It wasn’t a very happy year at the box office in 2011, and while the total for the year dropping was bad enough, some movies suffered more than others.

While there are always certain to be films each year that don’t fare well at the box office, some did spectacularly bad this year. Even bankable stars like Johnny Depp showed that not everything he touches is guaranteed to turn to fold.

As you look over this chart, keep in mind that a movie is considered successful when it doubles its production budget domestically to account for marketing costs.  Foreign box office loses a larger chunk due to international distribution deals, so even though some films have a higher total gross than their budget, it still doesn’t mean they made money.

Even though Mars Needs Moms was the biggest loser by dollar amount, I’m really focused on The Big Year.  The latter crashed and burned in such a way that it is mind boggling.  When you factor in it wasn’t even that large of a budget, to see it bring in just over $7 million worldwide, you really have to wonder how it went so horribly wrong.  We’re talking nearly art house film money here it did so badly, and its widest release point in the U.S. it had 2,150 screens.  True, huge films now come in at over 3,000 screens, but 2,150 isn’t exactly small and that means total per screen average domestically was $3,333.20.  That, by Hollywood standards, is a total disaster.

The list of films definitely has some large budget disasters, it’s also interesting to see how “modestly” budgeted films also didn’t fare all that well.  The Rum Diary was probably risky to begin with, but seeing it not even bring in its $40 million dollar budget is surprising when Depp has more billion dollar movies under his belt than anyone else.  I Don’t Know How She Does It has probably shown that the love affair with Sarah Jessica Parker has definitely come to an end.

When you add in how Happy Feet Two performed with Mars Needs Moms catastrophic failure, it also looks like the age of animated films being easy hits is quickly drawing to a close.  There was a time where every animated film brought in just insane amounts of money, but their performance has been dropping more and more lately, and these two have definitely set a new bar.

I’ll try not to laugh at how Conan the Barbarian performed, but it’s difficult to not to.  And Green Lantern … for having the biggest budget, this may actually end up being the flop that sticks in most people’s minds when they think back on 2011.

It’s obvious that even after all these years that the film studios don’t have a clue as to what they’re doing, and when a film is a “hit,” it really just has to be pure luck.

One note: New Year’s Eve is still in release, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to do a lot more.

Despite predictions that The Lion King wouldn’t stay #1 this week, but apparently you can’t knock the king off his throne.

The power of Disney is a tough one to overcome, and while some analysts thought The Lion King couldn’t hold on to #1 for a second week, it did, bringing in a remarkable $22.1 million.  For a 17-year-old film, you have to give it a hat tip for having that sort of draw.

Moneyball was presumed to knock it out of #1, and after it won Friday’s box office everyone presumed it would win the weekend.  It brought in a decent $20.6 million, but it just didn’t have enough gas behind it to knock out a beloved Disney classic.

Coming in third was Dolphin Tale with $20.26 million, and there is some speculation it may actually take second when the final grosses are reported later today.  I would imagine it would have done better without another family film out there, but I’m not sure anyone could have predicted this current weekend playing out the way it did.

Abduction was expected to do better than fourth seeing as it stars Taylor Lautner from the Twilight series, but it raked in only $11.2 million, well below its expectations.  I think the majority of the actors from that series are in for a rude awakening as they try to find other work with the conclusion of that series.  They weren’t the ones drawing folks in, and compared to the Harry Potter kids, they also don’t have the apparent talent to back it up.

Rounding out the top five was Killer Elite starring Jason Statham. This was the weakest opening yet for one of his films brining in only $9.5 million. Perhaps everyone is finally realizing he plays the exact same role in every film.

Last week’s new releases of Straw Dogs tumbled 59 percent to an embarrassingly weak $2.1 million in ninth place. Fairing even worse was the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle, I Don’t Know How She Does It which fell 53 percent to 10th place with an anemic $2 million. Apparently Ms. Parker is really going to need to consider another Sex and the City at this point.

Next week will see the releases of 50/50, Courageous, Dream House and What’s Your Number?, which sounds like another week of lackluster debuts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another repeat for The Lion King.

