How is it possible that a movie with the catchy title of Zyzzyx Road, staring Tom Sizemore and Katherine Heigl, could only gross $30 at the box office? Mental Floss has a fun list of “11 Movies That Made Less Than $400 at the U.S. Box Office.”
If this film’s looks-like-a-typo title (it’s pronounced ZYE-zix, by the way) wasn’t enough of a turnoff, its tagline — “Dead Ahead” — should have served as a harbinger of the box office doom that would eventually befall it. To be fair, the thriller—which stars Tom Sizemore and Katherine Heigl—only played in one theater (the Highland Park Village Theater in Dallas). But it played in that theater for an entire week! By the time its run had ended, six people had seen it for a grand total of $30 in ticket sales, making it the lowest-grossing movie of all time (yes, even still today). This dubious honor became a key part of the marketing plan when the title was acquired by GoDigital for distribution in 2012, with the company’s marketing director telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I am confident it will make us more than $30.”
