million
domestically and $611 million worldwide.
Paramount's Noah was one of the most high-profile
religious releases in recent years.
The 2014 film stars Russell Crowe as the titular
Ark builder in an adaptation of the story
from the book of Genesis.
So what's the controversy here?
While the film mostly hews to the Biblical
interpretation, controversy stewed over several
elements, such as the film's environmentalist
themes, the Biblical Nephilim being portrayed
as giant rock monsters, and perhaps most notably,
the whole "in the beginning" creation story
being equated with evolution.
"The jewel in the Creator’s palm.
And then the Creator made man; by his side,
woman."
Oh, and director Darren Aronofsky is also
an outspoken atheist, and even bragged that
his film was "the least biblical biblical
movie ever made."
So yeah, you can see how that might have ruffled
a few feathers, especially with Paramount,
who were purposefully trying to appeal to
Christian audiences.
But Aronofsky's creative license wasn't enough
to sink Noah with critics or the box office.
The film garnered a 76 percent rating on Rotten
Tomatoes.
It earned $101 million stateside and $362
million worldwide on a $125 million budget.
Released in 2013, The Wolf of Wall Street
was the fifth collaboration between director
Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio,
and it's basically 180 minutes of pure, unadulterated
debauchery.
After all, for a movie to be considered controversial
because of its content alone in this day and
age — well, you know it has to be intense.
And this movie really does have it all.
Hard drug use?
Check.
Explicit content?
Check.
Extreme profanity?
Double check.
In fact, The Wolf of Wall Street holds the
Guinness world record for the most expletives
used in a film.
The F-bomb is dropped 506 times, for an average
of 2.81 times per minute.
But the controversy didn't just come from
what was shown on-screen.
The film's producers also paid the U.S. government
$60 million after allegations that the movie
was funded with money stolen from a Malaysian
state investment fund.
Jordan Belfort, whose own criminal activities
are vividly depicted in the film, even called
the producers criminals.
If the producers were upset about paying $60
million, however, they were no doubt relieved
when the film made $116 million domestically
and $392 million worldwide.
Basic Instinct may have been the ninth biggest
domestic box office hit of 1992, but it was
easily the most controversial.
The film comes from two of Hollywood's most
notorious provocateurs, director Paul Verhoeven
and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas
For Basic Instinct, Eszterhas was paid $3
million, making it one of the most expensive
original screenplays ever sold.
Despite Eszterhas' multi-million dollar payday,
critics weren't impressed with the final film
— but both Sharon Stone's performance and
the film itself are remembered for one controversial
scene in particular: the one in which Stone
uncrosses her legs.
It's hard to imagine an A-list actress doing
a scene like that today, and it was pretty
much unfathomable in 1992.
But it paid off.
Basic Instinct made $117 million domestic
and $352 million worldwide on a $49 million budget.
Joe Eszterhas earned his historic paycheck,
and Sharon Stone proved risque content as
a bankable commodity worldwide.
Despite some fairly crazy sequel ideas, the
Ghostbusters franchise remained firmly in
developmental hell for nearly 30 years after
Ghostbusters II.
And the first Ghostbusters film in almost
three decades wasn't exactly a sequel that
reunited Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and the
gang, as many had hoped.
Instead, it was a reboot starring an all-female
squad, featuring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen
Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones.
The film sparked controversy after just the
first trailer, with criticism centering around
Leslie Jones, the lone African-American on
the team, playing a blue-collar worker and
not a scientist like the others.
"Okay screw that.
We are scientists... plus Pattie."
The controversy didn't end there, though.
Ghostbusters was attacked by hordes of internet
fans before they had even seen the film, with
many cultural critics suggesting the knee-jerk
vitriol was the result of sexism.
The film's director, Paul Feig, even went
so far as to say:
"Geek culture is home to some of the biggest
a------s I've ever met in my life."
While most critics seemed to like it, giving
it a 74 percent Rotten Tomatoes ranking, the
audience score was a rotten 50 percent.
However, that low score didn't really match
up with the box office numbers.
The film opened at number one with $46 million
on its way to a $128 million domestic and
$229 million worldwide tally.
Alas, the film cost $144 million to produce,
so while Ghostbusters made a lot of money
as far as controversial movies go, it bombed
as a summer blockbuster.
Angels & Demons is the 2009 sequel to Ron
Howard's 2006 blockbuster The Da Vinci Code.
