There are strange instances throughout history where something can be technically “one of the biggest [insert movie genre here] ever” and still be a box office bomb.
It’s a rare phenomenon, but sometimes, the costs of a motion picture are so exorbitant that even beating out most other entries in its genre at the worldwide box office isn’t enough to become a hit.
Extravagant costs will sink even the most seemingly mammoth box office hauls.
So it was with the 1999 film Wild Wild West, a Will Smith/Kevin Kline star vehicle that attempted to transform the TV show of the same name into a massive, “modern” blockbuster.
The result was something that became an instant punchline, the nadir of Smith’s leading man career for decades to come.
It was also, by default, one of the biggest Westerns ever at the worldwide box office.
It was a strange financial endpoint for such…
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