Conan the Barbarian?  Down to 56 theaters and $20,800.  Meanwhile, Bridesmaids, which hit home video this week, had 111 theaters still and did $78.800.  I’m sorry … I love a train wreck.

The Lion King originally hit theaters in 1994, but apparently if you slap some 3D on it and re-release it 17 years, you can once again take the #1 spot.

More than likely Disney could have skipped the 3D process and still won the weekend, but any way you slice it, The Lion King in 3D brought in a healthy $29.3 million.

Contagion slipped 35.4% to land in second place with $14.48 million. This is a great performance for any film in its second week, so it’s appearing that the public was ready for a thriller.

The ultra-violent Drive found itself in third place with $11 million, boding for a not so great future for the film.  It had great buzz from the Cannes Film Festival, but we’ll just have to see how it does after its had some time out in the public.

The Help fell to fourth place, but is still bringing in a healthy amount of money with another $6.4 million, bringing its total to $147.3 million. Off of a $25 million budget, it appears we have a clear it on our hands.

Closing up the top five was the remake of Straw Dogs with a very timid $5 million. Another new release for this week, I Don’t Know How She Does It, came in sixth with a highly disappointing $4.5 million.

Next week will see Abduction, Dolphin Tale, Killer Elite and Moneyball, none of which sounds like they will exactly take the box office by storm.

And, yes, Conan the Barbarian … oh poor, Conan. Dropping to 153 theaters it brought in $78,000 after 31 days of release. Adding insult to injury, Bridesmaids has been out for 129 days, has 170 theaters and did $124,000 this weekend … how many executives have been fired thus far over the disaster that is Conan?

It took a thriller about disease to finally knock The Help out of first place, but still the period drama held its on in the first weekend of the fall movie season.

Contagion was the only major release this weekend, and with a public starved for something new to watch, it brought in a healthy $23.1 million. Not a huge amount, but we are no longer talking summer numbers at this point. With fairly positive reviews, it should have some life to it.

Coming in second was The Help with $8.6 million. Despite falling out of first place, this movie did have the distinction of winning first place for the most consecutive days since 1999′s The Sixth Sense.

Coming in third was Warrior about … well, some sort of fighting.  I really haven’t followed this production at all.  It brought in $5.6 million, and considering its $25 million dollar budget, things aren’t looking too good.

The Debt fell 50% to land in fourth with$4.9 million.  Not a horribly big surprise as I have seen next to no advertising for this film beyond a one week blitz.  Not sure what the thinking was behind this release.

Coming in fifth was Colombiana, which still took a large tumble from last week’s fall, but it was somehow able to lock in the top five with $4 million.

Overall it was an underwhelming weekend, but not surprising as we enter the normally slow fall, and especially in a year that has already seen a downturn in box office revenues.

Next weekend sees no huge releases, but you can expect to see Drive, I Don’t Know How She Does It, a re-release of The Lion King in 3D and the remake of Straw Dogs.

Oh, and where was Conan the Barbarian? In 28th place with an 81% drop in business and the loss of 1,171 theaters, leaving it in only 551 locations. And how much did it bring in? $300,000. This brings its domestic total to $20.9 after three weeks of release and a $90 million budget. We are definitely looking at one of the biggest flops of the year. While Green Lantern didn’t do well, based on percentages, Conan has done even worse.

The Help won a third weekend in a row, and some amazing stats to go along with it.

Theoretically you could say the fact The Help only lost 2.3% of its business from last weekend could be chalked up the fact less screens were open last weekend due to Hurricane Irene.  If those screens had been open, the film would have made more last weekend, meaning it’s take this weekend would be a bigger drop, but any way you slice it, it still brought in $14.2 million, bringing its domestic gross to $118.6 million off of a $25 million budget.

The new releases this week were subdued, and no match for the might of the three week title holder.  Coming in second was the thriller The Debt.  It scored a modest $9.67 million in its opening weekend.

Third and fourth place were separated by a mere $60,000.  Apollo 18 took third with $8.7 million while Shark Night 3D came in with $8.64 million.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes continued to beat its chest, coming in fifth this week with $7.8 million.  It hasn’t set box office records, but it has certainly done a healthy business bringing in a total of $160 million domestically.

