It’s awards season, which means it’s time to honor the best of the best of movies from the past year.
There’s been plenty of great films to look back on, not only in 2025 but also in the decade as well. Dune, One Battle After Another, Oppenheimer, Top Gun: Maverick, Sinners; that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
What about the other side of things, though? For as many great movies as there have been this decade, it feels like there are just as many, if not more, terrible movies out there. So let’s brave the elements and recap some of the worst movies of the 2020s thus far.
War of the Worlds
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 4%
H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds is one of the greatest sci-fi novels of all time. The radio broadcast narrated by Orson Welles is just as iconic.
In 2005, the Stephen Spielberg adaptation starring Tom Cruise didn’t quite live up to the hype, but it was still enjoyable. The same can’t be said for this awkward adaptation starring Ice Cube, which awkwardly takes place during Zoom calls. It’s not a cool filmmaking technique; it’s just weird.
Jeepers Creepers: Reborn
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 0%
2001’s Jeepers Creepers is a surprisingly enjoyable horror movie that, despite eventually falling victim to clichéd tropes, is still a breath of fresh air in what can be a very formulaic genre.
In 2022, the franchise was rebooted with Jeepers Creepers: Reborn, which lacks any of the charm or originality of the first movie, proving that this horror reboot was dead on arrival.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 3%
Speaking of horror movies, there was a lot of hype heading into 2003’s Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.
With the characters from the beloved Winnie-the-Pooh book entering the public domain, an independent filmmaker decided to put them straight into a horror movie.
This was a film that fell victim to impossible hype, just like Snakes on a Plane. A neat idea that ultimately fell flat on its face.
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Dolittle
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 15%
How would Robert Downey Jr. follow up his successful Marvel Cinematic Universe run as Tony Stark? With a new Dr. Dolittle movie, which is something that nobody asked for.
For some reason, Downey Jr played the character with a Welsh accent. Much of the film’s humor also felt out of place today, having more in common with gross-out comedies from the ’90s.
The Electric State
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 14%
Robert Downey Jr. isn’t the only MCU alum to struggle after Endgame.
The Russo Brothers teamed up with stars Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown for The Electric State, based on the 2018 graphic novel of the same name, releasing exclusively on Netflix.
It landed with a gigantic thud that was only made worse by the fact that it’s one of the most expensive movies ever made. Here’s to hoping The Russos can rebound with Avengers: Doomsday.
Joker: Folie à Deux
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 31%
The sequel to 2019’s Joker, one of the most successful R-rated movies of all time, had everything going for it. Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix was back. Lady Gaga was joining the cast. They were turning the sequel into a musical.
That’s where the magic ended, though. Sure, its Rotten Tomatoes score is higher than the other films on our list, but the general consensus is that Joker: Folie à Deux is a huge waste of time and talent.
Madame Web
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 10%
Okay, one more superhero movie (you’re getting off easy, Morbius!)
Sony’s track record with the Spider-Man Universe has been hit-or-miss, and by that I mean Venom made money, while the other films flopped.
None are as bad as Madame Web, which is the worst kind of bad. It’s not campy, it’s not something you make fun of, it’s just downright atrocious.
Borderlands
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 10%
A film adaptation of Borderlands would have been perfect for the late 2000s or the 2010s. Instead, video game adaptations have evolved to become more nuanced than the nonsensical and juvenile humor that Borderlands suffers from.
In a world of Fallout and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Borderlands feels grossly out of place.
Firestarter
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 10%
It’s a good time to be a Stephen King fan, given the success of HBO’s Welcome to Derry, which expands on his acclaimed novel IT and the Pennywise character.
Despite that, however, you can’t say the same for the 2022 adaptation of Firestarter. It’s the worst kind of adaptation imaginable: cheap, soulless, and without any direction whatsoever.
Alarum
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 0%
Someone needs to tell Sylvester Stallone that it’s time to hang them up.
Following his boring and bland performance in the 2024 action movie Armor, Stallone returned with Alarum, which earned a dreaded Rotten Tomatoes score of 0%.
John Henry
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 0%
Another film to “win” a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, John Henry is a modern-day retelling of the iconic folk hero we all learned about in school.
Instead of building railroads, however, Terry Crews’ John Henry is an ex-gang member looking to help those in need. It works about as well as you’d expect.
Artemis Fowl
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 8%
Given the success of the MCU, it feels like every production company is looking to cash in on movie franchises.
Enter Disney and its attempt to turn the Artemis Fowl novel into a major movie franchise. Someone should have told Disney that if you want to succeed, you shouldn’t stray too far from the source material.
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