{"id":87674,"date":"2026-02-16T16:19:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/the-movie-that-earned-4000-less-at-the-box-office-than-michael-caine-predicted\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:19:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:19:40","slug":"the-movie-that-earned-4000-less-at-the-box-office-than-michael-caine-predicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/the-movie-that-earned-4000-less-at-the-box-office-than-michael-caine-predicted\/","title":{"rendered":"The movie that earned 4000% less at the box office than Michael Caine predicted"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With very few exceptions, there\u2019s no such thing as a guaranteed hit. While there are some movies you can rely on to do some tidy business at the box office, in reality, every production is a question mark. When Michael Caine<\/a> tried to guess how much one of his films would earn, he fell embarrassingly short.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s being wide of the mark, and then there\u2019s this. While the two-time Academy Award-winning legend has been in a lot of pictures that turned a substantial profit, as the star of The Swarm, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure<\/em>, and Jaws: The Revenge<\/em>, he should know better than to count those particular chickens.<\/p>\n

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Not only that, but the movie in question was being released during an especially lean time in Caine\u2019s career. After earning his third \u2018Best Actor\u2019 nomination at the Oscars for Educating Rita<\/em>, he followed it up with a string of duds. The Honorary Consul<\/em> and The Jigsaw Man<\/em> flopped amid a mixed response, and while Blame It on Rio<\/em> didn\u2019t bomb, it was nonetheless criticised for being weirdly creepy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The tide had to turn eventually, and he believed that 1985\u2019s Water <\/em>would be the thing to do it. Director Dick Clement\u2019s period-set comedy finds Caine as a British diplomat dispatched to the fictional Caribbean island of Cascara, with his easy life becoming more complicated than he would like when an offshore oil rig discovers a lucrative deposit of pristine mineral water.<\/p>\n

Unlike some of the credits he came to regret<\/a>, Caine believed in the film, albeit a little too much. \u201cThis picture is very funny, but it\u2019s not going to get anybody an Academy Award,\u201d he noted before its release. \u201cIt might get a $50-60 million gross, which to me is just as important. If they go broke on this picture, they\u2019re not going to give me any more work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having laid down a marker, when Water <\/em>arrived in cinemas, he had to wipe the egg from his face. It debuted in the top ten in the United Kingdom, but couldn\u2019t find an American distributor. When it did, the film tanked there, too, and ended its theatrical run with less than $1.3 million in the coffers.<\/p>\n

The hugely optimistic, and with the benefit of hindsight, incredibly foolish, leading man had suggested that he\u2019d settle for a $50 million take. In reality, though, it earned over 3,800% less, which is ever so slightly wide of the mark. He seemed confident that he\u2019d made a winner, but it goes without saying that there\u2019s quite the fucking discrepancy between his prediction and the cold, hard, bleakly hilarious truth.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t help that, in an ironic twist, much like the adverse side effects it causes onscreen, Water <\/em>was the drizzling shits. \u201cYou don\u2019t go into a film thinking, \u2018This is a load of crap, but I need the money,’\u201d Caine offered. \u201cI do things that I like, and then make sure I get the maximum amount of money out of it. I figure if I\u2019m going to work, someone\u2019s going to make massive amounts of money. One of the people is going to be me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie didn\u2019t make any money, that\u2019s for sure, and let\u2019s hope that Caine got his wish and was paid massive amounts of money for his efforts, looking at the 4,000% swing between hope and reality.<\/p>\n

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