Daniel Radcliffe's two latest movies have bombed

What’s the spell for turning a box office bomb into a hit?

While both ‘Imperium’ and ‘Swiss Army Man’ have much artistic merit, both Daniel Radcliffe’s latest movies have tanked at the box office.

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‘Swiss Army Man’, though it only cost $3 million to make, has made back what will be a loss-making $4.8 million (£3.8 million) worldwide, after promotion and marketing costs.

The UK market really didn’t help him out either.

Over here, it made just £80,403 from 59 screens across the UK, despite the intrigue of its premise and huge amounts of press surrounding his much-publicised role as a ‘flatulent corpse’.

Internationally, it’s made just $658,200 (£532,000), with the Russian market streaking ahead of the UK, spending around $355,000 (£288,000) on it at the box office.

In the critically applauded movie, he plays a dead man who washes up on a beach, where castaway Hank, played by Paul Dano, names him Manny and finds that he has special powers.

Meanwhile, the rather more realistic ‘Imperium’, arguably boasting tad more box office potential with Radcliffe as an undercover agent in a white supremacist group, has crashed and burned too.

Perhaps its grim subject matter of rising fascism may have put people off. We’re getting enough of that on the news, after all.

UK support for the film has been woeful thus far, with £1999 being made from just 13 screens. To put that in perspective, budget caper ‘Gangsters Gamblers and Geezers’, starring Dave Courtney, made £2053 over last weekend, and was only released on a single screen.

Figures for the US release are not yet available, but it does not bode at all well.

But it’s been something of a case of Harry Potter and the Disappointing Box Office ever since he tied up the wizarding franchise back in 2011.

Over eight movies, the Potter franchise pulled in an astonishing £6 billion worldwide.

It’s been downhill since then, however.

‘The Woman In Black’ has been his only genuine hit, making $128 million (£104 million), on a budget of $15 million (£12 million).

Allen Ginsberg biopic ‘Kill Your Darlings’ made just over £1.2 million, fantasy horror ‘Horns’ made just £3.2 million, and ‘Victor Frankenstein’ with James McAvoy made £27 million (but cost £32 million).

‘Trainwreck’ was a hit, but only featured a tiny cameo for Radcliffe, and ‘Now You See Me 2’ was a most modest success, making $334 million (£270 million) from a $90 million (£72 million) budget. So not a wild success, when marketing and promotion is factored in.

But with Radcliffe thought to be personally worth around £60 million, he should be able to keep up the indie projects for a good while yet.