John Travolta's 2000 Sci-Fi Flop Is Now Known As One Of The Worst Movies Ever Made

On paper, there's not much to dislike about the prospect of John Travolta and Forest Whitaker playing six-fingered aliens in platform boots taking over the planet. That was "Battlefield Earth" in a nutshell. Based on the novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, the movie, directed by Roger Christian, was set in the year 3000 and depicted the last remnants of humanity trying to reclaim their planet from space-invading tyrants called Psychlos. 

John Travolta, who also served as a producer, played Terl, the film's big bad villain, ruling the planet with an iron fist, opposite Barry Pepper as the leader of the human resistance. "Battlefield Earth" was clearly something of a passion project for Travolta, who had dabbled plenty in the action genre with films like "Face/Off" and "Broken Arrow", a '90s action movie with Travolta at his most maniacal. Unfortunately, this film didn't match those gems. 

Earning a woeful $29.7 million worldwide against a budget of $73 million, "Battlefield Earth" was dead on arrival, not even being one of those undeniably awful sci-fi movies that are a blast to watch. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a horrendous 3% rating. Time's Richard Schickel called it "the worst movie in living memory," while Variety's Dennis Harvey said it was "Pretty much the 'Showgirls' of sci-fi shoot-'em-ups." With a reception like that, and given the box office losses, it's no surprise that "Battlefield Earth" left a black mark on Travolta's filmography.

Prior to film critics ripping it to shreds, "Battlefield Earth" had franchise aspirations. It was revealed that the movie had adapted only the first half of the book, and that, prior to release, talks of a sequel were already underway. Then, understandably, after being labeled one of the worst movies in living memory, those ideas were swiftly scrapped. Instead, the only thing that carried over from "Battlefield Earth" was the legacy of an incredibly terrible film getting the green light and suffering dearly for its troubles. 

Not only did it lose money at the box office, but "Battlefield Earth" also won nine Razzie awards, including Worst Picture of the Decade, Worst Actor, and Worst Director. Travolta did manage to make it away relatively unscathed from the project, and his career continued to nail occasional hits. Sure, there might've been the odd dumpster fire that followed (we're looking at you, "Old Dogs"), but none compared to "Battlefield Earth," which remains the bottom of the barrel of sci-fi films we'd rather forget. For something better, be sure to check out the five best sci-fi movies ever made, according to IMDb.