Beloved horror author Stephen King has written over 60 novels in his lifetime and over 200 short stories. Some of them have been turned into classic movies. Movies like The Shining, Misery, and The Shawshank Redemption all came from the books written by this author from Maine.
But, when more than two dozen of your books have been turned into films, not everything can be a winner. Stephen King makes between $17 million and $27 million a year, but these film versions of his books did not make the money they were expected to and are far from becoming the classics that his other work has become.
9 2019’s ‘Pet Sematary’ - $113 million
Although the remake of this popular film and book grossed over $100 million internationally, those numbers were far lower than what producers had anticipated, and it only grossed approximately $55 million domestically. Despite having a higher budget and higher resolution special effects than the 1989 original, fans were underwhelmed. It is also one of the most poorly reviewed Stephen King films on Rotten Tomatoes.
8 ‘The Dark Tower’ - $50 million
Fans had been anticipating a film version of King’s incredibly popular Dark Tower series for years, but were ultimately disappointed when it finally made it to the silver screen. Despite having an all-star cast that included Matthew McConaughey, Idris Elba, and Dennis Haysbert, the film only grossed $50 million in the United States. Its budget was $60 million. Today it has a 16% score on Rotten Tomatoes, making this one of the most disappointing attempts to make a film version of Stephen King’s work, especially when one considers how popular the books are.
7 ‘Sleepwalkers’ - $30 million
This is not a movie based on a Stephen King book, it is a movie whose screenplay was written by Stephen King. King has only written a handful of screenplays for film or television, but some of them became classics and are considered some of his best work, like the beloved horror anthology Creepshow. However, Sleepwalkers is far from the horror icon’s best. The film is about mother and son vampires who practice incest and can morph into werecats. Gee, who would have thought audiences wouldn’t be into that?
6 ‘Needful Things’ - $15.2 million
A shopkeeper who might be the devil forces his customers to play awful, sometimes lethal, pranks of his fellow townspeople. While the film features the talents of actors like Ed Harris, it is widely considered to be one of King's most boring novels and films. By the way, if that plot sounds familiar, that could be because season one of Rick and Morty had an episode with almost the exact same plot.
5 ‘Silver Bullet’ - $12 million
While the film is not necessarily bad and has a bit of a cult following now, it was unquestionably a flop. It is also one of the few movies in which Stephen King wrote both the novel and film versions. The movie is based on his obscure tale Cycles of The Werewolf, and it stars one of the favorite heartthrobs of the 1980s, Corey Haim. However, it was not enough to excite the audience enough to make the movie profitable.
4 ‘Apt Pupil’ - $8.8 million
Director Brian Singer could not create a film exciting enough to do justice to Stephen King’s novella about a college student who discovers that one of his professors is a Nazi war criminal hiding out in America. The film even had the talentd of David Schimmer and Shakespearean trained actor Ian McKellen, and it still flopped.
3 ‘The Mangler’ - $1.8 million
The Mangler should have been Stephen King's greatest film because it was an all-star collection of horror icons. It was based on a Stephen King book, directed by the man who made Texas Chainsaw Massacre and starred Ted Levine (who terrified the world in Silence of The Lambs as Buffalo Bill) and Robert Englund (a.k.a the original Freddy Kruger). Unfortunately, a story about demonically possessed laundry was more stupid than it was scary.
2 ‘Cell’ - $1 million
This is the lowest ranking Stephen King movie on Rotten Tomatoes. It was released straight to video on demand and was critically panned. Virtually nobody has streamed this movie, and it has only generated $1 million in profits so far. It is also the biggest flop of director Todd Williams’ career. Even Samuel L Jackson couldn’t save this movie.
1 ‘Riding The Bullet’ - $130,000
At number one as the least profitable Stephen King film of all time is 2004’s Riding The Bullet, a film that lost millions of dollars. The film was budgeted at $5 million and was actor David Arquette's attempt to return to horror after the success of Scream. However, the film had a plot that was almost impossible to follow because of a gritty attempt at surrealism that just did not work. Virtually no one has seen or heard of this movie, it’s that bad.