Once again, Tom Hanks plays Harvard symbologist
Robert Langdon — but this time, the professor
must work with a nuclear physicist to solve
a killing and prevent a terrorist attack against
the Vatican.
Based on Dan Brown's controversial novel of
the same name, the Vatican believed Angels
& Demons was anti-Catholic, and banned the
production from filming in the Holy See.
The Vatican even contemplated calling for
a boycott.
Tom Hanks didn't see what all the fuss was
about, however, saying:
"Everybody is looking for some scandal whether
a scandal exists or not.
I think a kind of natural reaction is now
that somehow because it's the second Robert
Langdon mystery that there is some degree
of controversy over it.
And there is really not."
However one feels about the controversy behind
the movie, it clearly wasn't just a few Catholics
who didn't like it.
Critics panned it too, giving it a rotten
37 percent Tomatometer score.
Still, Angels & Demons made a whole heap of
dough: $133 million stateside and $485 million
worldwide, on a $150 million budget.
James Cameron is easily one of the most bankable
directors of all time, having directed the
highest-grossing film ever — twice!
First was 1997's Titanic, which was sunk by
Cameron's own Avatar in 2009.
And while Cameron is able to make it rain,
he's also good at stirring the pot.
Case in point: True Lies.
Released in 1994, True Lies is a remake of
the French action comedy La Totale, and stars
Arnold Schwarzenegger as a CIA agent who pretends
to be a boring, mild-mannered computer salesman
to his wife, Jamie Lee Curtis.
But Arnie's bizarre casting as a nerd wasn't
what made True Lies so controversial.
A loose coalition of Arab-Americans called
for a boycott of the film due to its depiction
of the movie's Arab terrorist villains.
The film was likewise decried as sexist because
of Jamie Lee Curtis' infamous striptease scene.
Controversy followed the film years after
its release when Eliza Dushku [DOOSH-koo],
who played Schwarzenegger and Curtis' daughter,
alleged she was assaulted by the film's stunt
coordinator.
Despite the controversy, past and present,
True Lies made $146 million domestically and
$378 million worldwide on a $115 million budget.
Quentin Tarantino and controversy go together
like, well, Quentin Tarantino and swearing.
But it wasn't your run-of-the-mill foul language
that sparked controversy in the wake of the
director's 2012 film, Django Unchained.
No, this time it was the N-word, which was
dropped more than 100 times during the film's
nearly three-hour runtime.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who played cruel, racist
slave owner Calvin Candie, was so uncomfortable
with the amount of times he had to say the
word that his co-stars, Jamie Foxx and Samuel
L. Jackson, had to intervene.
The film's violence was also troubling to
many audiences — in particular a scene in
which a slave is eaten alive by dogs.
For some reason, however, there wasn't much
controversy about Tarantino's ridiculous decision
to cast himself as an Aussie.
"Just a little dynamite for you boys back
here!
HAHAH!”
Despite the non-stop violence and profanity
portrayed on-screen, Django Unchained was
a major hit, earning $162 million stateside
and a staggering $425 million worldwide on
a $100 million budget.
Django Unchained was also a hit come awards
season, earning five Oscar nominations and
two wins; for Christoph Waltz's supporting
performance and Quentin Tarantino's original
screenplay.
There had been rumblings around the possibility
of a Joker-centric film for some number of
years before 2019, with Hollywood heavyweights
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio both
rumored to have been attached at some point.
When a film was finally announced, it would
be with The Hangover's Todd Phillips directing
and Joaquin Phoenix donning the greasepaint.
The reaction from fans was mixed.
Then Joker did the unthinkable, winning the
coveted Golden Lion at the prestigious Venice
Film Festival.
This put Joker, a comic book movie, in the
same company as some of the most critically-acclaimed
and artistically-respected films of all time.
It was an achievement no other comic book
movie, or any other commercial blockbuster
for that matter, had ever accomplished.
The talk was that Joker wasn't just a good
movie — it was that Joker actually transcended
its genre into the realm of high cinematic
art.
And almost immediately the controversy began.
Around the same time the film was receiving
euphoric praise, a counter-narrative was brewing
that claimed Joker could potentially inspire
violent, unstable loners into committing violent acts.
Phoenix even walked out of an interview when
he was asked if he thought the movie might
inspire violence.
Despite winning one of cinema's biggest prizes,
the critical response was muted, with only
a 68 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, moviegoers loved Joker, propelling
it to a record-breaking $96 million opening
weekend, nearly double its $55 million budget...
giving Warner Brothers more than plenty to
smile about.
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