{"id":11842,"date":"2026-09-26T05:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T03:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/09\/26\/2011-martin-scorsese-classic-lost-100-million-then-went-on-to-sweep-the-oscars\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T05:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T03:03:10","slug":"2011-martin-scorsese-classic-lost-100-million-then-went-on-to-sweep-the-oscars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/09\/26\/2011-martin-scorsese-classic-lost-100-million-then-went-on-to-sweep-the-oscars\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Martin Scorsese Classic Lost $100 Million, Then Went on to Sweep the Oscars"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

Martin Scorsese<\/u><\/a> is one of the most widely beloved film directors of all time. The 16-time Oscar nominee (and one-time winner: Best Director for The Departed<\/em><\/em>) has five movies in the National Film Registry, three movies on the most recent Sight & Sound<\/em><\/em> Top 100, and three on the American Film Institute\u2019s Top 100 list. While classics like Taxi Driver<\/em><\/u><\/em><\/a>, Raging Bull<\/em><\/u><\/em><\/a>, and Goodfellas<\/em><\/u><\/em><\/a> have cemented him as a towering icon of cinema, not all of his movies have been commercially successful. <\/p>\n

In fact, 2011\u2019s Hugo<\/em><\/em> in particular was a startlingly massive flop when it originally debuted.<\/p>\n

What Happened With Hugo<\/em><\/em>?<\/h2>\n

First, we need to establish our terms. A movie is only a success or a failure at the box office based on its budget. For instance, the 2026 horror movie Obsession<\/em><\/u><\/em><\/a> has earned a reputation as a megahit after earning more than $400 million worldwide. Meanwhile, the 2022 DC movie Black Adam<\/em><\/u><\/em><\/a> is known as a huge flop, but it earned $393 million. The difference? Obsession<\/em><\/em> cost less than $1 million, whereas the superhero movie cost something between $190 and $260 million (depending on who you ask).<\/p>\n

Because theaters keep half of ticket sales and marketing costs are not factored into production budgets, major studio movies often need to earn back two and a half times their budgets in order to break even in theaters, which explains why Black Adam<\/em><\/em> lost more than $100 million in theaters in spite of the fact that it technically earned back more than what it cost.<\/p>\n

Hugo<\/em><\/em>\u2019s fate turned out to be very similar to Black Adam<\/em><\/em>\u2019s. The movie, which is based on the Brian Selznick book The Invention of Hugo Cabret<\/em><\/em> and follows an orphan (Asa Butterfield) living in the walls of a Paris train station who crosses paths with former silent film director Georges M\u00e9li\u00e8s (Ben Kingsley) while trying to solve a mystery involving an automaton, actually made a decent amount of money in theaters. It grossed $185.8 million worldwide, which is more than its fellow 2011 movies War Horse<\/em><\/u><\/em><\/a> <\/em>($177.6 million), The Muppets <\/em><\/em>($165.2 million), Midnight in Paris <\/em><\/em>($151.5 million), Source Code <\/em><\/em>($147.3 million), and Crazy, Stupid, Love <\/em><\/em>($145 million).<\/p>\n