Righteous Kill. DeNiro, Pacino. It’s the first time these two power houses have shared the screen since their 15 minutes of screen-time together in 1995’s Heat. Righteous Kill, however, wasn’t so righteous and bombed at the box office last weekend.

The Women. Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, Eva Mendes – actresses who are at the top of their game in Hollywood. Separately, their movies have earned over a billion dollars at the box office. Joined together in The Women, however, the movie barely made a dent at the box office.

What is it about movies that have ensemble casts that directors can only dream about, yet these movies simply implode at the box office? Some say the material isn’t up to par (critics slammed both Righteous Kill and The Women for their awful scripts).

Other times, the actors are miscast or the subject matter isn’t interesting. Whatever it is, to cast a movie with the brightest stars in the heavens and then to have said movie go out with barely a whimper is an absolute shame (and a waste of good Hollywood money). And yet, in Hollywood, this scene plays out over and over again.

Therefore, in a salute to Righteous Kill and The Women, I have compiled a list of some other films that, on the surface, had everything going for them — star power, the right director, high concept — yet also flopped at the box office:

All the Kings Men (2006) Based on the turbulent life of Louisiana governor Huey P. Long, as well the 1949 original film (which took home a Best Picture Oscar), the 2006 version of All the King’s Men was the flop of the year. Never mind that Steven Zaillian (who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Schindler’s List) wrote, directed, and produced the film. Or that luminaries such as Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini, Anthony Hopkins, and Patricia Clarkson had major roles in it. Critics and audiences turned away in droves. As rottentomatoes.com so plainly put it: “With a scenery-chewing performance from Sean Penn, an absence of political insight, and an overall lack of narrative cohesiveness, Men gives Oscar bait a bad name.” Ouch!

Alexander (2004) Before she was half of the phenomenon known as Brangelina, Angelina Jolie portrayed Olympias, mother to Colin Farrell’s Alexander, and yet still audiences stayed away. Directed by Oliver Stone (the Oscar-winning director of such notable films as JFK and The People vs. Larry Flynt), Alexander tells the story of the King of Macedonia who was believed to be one of the greatest military leaders in the history of warfare. While there were numerous battle scenes and even a smattering of some shared tender moments between Farrell and Jared Leto, the film, which clocked in at three hours, struggled to find an audience. Hmmm…maybe it was Colin Farrell’s scary bleach-blond hair that kept audiences away.

The Good German (2006) It had Clooney. It had Blanchett. It even had Spiderman, Tobey Maguire, and it was directed by Steve Soderbergh. And yet it still made under a million dollars at the box office! Set in Berlin in 1945, this stylishly directed movie told the tale of an American military journalist who is drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver. I guess even with its Casablanca cachet, audiences still weren’t impressed enough to see it.

Now to all you Hollywood execs out there, next time you plan an all-star extravaganza, please do right by your cast (and audience) and please make sure it’ll truly be worthwhile for all of us.

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