'Mars Needs Moms' Tops List Of Biggest Flops Of 2011

Despite the booming success of certain unexpected box office hits over the holiday season, like Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, 2011 was a bit of a letdown for many studios.

Domestic box office yields for 2011 are four percent below what they were in 2010, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and the list of the year's 15 biggest box office flops may shed some light on why. Leading the pack this year was Disney's animated feature, Mars Needs Moms, featuring the voices of Seth Green and Joan Cusack, which earned a mere $39 million worldwide on a $150 million budget.

Shortly behind that box office disappointment was the Zack Snyder action film from Warner Bros., Sucker Punch, starring mostly promising up-and-comers Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone and Vanessa Hudgens. Though Sucker Punch technically grossed almost $90 million, more than its $82 million budget, there's still marketing costs to consider, plus the fact that studios split grosses with theater owners, THR points out. Any film that makes just barely more than its budget is still in trouble.

Which is why the remake of Arthur, which stars Russell Brand and earned just $5.7 million more than the $40 million it spent, came in third on the list, followed by the disappointing superhero summer dud, The Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. Even the sight of Olivia Wilde nude couldn't save Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens, which took the fifth spot on the list. Also over the summer, Glee proved that making the leap to the big screen is harder than it looks, as Glee: The 3D Concert Movie was the sixth biggest disappointment of the year.