Overall the summer film season is closing out with a whimper, with nothing but The Help catching on with audiences.  All of last week’s new releases - Colombiana, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and Our Idiot Brother - all fell out of the top 5.  The title for the most embarrassing August release has to go to Conan the Barbarian which fell to 17th place this weekend with a paltry $1.3 million in its third weekend for a domestic total of $19.6 million.  It hasn’t even been able to beat the dollar total of the 1982 film of the same name which brought in $39 million.  Adjusted for inflation the new one is a complete train wreck.

The only major release for next weekend is Contagion, with a couple smaller films also taking their opening bows.

The Help was crowned champion of the weekend once again, and it wasn’t all due to a hurricane.

Once again the the drama about the race relations between African-American employees and their white employers fended off three newcomers to win the weekend.  In its fourth weekend of release, The Help brought in an estimated $14.3 million to take first place.

While it was able to hold off the newcomers, it looks like it was a combination of weak new releases, and Hurricane Irene keeping people out of the theaters.  This ended up being the second weakest weekend of the year, coming in only behind Superbowl weekend.

Coming in second was the female-driven action film Colombiana with $10.3 million. This was a better showing for an action film starring Zoe Saldana, best known for playing Uhura in the 2009 Star Trek.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark came in with just $8.7 million, and a fairly weak stat for the horror genre.

In fourth place was Rise of the Planet of the Apes with around $8.65 million, adding to its winning ways of the past several weeks. Considering the number of new releases that have come out since its initial release, the fact that its held on this strongly is a good sign.

Round out the top 5 was the Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother. It only brought in $6.58 million off of a $5 million dollar budget. Factor in marketing costs and it still has a ways to go.

Notice that none of last weeks new releases held on to the top 5. Spy Kids 4 fell nearly 51% to land in sixth place with $5.7 million. Conan the Barbarian landed in eighth with a 69.1% decline to bring in a laughable $3.1 million. Despite landing in ninth place wih just over $3 million, Fright Night fared better as it only dropped off about 60% from its previous showing.

The only release for next weekend is The Debt, so it definitely looks like we are leaving the thrill of the summer releases.  Barring something highly unusual happening, I have a feeling The Help will enjoy a third weekend at the top.

There are bad weekends in the movie business, and then there are BAD WEEKENDS.  Anyone want to guess which one this one was?

It’s rare for a movie to rise to the #1 spot after multiple weeks on the chart, but that’s exactly what happened with The Help this weekend when it pulled in $20.5 million.  It slid only 21% from last weekend, which is impressive for any film these days, but in three weekends the movie has pulled in a total of $71.8 million off of a $25 million budget, it is well into the profit region.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes fell 41.4% to $16.5 million and now sits at $133.7 million for a domestic total.  Not too shabby, and the fact it hasn’t fallen further probably only strengthens the sequel talk that has already been circulating.

It’s in the number three region of the list that the bloodbath that was this weekend kicks in.  The top new release of the was Spy Kids 4 with an anemic $12 million. Despite it’s somewhat modest budget of $27 million, it’s going to have a hard time hitting the $54 million needed to consider it a success. Why this series even came back is beyond me, but the box office numbers definitely prove out that I was not alone in my confusion.

Conan the Barbarian landed with a thud in fourth place with $10 million.  Seeing as it had a $90 million budget, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see some news today of some executives being shown the door.  Jason Momoa in the title role always seemed a tad odd to me as he has no marquee titles to his name, and it’s doubtful anyone outside of Stargate: Atlantis fans even know who he is.

Coming in fifth was The Smurfs.  As if it wasn’t bad enough a couple weeks ago when it looked like this movie had beaten Cowboys & Aliens, this week the little blue creatures claimed another big name victim in the form of Fright Night. The kid friendly film pulled in another $8 million compared to the horror movie remake’s paltry $7.9 million. (I expect the final numbers to shift slightly)  Fright Night only had a $30 million dollar budget, but good luck making that back with this sort of debut.

