Not all Hollywood films make it big. According to Statista, more than 400 new movies are released each year in the United States and Canada alone. With so many films released in theaters and on streaming platforms, it makes sense that not all of them become commercial successes. When a movie is destined to be a box office flop, there’s not much the actors can do.
There are plenty of stars who have managed to get their careers back on track after a failed movie. For example, Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone and Bradley Cooper, who has also been nominated for an Oscar multiple times, once starred in a 2000s romantic comedy that was a complete flop.
And, ultimately, the producers announced that this movie was doomed almost from the start.
Aloha (2015) is a romantic comedy film written, directed and produced by Cameron Crowe, who is probably best known for films like Fast times at Ridgemont High (1982), Jerry Maguire (1996), and Elizabethtown (2005).
The film tells the story of a military contractor, Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper), who returns to Hawaii to oversee the launch of a privately funded satellite to be launched into the skies of the island.
Soon, Bradley Cooper’s character finds himself caught in the middle of a love triangle with an idealistic Air Force pilot (Emma Stone) and his now-married ex-girlfriend (Rachel McAdams).
In addition to those three A-list stars, Aloha features Bill Murray as a corrupt billionaire and boss of Cooper, along with a supporting cast of Alec Baldwin, John Krasinski, and Danny McBride.
Aloha (2015) Was a huge commercial flop
Despite a cast full of well-known stars, including Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams and The offices John Krasinski, as well as a director who had already worked in rather successful films, Aloha was a huge business disaster.
According to Box Office Mojo, this romantic comedy only made just over $26 million at the worldwide box office, most of it in the United States. It may not seem so bad. But the movie’s overall budget was $37 million, which means the producers lost almost $10 million making this movie.
In addition, critics and the general public did not like this film too much. Aloha only has a 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 166 critics. And the general consensus of critics being that the film lacked substance. Additionally, the film was repeatedly criticized for being whitewashed, with Emma Stone almost getting canceled for playing the role of Allison Ng.
Sony producers knew Aloha Was going to be a box office flop from the start
In 2014, Sony Pictures was hacked by one who identified themselves as the “Peacekeepers”. Among the many things the hackers leaked to the public was a series of interesting emails regarding Cameron Crowe Aloha.
In a very lengthy email, Sony Pictures Entertainment President Amy Pascal discussed this rom-com (via Daily Beast): “Cameron never really changed anything…People don’t like movies. people in movies flirting with married people or married people flirting… I will never do a movie again when the script is ridiculous and we all know that… Scott [Rudin] didn’t once go on set, help us in the editing room, or fix the script.”
This was one of the last emails in a long thread on Aloha. At first, everything seemed to be going well with the movie, with only a few small changes (like changing the title of deep tiki at Aloha) be done. But then Pascal and Crowe’s relationship got worse.
In late October 2014, Pascal was trying to schedule a friends and family screening with a team of Sony executives, but Crowe seemed to think the film wasn’t quite ready yet.
“It just feels weird to me. After five months of waiting for you and SR [Scott Rudin] entering the same room as me, does that amount to this? I hate to be difficult, but I have a bad feeling,” the director wrote in a leaked email.
“Audiences will not be prepared for the uniqueness of the film. There will be a destructive result if we are not very careful how to proceed. I just can’t sit here and watch this happen.
With all this drama behind the scenes, it’s a surprise that Aloha never saw the light. Now, it is clear that the producers made a bad choice by not canceling this film that was doomed from the start.
