The following list highlights the top 10 films that suffered the steepest declines in their second weekend at the domestic box office, ranked from the “least severe” to the most catastrophic. These films exemplify the consequences when a movie fails to connect with its viewers, leading to a precipitous drop in viewership. Such dramatic downturns signify not only cultural rejection but also a mix of other factors that contribute to their swift disappearance from cinemas—nightmares for any film hoping for box office success.

It’s crucial to clarify that this ranking intentionally omits certain categories of films. Excluded are re-releases, episodes of “The Chosen” (as these are technically TV episodes shown in theaters), films playing in fewer than 1,000 theaters during their second weekends, and anime films, which characteristically endure sharp declines, making a list dominated by Crunchyroll releases redundant and monotonous.

The tale of “Psycho Killer” dates back to 2007, when screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker’s horror script was already circulating in Hollywood circles. Director Gavin Polone became attached to the project in late 2010. However, persistent difficulties in securing financing repeatedly pushed “Psycho Killer” to the sidelines, much like “The Collected” or numerous sequels to “Candyman” and “Hellraiser” that intrigued horror aficionados but never materialized.

In the following weekend, “Psycho Killer” experienced an enormous 80.6% drop, earning only $312,978. This staggering decline highlighted how the debut of “Scream 7” overshadowed “Psycho Killer” and underscored the prevailing lack of interest in the film. The journey, which began in 2007, culminated in a highly embarrassing conclusion by 2026.

However, “Psycho Killer” came roaring back to life in early 2023 when it finally began shooting. It took another three years before 20th Century Studios dumped this project into just 1,100 theaters in late February 2026. Unsurprisingly, it only opened to $1.61 million, a disastrous haul that signified how audiences didn’t remotely care about seeing this long-gestating movie. Abysmal reviews ensured that “Psycho Killer” had an impenetrable toxic cloud surrounding its reputation. There was no way audiences would suddenly show up in droves over its second weekend and reverse its miserable financial fortunes.

In its second frame, “Psycho Killer” fell 80.6% and grossed only $312,978. That eye-popping drop spoke to both how that weekend’s newcomer, “Scream 7,” gobbled up all the horror cinema attention, as well as the pervasive disinterest plaguing “Psycho Killer.” This saga that began in 2007 crashed and burned with an embarrassing ending in 2026.

Nearly everyone reading this piece probably has the same thought: “What is ‘Return to the Blue Lagoon’?” Believe it or not, the film was also inexplicable when it hit theaters in 1991, 11 years after the original “Blue Lagoon” hit theaters. That title was a moneymaker, but all the buzz surrounding it had long subsided by the time director William A. Graham’s “Return to the Blue Lagoon” hit multiplexes. Waiting years to deliver a follow-up usually only works for James Cameron event pics like “Aliens” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

On its opening weekend of August 2-4, moviegoers firmly focused all their attention on “Hot Shots!” (the No. 1 movie domestically that weekend) as well as other movies like “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” and “Doc Hollywood.” Despite playing in 1,246 theaters, “Return” grossed just $1.27 million during its initial frame. This dismally reviewed project then plummeted 80.8% in its second weekend for a $245,814 haul and a $2.33 million domestic total. The lack of demand for another “Blue Lagoon” movie was clear, and that catastrophic second weekend just reiterated that reality.

Given its $11 million budget, “Return to the Blue Lagoon” didn’t come close to turning a profit theatrically, a bad showing for all its financiers. Dropping 80.8% in its second weekend was just one of the many ways that “Return to the Blue Lagoon” came up short.

For those watching its box office run on a day-by-day basis, the financial collapse of “Joker: Folie à Deux” was staggering to witness. Original tracking suggesting this movie could hit over $70 million on opening weekend became laughable once it actually opened to $37.6 million. Those brave souls who ventured out to see this follow-up despised what they witnessed, and branded “Folie à Deux” with a D CinemaScore — an all-time low for comic book movie CinemaScore grades. “Joker: Folie à Deux” had the sort of toxic word of mouth that only comes around once in a generation.

The film’s severe day-to-day drops in its first seven days of release already made it clear that a massive second weekend drop was imminent for this Todd Phillips directorial effort. That grim reality came to pass when “Folie à Deux” fell 81.4% to gross a mere $7 million in its second frame. That was the biggest second weekend drop in history for a movie playing in over 3,000 theaters (“Joker: Folie à Deux” was playing in 4,102 locations), as well as the largest second weekend drop in history for a comic book movie adaptation. Only four other movies in any other genre (“Halloween Ends,” “Friday the 13th,” “The Marvels,” and “All Eyez On Me”) had fallen more than 78% after debuting to over $25 million, putting the “Joker” sequel in rarified company.

