With 42% On Rotten Tomatoes, A Will Smith Blockbuster Is One Of The Lowest‑Rated Box Office Hits Ever

Will Smith’s Hancock was a box office hit, but it still disappointed critics on a level only equaled by high-profile franchise flops. In 2008, Will Smith challenged Robert Downey Jr. and Christian Bale to a superhero face-off. In the end, Iron Man and The Dark Knight became modern classics of the genre, while Hancock struggled to keep up.

Franchises like the DCEU, Transformers, and Star Wars have presented unpopular installments that dominate their box office anyway. Lower-budget movies have fewer chances of becoming tentpole events, but their negative reception also appears less disastrous as a result. However, some blockbusters can be both commercially successful and critically panned.

17 Years Later, Hancock Still Holds An Undesirable RT Record

There’s a big difference between the box office numbers and the Rotten Tomatoes scores of several franchise entries. For instance, DC’s Suicide Squad holds a 26% RT score against its $749.2 million gross (via TheNumbers), and Jurassic World: Dominion holds a 29% RT score against an astounding $1.004 billion (TheNumbers). Yet, their respective franchises have continued.

Meanwhile, Hancock holds a 42% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a worldwide box office total of $624.2 million (via TheNumbers). This difference is comparable to Meet The Fockers‘ 38% RT score and $516.5 million worldwide (TheNumbers), as well as Grown Ups‘ 10% RT score and $272.2 million (TheNumbers). However, both of these critical failures also led to sequels.

With $624.2 million on a $150 million budget (TheNumbers), Hancock became the fourth highest-grossing film of 2008. Hancock surpassed Quantum of Solace, Iron Man, WALL-E, Twilight, and Taken. Yet, Hancock‘s negative reviews seemingly froze it dead in its tracks. Discussions about a Hancock sequel have been ongoing since 2008, but no solid plans have been announced yet.

Hancock Has A Close Rival For Its Low Rotten Tomatoes Record

Like Hancock, Michael Bay’s Armageddon is a box office hit with a low Tomatometer score. Armageddon attained the impressive achievement of landing in first place at the 1998 box office, right above Saving Private Ryan. But with $554.6 million worldwide (TheNumbers) and a 43% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, Armageddon‘s reviews never lived up to its commercial success.

Also like Hancock, Armageddon never got a sequel, spinoff, or any kind of follow-up. Throughout the years, Hancock and Armageddon‘s Rotten Tomatoes score has fluctuated, putting them on similar grounds as successful solo blockbusters that surpassed commercial expectations but divided critics. That said, if Hancock ever gets its long-awaited sequel, it could finally leave its rare status behind.

Hancock

7/10

Release Date

July 2, 2008

Runtime

102minutes

Director

Peter Berg

Writers

Vince Gilligan