Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops

From Freaks to Land of the Pharaohs , Dune to Speed 2 , and Catwoman to Cats – a riotous and revealing story of Hollywood’s most spectacular flops. ‘Hugely entertaining.’ Prospect ‘An instant classic.’ Andrew O’Hagan, author of Caledonian Road ‘Expertly researched.’ Sight & Sound ‘A rollicking, gossipy triumph.’ Daily Telegraph ***** ‘Wildly enjoyable.’ Guardian ‘Failure fascinates, for all the reasons that success is a drag . . .’ From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, Tim Robey’s hugely entertaining Box Office Poison tells an alternative history of Hollywood, through a century of its most notable flops. Freaks, Land of the Pharaohs, Dune, Speed 2, Catwoman, Cats: what can these films tell us about the Hollywood system, the public’s appetite – or lack of it – and the circumstances that saw such box office disasters actually made? Away from the canon, here is the definitive take on these ill-fated, but essential celluloid failures. —- ISBN: 9780571381203 | ISBN10: 0571381200 | ISBN-13: 978-0571381203