Created and hosted by Mike Victorick. Box Office Autopsy investigates why movies flop through reported production costs, release campaigns, and market conditions.
A BOA score is an evidence-based judgment about why a film struggled. It is not a review score, a profit figure, or a prediction of the next hit.
01 / PRODUCTION
The decisions that shape the film itself: its cost, development, creative direction, production, and post-production.
02 / MARKETING
How the film was sold, who the campaign addressed, and whether expectations matched the movie audiences received.
03 / MARKET FORCES
The environment around the release: competition, timing, audience interest, and wider conditions.
THE TOTAL IS OUT OF 30.
Each pillar receives a score from 0 to 10. Higher totals indicate more severe problems across the three pillars. The episode explains the reasoning; the Coroner’s Report carries the sources.
GROSS IS NOT PROFIT.
Box-office gross is ticket revenue, not the amount a studio keeps. Where used, BOA’s studio-return estimate is roughly 50% of domestic gross and 40% of international gross. Theaters, distribution arrangements, and territory differences make this an approximation.
Marketing costs are not automatically included in a production budget. Streaming, licensing, and other revenue are not fully public. Theatrical estimates are labeled accordingly.
CHECK THE EVIDENCE.
Sources appear alongside claims and in the downloadable reports. Dates, disagreements between sources, and corrections matter. When you disagree with a diagnosis, identify the pillar and the evidence that changes it.
Open the case files