The Best Sci-Fi Movie of 2026 Has Only Grossed One-Tenth of ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’

4 days ago 12

Published Feb 23, 2026, 3:44 PM EST

Rohan Naahar is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

A little more than a week into its theatrical run, the movie Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die's box-office fate seems to have been sealed. It's going to need a miracle to bounce back from its current state, having recouped only one-fourth of its reported production budget. The sci-fi time-travel film probably has only another couple of million dollars left in it, which certainly won't be enough for it to break even at the box office. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die marks the return of director Gore Verbinski after a decade; his last film was the psychological horror movie A Cure for Wellness, another commercial underperformer that failed to recover its budget. A Cure for Wellness was a soft comeback itself, after Verbinski was thrown in director jail following the critical and commercial drubbing of The Lone Ranger.

With little reason to celebrate so far, Verbinski can take pride in minor victories. For instance, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die has outgrossed fellow time travel film Safety Not Guaranteed, which marked the directorial debut of Colin Trevorrow, who'd go on to direct Jurassic World and Jurassic World Dominion. Safety Not Guaranteed starred Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, and Aubrey Plaza in the lead roles, and like Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, it earned positive reviews. Verbinski's film currently holds a "Certified Fresh" 84% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, "A gleeful high-concept comedy with a serious message at its core, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die lets Sam Rockwell rip with thrilling results while marking a very welcome return of director Gore Verbinski in peak form."

Here's the Time Travel Comedy that 'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die' Is Trailing By a Huge Margin

The film has grossed around $6.5 million so far against a reported budget of $20 million. For context, this is roughly one-tenth of the $65 million that time-travel comedy Hot Tub Time Machine grossed globally in 2010. Starring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Lizzy Caplan, and Chevy Chase, the movie earned mixed reviews. It's currently sitting at a 64% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, "Its flagrantly silly script — and immensely likable cast — make up for most of its flaws." The movie inspired a sequel, which crashed with just $13 million at the box office and earned poor reviews. You can watch Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.