Did You Know The Biggest Box Office Failure Of All Time Was Made in Michigan?

Michiganders aren't strangers to rooting for an underdog. We have the Lions and The Pistons as our flagships, and we'll love them until the end of time.

But, generally when something is "made in Michigan" we try to pride ourselves. We're the home to the car, we have the best cherries and blueberries in America, and no one can touch our beautiful sceneries and waterways.

But, sometimes we're the home of some less than exciting records, like... the lowest grossing percentage at the box office film in Hollywood History.

What was the biggest box office failure of all time that was made in Michigan?

You may have not heard of Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, but it's from the people behind the Teletubbies and Thomas the Tank Engine, so in theory, it should have been a smash hit.

This film was originally released in 2012, and was filmed over nine days in Michigan in the cities of Canton, Farmington Hills, Shelby Township, Waterford, as well as Windmill Island in Holland.

While you can't tell most of the time where the movie was shot, some of the backgrounds are in some pretty iconic Michigan locations.

It wasn't just filmed here, the marketing for this movie was financed in part by a Michigan real estate investor named Michael Chirco, who purchased billboards in hopes people would see the movie and want to visit the state.

However, the marketing didn't stick. When the film was released in August 2012, it was shown in 2,000 and only made a little over a million dollars.

While that seems great, the movie's budget was over $20 million, which is a MASSIVE loss. Not to mention the additional $20 million that was spent on marketing.

They also pulled in a star studded cast that included Toni Braxton, Cloris Leachman, Christopher Lloyd, Chazz Palminteri, Cary Elwes and Jaime Pressly. Not even some of America's favorite household names brought in the crowds.

After slow ticket sales to start, producers tried to salvage the lack people in seats by having earlier showings of the movie in hopes parents would take their children in the morning. Not even that worked- for some reason, people just didn't feel the Oogielove.

If you want to learn more about this insane turn of events, there's a podcast called How Did This Get Made? that covers the story that I highly recommend.