Such a massive second weekend fall confirmed that the $200 million-budgeted “Joker: Folie à Deux” was no minor misfire, but rather an all-time cataclysmic box office failure.

By the late 2010s, Keanu Reeves had regained his box office luster. While flops like “47 Ronin” seemed to signal that Reeves was down and out with audiences, hits like the “John Wick” movies were decisively saying otherwise. In 2019, he headlined “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” which grossed $327.77 million worldwide, and scored a memorable supporting turn in another summer 2019 hit, “Toy Story 4.” This was a pivotal moment for Reeves that signaled his enduring appeal across all genres, from action films to comedies to family features and everything in between. But even this rising tide could not lift the Reeves star vehicle “Replicas” into lucrative territory.

“Replicas” starred Reeves as a forlorn inventor wanting to use robotics to bring his dead family back to life, and it’s definitely not one of the best characters Keanu Reeves has ever played. “Replicas” was a total bust right out of the gate, with a pitiful $2.37 million debut. Its second weekend coinciding with Martin Luther King Jr. Day didn’t prevent a massive 81% drop from occurring. Grossing only $439,371 in this frame, “Replicas” went on to gross just $4.04 million domestically in its lifetime run.

With heavy competition from “Glass” in its second frame, not to mention its disastrous word-of-mouth, “Replicas” was doomed to have a massive fall at the box office. The only good news was that it was a quick, forgettable failure that didn’t disrupt Reeves’ momentum at the end of the 2010s.

Most of the films on this list are historic box office flops whose massive second weekend plunges epitomized toxic cultural reputations and audiences vehemently rejecting certain concepts. The Riz Ahmed and Lily James crime thriller “Relay,” though, is a quieter counterpart to those titles. An independently financed feature that premiered on the festival circuit in fall 2024 before hitting North American theaters in August 2025, “Relay” was a humbler production with more modest box office ambitions. That said, nobody involved in either its creation or distribution wanted it to fall over 80% in its second weekend of domestic release.

“Relay” opened to $1.93 million in North America, a sum that included tickets sold during an AMC Screen Unseen showing in mid-August 2025. Folding those numbers into the Friday grosses gave the opening day a boost, but “Relay” immediately had a sharp day-to-day decrease over its opening weekend when it fell 50% from Friday to Saturday. Those steep daily box office plunges never subsided, and it fell 81.7% in its second weekend for a $351,026 gross. After this frame, distributor Bleecker Street stopped reporting its domestic numbers, which topped out at $3.16 million.

That gigantic second weekend plunge for “Relay” reflected a tiny film struggling to either expand or maintain its moviegoing audience beyond one day of business. Its generally solid reviews and minimal long-term financial consequences make this frontloaded run less appalling than the legs of “Joker: Folie a Deux.” However, this was still a shocking and ominous second weekend collapse.

There was no bigger cinematic punching bag in 2003 than the Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez star vehicle “Gigli.” The title was ridiculous. The dialogue was lambasted. Every performance in it (save for Christopher Walken’s brief turn) was derided as disastrous. In hindsight, “Gigli” should have ended Ben Affleck’s acting career. This whole production was such a notorious trainwreck that even Affleck, decades later, has openly talked about its dismal public reputation. Considering how everything attached to the “Gigli” name went haywire, is it any shock that the film also delivered a tremendous second weekend dive at the box office?

Even before its debut, audiences were lining up to take swings at “Gigli,” primarily because of people’s exhaustion with the two leads. Thus, the movie only opened to $3.75 million in 2,215 theaters, despite starring two big names and costing $54 million to make. The news got no better in its second frame, when it fell 81.9% to gross another $678,640. At the time, that was the largest second weekend drop for any wide release in history. Audiences weren’t just dubious about “Gigli,” they were ignoring it in droves.

Considering all the rampant negativity surrounding the film’s very existence, this was one of those box office bombs everyone saw coming. Nobody, though, could have fully predicted that 81.9% descent, which really epitomized how little “Gigli” connected with audiences. Still regarded as an especially atrocious movie years later, the awfulness of “Gigli” goes far beyond its historic box office demise.

The 2007 indie comedy “Waitress” has had a fascinatingly long pop culture shelf life. Nearly a decade after its cinematic debut, the musical incarnation of “Waitress” debuted on Broadway in 2016 (after a 2015 run in Cambridge). In 2021, “Waitress: The Musical” returned to Broadway, this time with Sara Bareilles playing the lead role. This was the version of the show that was filmed and then premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival – a full circle moment for “Waitress,” with the project (albeit in its stage musical form) returning to the cinematic medium that it originated in.

