More 2026 Blockbusters ALREADY DOOMED to FAIL
Right now there are finished films sitting on shelves because studios can't figure out how to release them without losing tens of millions of dollars.
Kevin Feige announced Blade at San Diego Comic Con in 2019 bringing out Mahershala Ali to loud cheers. Fans went wild. Marvel was coming off Endgame at the peak of its cultural impact. Blade was initially scheduled for release on November 3, 2023. That date came and went with no movie. The film currently has a November 2025 release date but everyone accepts that's not going to happen. In the 6 years since announcement Blade has become the pre flop that just won't stop flopping.
The film burned through 2 directors. 5 different writers have taken their shot at cracking the story with Eric Pearson currently rewriting drafts from 4 failed attempts. At one point the script was 90 pages long with only 2 action sequences. Mahershala Ali nearly walked away after discovering his character had been demoted to fourth lead in a female centered version. Kevin Feige scrambled to hire Michael Green the writer of Logan to start over from scratch. Then Covid hit followed by the writers strike. The budget got slashed to under 100 million which is shockingly low for an MCU film.
Mahershala Ali is still attached and Marvel is still working behind the scenes to get this made. But 6 years of development hell, 2 directors abandoning ship, 5 writers, and a star who almost quit doesn't inspire confidence. Whenever this film gets released I predict it will be a catastrophic flop.
Lee Cronin's The Mummy is scheduled for release on April 17, 2026. After his missing daughter mysteriously returns 8 years later a father discovers she carries the spirit of an ancient Egyptian mummy. As the evil spreads to his other child he must perform a deadly ritual to save them. Cronin the director behind Evil Dead Rise is writing and directing. James Wan's Atomic Monster and Jason Blum's Blumhouse are producing. Jack Raynor and Laia Costa star. Principal photography has already wrapped. On paper this has everything going for it. A talented horror director, proven producers, and a grounded family horror concept. But there's one massive problem. The brand is radioactive after Tom Cruise's 2017 disaster. That film cost between 125 and 195 million to make, spent another 150 million on marketing and lost between 60 and 95 million despite earning 410 million worldwide. It earned below 35 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Tom Cruise basically took over the production even though he wasn't the director or producer. The result was a tonally inconsistent film that tried to be action, horror, comedy, and a franchise setup all at once.
The Mummy 2017 was supposed to launch Universal's Dark Universe. All those films were canceled immediately after The Mummy bombed. Many years later people still haven't forgotten that disaster. The word mummy still triggers memories of Cruise's failed vanity project. That's the huge baggage Lee Cronin's version has to overcome. Cronin promises this will be unlike any Mummy movie you've ever seen before. But promising to be different is exactly what Tom Cruise's version promised. Lee Cronin Mummy reboot might be one of the greatest horror films ever made. But it's fighting an uphill battle against memories of one of the most notorious blockbuster disasters and general audience apathy for the mummy brand.
The Wayans brothers are coming back to write and produce Scary Movie 6 for the first time in almost 2 decades with Anna Faris and Regina Hall both returning. The movie is set to hit theaters June 12, 2026. It's unlikely a comedy horror movie will bomb catastrophically because budgets are usually low, under 40 million. But I predict this will seriously underperform compared to the original movies. Scary Movie 5 made 78 million worldwide on a 19 million budget which was the lowest grossing film in franchise history. That movie opened to 14 million domestically when Scary Movie 4 opened to 40 million. The problem isn't just that Scary Movie 5 flopped over a decade ago. The entire parody genre died with it. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer helped
destroy the genre with Meet the Spartans, Date Movie, and Epic Movie none of which have a Rotten Tomatoes score above 10 percent. Scary Movie 6 will be directed by the same person who previously directed A Haunted House and Fifty Shades of Black both forgettable parodies. This track record doesn't inspire confidence he can reinvent a dead genre. The Wayans brothers are betting nostalgia for the first 2 Scary Movie films will translate to ticket sales. But it's been almost 2 decades. People who loved the first films are now in their 30s and 40s. New younger Gen Z audiences have completely different comedy tastes. The Wayans brothers returning is the only selling point and I'm not sure that will be enough.
📌 Timestamps:
00:00 - Finished Films Nobody Wants
00:50 - Blade
03:39 - Lee Cronin's The Mummy
07:45 - Scary Movie 6