People Explain Which Things Had Such Potential But Flopped Hard

"I don't think..."

Young adult book to movie adaptions like Percy Jackson and The Mortal Instruments come to mind. I didn't think the movies were terrible but they didn't live up to the hype expected, and weren't as true to the original material which upset fans.

PatientHoneydew8

"On top of the fact..."

In the documentary about Enron ("The Smartest Guys in the Room"), they talk about how Enron took on heavy losses as a result of this crazy joint venture with Blockbuster that failed. Enron engaged in fraud to hide those losses, got caught, and went under shortly thereafter.

The joint venture with Blockbuster was streaming movies over the Internet, direct to the home. At the time, high speed Internet was not ubiquitous enough to make the idea commercially viable.

This was true even as of when the documentary was made, as several people roll their eyes about how dumb of an idea it was (ironically, I watched the movie streaming on Amazon).

On top of the fact that this "crazy" idea was a large part of one of the most infamous cases of corporate fraud and led to one of the largest bankruptcies ever (at least at the time), is the fact that Blockbuster was put out of business as a direct result of the streaming movie industry when it was actually an early adopter of the technology.

Given that a new streaming platform launches roughly every 7 minutes, I would say that this idea had major potential. But, despite that potential, the idea flopped spectacularly and put both parties (who were both huge, dominant companies) out of business.

dpderay

"In 2001..."

I feel like the Segway gets overlooked. In 2001 we saw for the first time a self balancing transporter with autocorrection if it leaned too far one way or the other. The accomplishment is huge, but got laughed at because it was weird. 19 years later and the best thing we have using it is the hoverboard rip off that had an immediate following despite how stupid people looked riding them in public and falling or losing them under cars.

With-a-cactus

"And to be fair..."

The "Odd Thomas" movie was actually a surprisingly really good adaptation of the novel. Everyone I know who's seen it liked it, but because of some weird marketing (if I remember right, the money for the marketing literally just disappeared) it never got advertised in its main channels. For instance, it never had trailers in the US. No one really knew it existed until long after released.

And to be fair (and also tragic), of course Anton Yelchin also passed away. He was the perfect Odd Thomas and I'm sad he didn't get the credit he deserved for that role.

odd_ender

"We used to be pioneers..."

Our space program. We used to be pioneers; we went to the moon over 50 years ago. We started all the shuttle missions in the late 20th century - early 21st century. However, it kinda stopped for a while. Now we are talking about going to mars though and hopefully space exploration can get some traction again.

MysticAviator

"They had a lot of big artists..."

Frye Festival.

They had a lot of big artists booked and tickets sold. It would have worked if they had simple, but livable conditions as long as the festival itself was Instagramable. One person had suggested renting a cruise ship to house and feed everyone, which would have worked. There were still enough villas on the island to give out to the biggest social influencers to keep the image up. Obviously it was never going to work because the guy was a fraudster, but a lifestyle festival based on image was actually a good idea. And they did a really good job marketing it

jittery_raccoon

"Sure..."

The LaserDisc. Sure, DVD is the superior format for a video disc by using a CD sized disc (which is both practical for storing and takes advantage of existing hardware) but there was a period of time when the superior video, sound, and integrity of the LaserDisc competed against VHS, and VHS ended up winning. LaserDisc was dead before the DVD was commercially available.

eaglescout1984

"Given its potential..."

The Black Death. Given its potential for mutations, it could even kill plants given the time. It could, literally, wipe out species! Imagine a virus that make stone itself rot! Fascinating, and terrifying.

Blackbeard_gr

"As a hardcore fan..."

The Avatar the Last Airbender movie. As a hardcore fan of the cartoon, I was SO disappointed on so many levels while watching the movie. I was cringing 99.9% of the whole duration of the film. They could've at least pronounced the main character's name correctly like how it's pronounced in the cartoon!!!

OP-RandomBystander

"I think there's a bit..."

I'm sure someones listed this already, but the Star Wars films under Disney's banner. I think there's a bit more general distaste towards The Force Awakens than it deserves, but almost every other title since has been bland, nonsensical (considering the fantasy), or just an effort to please the vocal minority.

fluffytoaster427