General moviegoing audiences got to experience “Waitress” once more on the big screen when distributor Bleecker Street brought “Waitress: The Musical” to 1,214 theaters in December 2023. Grossing $2.84 million over its debut frame, “Waitress” drummed up solid opening numbers. However, this project was largely preaching to the choir, in that it wasn’t going to get a greater audience than musical theater devotees already obsessed with the original show. Once that market showed up on opening weekend, “Waitress: The Musical” plummeted 82.2% over its second frame.

Given that the original “Waitress” musical has long since turned a profit, whatever money “Waitress: The Musical” earned in multiplexes was just the gravy on top. Stumbling so hard just meant that only a select, though passionate, audience was interested in seeing this musical on the big screen.

If you ever think your plans are going haywire, just remember they couldn’t possibly be going as sideways as the initial plans for the Natalie Portman movie “Jane Got a Gun.” This Western was plagued by endless chaos, including losing its initial director and having its cast constantly change. Even in post-production, “Jane Got a Gun” was plagued by endless turmoil as its original domestic distributor, Relativity Media, went belly up. The Weinstein Company took North American rights and finally unloaded this project with minimal fanfare on January 29, 2016.

When ranking every Natalie Portman movie, it’s easy to forget “Jane Got a Gun” even exists, let alone its artistic merits or shortcomings. General audiences certainly forgot to check the film out when it hit the big screen, as “Jane Got a Gun” opened to only $835,572 from 1,210 theaters. Following that dismal bow, “Jane Got a Gun” was left for dead, as it dropped 83.5% in its second weekend. That catastrophic fall led the Weinstein Company to pull it from 1,023 theaters, reducing its theatrical footprint to just eight locations.

After all that turmoil, “Jane Got a Gun” was gone in the blink of an eye. Westerns have often been hit-or-miss at the box office, which already put “Jane Got a Gun” at a disadvantage from the get-go. But its fleeting theatrical release and lack of buzz further ensured its box office demise, including that massive second weekend fall. Rarely have plans gone so badly as this.

Bill Skarsgard got unbelievably ripped for “Boys Kills World,” a feature that saw this horror movie icon clenching his fists and dishing out bloodshed in an incredibly wacky world. “Boy Kills World” was one of many R-rated 2020s action films (see also: “Bullet Train” and “Novocaine”) focusing on white male protagonists with snark and cultural references to spare as they navigate loopy scenarios. “Boy Kills World” followed this trend even with a mute lead character, as H. Jon Benjamin provided a chatterbox voice-over reflecting the protagonist’s inner monologue. All of these films yearn to become the next “Deadpool” at the box office, a target “Boy Kills World” severely missed.

Roadside Attractions gave “Boy Kills World” a major theatrical push in 1,993 theaters, but that only resulted in a $1.68 million domestic bow. The following weekend, another action film, “The Fall Guy,” hit theaters armed with a more accessible PG-13 rating and bigger stars like Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. “Boy Kills World” couldn’t hope to compete, utterly collapsing with an 85.1% plunge and a $250,642 second weekend gross. It eventually amassed only $2.62 million in its entire domestic run, an anemic haul suggesting total audience rejection.

Given that similar features with way more marketing, like “Novocaine,” also flopped, it’s no surprise that “Boy Kills World” had trouble registering as a must-see attraction. That second weekend disintegration was just one of many troubles it faced in its tragic box office run.

You’ve seen “Renfield” star Nicholas Hoult before in countless other productions, ranging from “The Favourite” to his turn as Lex Luthor in “Superman” to even his child actor performance in “About a Boy.” Hoult has cultivated an impressive body of work, particularly his trio of late 2024 turns (in “Nosferatu,” “The Order,” and “Juror #2”) that really solidified his quiet range and chops. However, not every movie that Hoult has headlined has hit the mark. Just check out his action film “Collide,” which teamed Hoult up with Felicity Jones, Ben Kingsley, and Anthony Hopkins. All that talent still couldn’t produce a movie audiences showed up in droves for.

Once set for an April 2016 release, distributor Open Road Films shuffled “Collide” around the release slate before settling on February 24, 2017 release date. Its atrocious $1.51 million debut was just a warm-up for its staggering 88.5% fall the following weekend, putting it in 30th place at the domestic box office despite playing in 1,002 theaters. By far the largest second weekend decline in history for any movie at the time of its release, the second frame for “Collide” had the misfortune of directly opposing the mammoth opening of “Logan.”

If you wanted R-rated action and thrills the first weekend of March 2017, you went to “Logan,” not “Collide.” The latter movie collapsed quickly, with Open Road Films not even tracking its box office numbers after 14 days of domestic play. Not one for Nicholas Hoult’s highlight reel, that’s for sure.