5 Worst Comic Book Movie CinemaScore Grades Of All Time

Warner Bros.

On its opening night, “Supergirl” did not go over like gangbusters with the general public. Audiences gave the film an average grade of B- on CinemaScore, a market research firm that polls moviegoers on the opening nights of new releases to figure out what word-of-mouth will look like. CinemaScore data can offer a mildly useful glimpse into what original movies are taking off with people, such as “Sinners” getting an A grade from moviegoers before becoming a leggy phenomenon. On the other hand, they can also pinpoint when would-be crowdpleasers are going horribly awry.

That’s tragically the case with “Supergirl,” which bombed at the box office. However, this Craig Gillespie directorial effort at least fared better than the worst comic book movie CinemaScore grades of all time, a collection that failed to gain momentum with the broader public. These five features (ranked below from “highest” CinemaScore grade to lowest) had specific artistic faults that alienated audiences. These opening night monikers were just the start of the dire long-term reputations these features would grapple with.

Given how often comic book films get glowing CinemaScore grades, these five motion pictures are also fascinatingly anomalous examples of the subgenre. There’s lots to unpack with these five movies that make the opening night “Supergirl” reception look glowing by comparison.

Sony Pictures Releasing

Just a few days before “Kraven the Hunter” hit North American movie theaters, reports emerged online that the entirety of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe was wrapping up. Not even the “Venom” trilogy could keep this saga that also included “Morbius” and “Madame Web” afloat. This gangly series of features was always doomed to exist in the shadow of a superhero that these various villains and supporting characters had never existed without. Plus, most of these movies weren’t very good. “Kraven” didn’t make the most convincing case for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe needing to stick around long-term.

Instead, “Kraven the Hunter” bombed at the box office and secured a C grade from CinemaScore. Audiences being repelled by the movie isn’t surprising given that “Kraven” functioned as a lengthy origin story. The entire project was just setting up chess pieces for characters like Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) or The Chameleon (Fred Hechinger) to become notable villains in future projects. All the while, there was minimal memorable action or noteworthy characters to deliver pleasing standalone entertainment. With all these defects at play, it’s no wonder audiences leaving opening night “Kraven” screenings gave it such poor marks.

The dismal reputation of “Kraven the Hunter” made the demise of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe inevitable. That dreadful CinemaScore grade was just one of countless problems this saga could never overcome.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Back in 1981, “Superman II” dazzled audiences so much that they gave it an A+ CinemaScore grade, a fantastic result that spoke highly of how much Christopher Reeve’s interpretation resonated with people. This also marked the first time a superhero film secured this score, paving the way for subsequent A+ CinemaScore titles like “Black Panther” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Alas, the good times could not go on forever for the “Superman” movies. The next two sequels starring Reeve got significantly worse responses from audiences.

One of those sequels was “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace,” widely considered the worst “Superman” film of all time. Its abysmal reputation was clear even from its opening night screenings where “Quest for Peace” was given a C CinemaScore mark. One might normally say that the first two “Superman” movies had set such a high bar that most efforts couldn’t have met audience expectations. However, “The Quest for Peace” was just a straight-up bad movie regardless of context. Its visual effects were terrible, its storyline was emotionally inert, and the fight scenes were unintentionally comical. The whole thing was a disaster that left audiences seeking some uplifting spectacle understandably cold.

Some bad movies take a while to amass their infamous reputations. The CinemaScore grades for “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace,” though, suggest this dud’s awful reputation was sealed.

Lionsgate

One of the more baffling comic book movies out there has to be the 2008 Frank Miller directorial effort “The Spirit.” For one thing, its noir-inspired visuals hewed closer to “Sin City” (a movie adaptation of a Miller comic that he also co-directed) than the vintage Will Eisner comics. Even more bizarrely, “The Spirit” clearly emulated the grimy and hard-R mayhem of “Sin City,” but within the confines of a PG-13 rating. This meant the film couldn’t even deliver surface-level titillation or graphic violence that “City” fans expected. Whether you wanted something dark or faithful to classic “Spirit” comics, this star-studded boondoggle was going to disappoint. 

To the surprise of no one, “The Spirit” scored atrocious responses. After being forced to listen to lines of dialogue like “I’m gonna kill you all kinds of dead” and “The cat! She is all the reason I need. I will kill you” for 103 minutes, moviegoers inevitably plastered “The Spirit” with a C- CinemaScore. This incredibly messy enterprise was always going to leave audiences cold, but coming out just a few months after massive crowdpleasers like “Iron Man” and “The Dark Knight” didn’t help.

Viewers had just seen the pinnacle of comic book cinema, which just amplified the glaring shortcomings of this bizarre yet tedious adaptation. It’s no surprise “The Spirit” fell flat on its face when it came time for its CinemaScore.

20th Century Fox

In many all-time bad movies, there comes a single moment where it becomes clear to viewers that they’re watching something historically awful. For 2015’s “Fantastic Four,” that comes when the four of the lead characters are trapped in an alternate dimension that’s pelting them with dangerous weather. As they all return to the pods that brought them to this realm, director Josh Trank suddenly cuts to Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) screaming as a bunch of rocks rain down on him. The shot’s cramped framing just makes it look like Jamie Bell is being bombarded by a bunch of plastic squares, with his ADR’d wails amplifying the moment’s unintentional comedy.

If “Fantastic Four” was trying to be a horrifying David Cronenberg take on this superhero material, that intent went staggeringly awry in execution. That level of tomfoolery made it unsurprising “Fantastic Four” had one of the biggest comic book movie second weekend drops of all time and became a box office bomb. Word of mouth was nothing short of dreadful, with opening night audiences giving “Fantastic Four” a C- CinemaScore grade, a shockingly bad rating for a superhero movie. For comparison’s sake, “Catwoman” got a B grade.

Failing to deliver either compelling escapist action or an exciting new vision of these familiar Marvel characters cemented “Fantastic Four” as one of the worst superhero movies of all time. That one scene with the plastic rocks hitting Ben Grimm alone guaranteed “Fantastic Four” terrible audience responses.

Warner Bros. Pictures

There were once hopes that “Joker: Folie à Deux” could reach a domestic opening weekend exceeding $100 million. As history has infamously shown, “Joker: Folie à Deux” didn’t come close to those expectations. Instead, it became one of the biggest box office flops in history with a domestic cume of $58.3 million. It was also incredibly frontloaded, making $37.67 million of that lifetime North American haul in its first three days. How was that possible? Simple: “Joker: Folie à Deux” had some of the worst word of mouth imaginable for a major studio release.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” secured a D CinemaScore grade from opening night audiences, the same score as infamous boondoggles like “Movie 43,” “The Snowman,” and 1998’s “The Avengers,” the latter of which at least featured a scene where Sean Connery gives an intimidating speech to people in colorful teddy bear costumes. It’s no mystery why “Joker: Folie à Deux” was such a disaster. It wasn’t just the bewilderment of it being a musical. Sitting down in a theater and getting surprised with a musical as good as Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” would be one thing.

Suddenly getting bombarded with Joaquin Phoenix screaming “For Once in My Life” lyrics was nobody’s idea of a good time. No wonder “Joker: Folie à Deux” had some of the worst audience responses ever for a comic book movie.