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She played Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Red Queen in 2010's Alice in Wonderland. For years she was all loved up with filmmaker Tim Burton. They made a great pair, bringing some fabulous movies to the silver screen. Alas, they ended up going their separate ways.
Over the last decade, Bonham Carter has tended to go for blockbusters, the big-ticket films with huge budgets. Sometimes, it's paid off. But sometimes the films were (relatively speaking) not what you might call a success. Here are 10 of her most expensive films and what they made. There are some, we're sure, she'd like to forget.
Planet Of The Apes (2001) - Budget $100 Million
Carter played Ari, a nice female ape in the 2001 film. The makeup took ages to apply, but, for the time, was getting onto cutting edge. The plot was intriguing. In 2029 an Air Force astronaut ends up crash landing on a mysterious planet where intelligent, talking apes dominate primitive, backward humans.
Ari has a thing with good-guy ape Leo. They are happy. But still, she can't help but feel that the fact a smart human is on the planet means that things will change. And she's not so sure for the better. How right she was. The film was a quiet success, making some $332.2 million at the box office.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows I (2010) - Budget (Est) 125M
Starting with relatively bright and breezy Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the franchise got progressively darker as time went on. By the time we get to Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part I, things are pretty grim. So, of course, Harry hits the road to do something about it, with Hermione and Ron in tow.
Bonham Carter's Bellatrix Lestrange is almost comic book over the top but is still credible. Is she evil? Big time. Is she crazy? Big time plus. Her devotion to the Dark Lord is stranger than strange, almost obsessive. The film, like all of the films in the franchise, was a success, raking in $960.4 million.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows II (2011) - Budget $125M
OK, we'll tell you upfront, that Deathly Hallows II made $1.34 billion, making it the runaway franchise winner in terms of box office. The Battle of Hogwarts was monumental. Harry's sacrifice for the cause was heroic. And then there is that epic battle between Harry and Voldemort. Thrilling stuff!
Having said all that, at the end of the day, the scene we remember the most is Molly Weasley facing off against Bellatrix Lestrange. Bellatrix wasn't worried, was she? She should have been. Bye-bye crazy lady.
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007) Budget $150M
Voldemort's back, but almost nobody believes Harry or Dumbledore. Following on from Goblet of Fire when Harry gets up close and personal with Voldemort, he is angry and spoiling for a fight. Can things get any worse? Yes, they can. Enter Dolores Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Art Teacher.
Sirius Black is killed by Bellatrix Lestrange in a pitched battle at the Ministry of Magic between Harry and his allies and the Death Eaters. She is crazy ecstatic. Cue the pitched battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore. Sparks were flying. The film pulled in $938.2 at the box office.
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005) - Budget $150 Million
Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) is a totally eccentric and off-the-wall chocolate maker with a magical castle of a chocolate factory. He has a great idea and hides five golden tickets for a special factory tour in chocolate bars. For the most part, they are snagged by rather nasty or greedy little children. But little good guy Charlie Bucket manages to get one, just barely. Helena Bonham Carter plays his rather sweet, quirky mum in the Tim Burton film.
Charlie and his granddad roll up for the tour. It doesn't go well for the nasty kids. They crash and burn. But Charlie and granddad prevail. Our favorite scene? Rich Violet swelling up into a 12-foot blueberry and being rolled off to the juicing room by the Oompa Loompas. Box office? $474.9 million
Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016) - Budget $170 Million
What's not to love? Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter reprising her role as the Red Queen. Well, actually, there was apparently a lot not to love. The budget was generous, at $170 million. The returns? Pretty mediocre. As a rule of thumb, a film needs to gross twice its budget to show a profit. This sequel from Burton's 2010 film Alice in Wonderland only brought in $299.4 million.
Burton should have left it alone. As so often is the case, the sequel just didn't live up to the original.
Alice In Wonderland (2010) - Budget $200 Million
When we tell you that Tim Burton's 2010 film made $1.02 billion on an investment of $200 million, you will understand why he and Bonham Carter were tempted to do the sequel in 2016. Bonham Carter had her own special effects camera.
It was a VFX, CGI, special effects extravaganza. Unlike the later film, it all came together deliciously. Bonham Carter's comic evil take on the Red Queen was brilliant. And Anne Hathaway's White Queen was totally spot on.
Terminator: Salvation (2009) - Budget $200 Million
Humans versus cyborg. Good against evil. The Terminator franchise has had its ups and downs. Terminator: Salvation has more downs than ups, with a convoluted plot involving an evil doctor/scientist (Helena Bonham Carter) who convinces a death row inmate to donate his body to her research. Okay. So far so good.
The only thing is fifteen years later he appears naked at the Skynet facility in the wake of a crushing defeat of the resistance. It's a mess of a story, but Bonham Carter tries hard. She is at her best in slightly quirky roles with an element of humor. This was definitely not her finest hour. Moviegoers agreed. It only made $371.3 million at the box office
The Lone Ranger (2013) - Budget $215 Million
What can you say about The Lone Ranger? Well, it was a complete and utter disaster. In the beginning, an aged Tonto is telling a small boy the tale of John Reid, the Lone Ranger. Johnny Depp is Tonto. Armie Hammer is the Masked Man. And Bonham Carter? She is Red Harrington, a floozy type who hangs out in bars and dresses to leave nothing to the imagination.
Flashback to the exploits of Tonto and the Lone Ranger. The thing that annoyed most people was the ridiculous makeup employed to make Tonto look like a post-apocalyptical, menacing creature. And why, many asked, couldn't they find an Indian to play the role? It only made $260.5 million. And in movie terms, that's doesn't even break even.
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (2009) - Budget $250M
Dumbledore drags Harry along in his attempt to recruit Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts as the Potion Master. Horace, a bit of snob, eventually agrees. Afterward, Dumbledore leaves Harry with the Weasleys at The Burrow. Everything seems fine. But then Bellatrix Lestrange and fire encircle the Weasley's home.
She is having a great time, chanting "I killed Sirius Black, I killed Sirius Black." Will Harry never learn? He runs after her and ends up in a very up close and personal encounter with the soul-sucking Dementors. The film did well, grossing $933.9 million.
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