If this weekend teaches us anything, it is next to impossible to predict what movie goes are in the mood for.  You could say remakes are now the kiss of death, but can’t you technically say then that Rise of the Planet of the Apes shouldn’t be doing so well?  Overall, something is afoot at the box office, and it’s time for the studios to be taking a few more lessons from these failures.

Next week will see three new releases, but none of them look like the type to take the box office by storm. Colombiana, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and Our Idiot Brother all look set to ring out the end of the summer with a full thud.

This summer hasn’t seen many movies hold on to the top spot two weekends in a row, but Rise of the Planet of the Apes has joined that exclusive little club.

Falling 49.8% in its second weekend, Rise of the Planet of the Apes brought in an estimated $27.5 million to bring its domestic total to $104.8 million.  This has only increased talk over the past week of a potential sequel with several concepts already being thrown around as to what the story may be.  With a $93 million dollar budget, it still seems a bit premature, but that’s Hollywood for you.

Coming in second was The Help with an estimated $25.5 million. The film actually opened on Wednesday, so it’s total gross for the first five days is a healthy $35.3 million, but no word yet on what the production costs were. Speculation runs, however, that the film is doing very well, and is tracking ahead of similar releases of the past few years such as Julie & Julia.

Debuting in third position was Final Destination 5 with $18.4 million, and the first film in the series to open with a weaker weekend than its predecessor. Not a good sign for the aging horror franchise, so it looks like it may be time to consider retiring it.

The Smurfs had another bit of a surprising weekend, falling only 34.8% for its third weekend, and brining in another $13.5 million. You can all relax, a sequel has already been announced. I will now try to pretend to be shocked by this news … okay, that’s not working.

Rounding out the top five was the debut of 30 Minutes or Less with a paltry $13 million dollar take. This never bodes well for a new release. Take for instance, The Change-Up which opened in fourth last week with $15.7 million. It slid 54% this week to take the 10th spot with $6.2 million.

The big surprise for me was Glee The 3D Concert Movie opened in 11th with only $5.7 million. I really was expecting this one to be the dark horse of the week due to its television popularity, but no dice.

Next week is another big set of releases in terms of quantity.  Be on the lookout for Conan the Barbarian, Fright Night, One Day and Spy Kids 4.  The original Fright Night was one of my favorite 1980′s horror movies, so I’m not too thrilled to see this coming back.

The first trailer for the new Conan the Barbarian film that actually shows footage has appeared, and I have to say I’m less than impressed.

While I know fans of the original stories have their problems with the 1982 film, I come strictly from being familiar with the movies, and this just looks bland in comparison.  Jason Momoa, best known for starring in Stargate: Atlantis, is not exactly a great actor.  Yes, I know, neither was Arnold Schwarzenegger, no arguments there, but if anyone else can portray even less range, that would have to Momoa.

Then there’s the CGI, I am so tired of movies that are more computer graphics than story.  It could just be the trailer, but we’ll have to see what the end product looks like.

This is definitely a trailer that does not increase my interest or faith in a project, and that’s never a good sign.

I see tons of publicity photos for movies, most of them are very ho-hum, and others get you talking like the one for Green Lantern the other day.  One thing publicity photos shouldn’t ever do is make you break out laughing at the horribleness of it … and one I saw today made me do just that.

Jason Momoa, formerly of Stargate Atlantis, is starring in a new film adaptation of Conan the Barbarian.  Not a big deal, it isn’t exactly heavy lifting when it comes to acting … grunt, look menacing, swing a sword, etc.  I enjoyed the 1982 version with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it sure wasn’t high art. The new film looks like a sword & sorcery film, and we’ll see how it plays with today’s audiences, but there has already been one fatal mistake made.

Okay, image number one, not bad, not much going on, but he looks menacing, so, good call.

Picture number two … the sword looks a little cheap, but you try riding a horse with a 20 lbs sword being carried in your outstretched arm.  It might get cleaned up in post production anyway, so not a deal breaker.

Picture number three … I … wait, what?

This made me instantly think of all those 1980′s heavy metal album covers like those from the band Manowar.

Or perhaps it should be painted on the side of a 1970′s van.

The lesson here folks, if your publicity photo looks anything like the last two examples I gave … don’t release it.