Some movies are unforgettable. When they are, everyone wants credit. When a movie fails, no one is responsible. Success has 100 parents. Failure is an orphan. So, when a movie comes back with issues across the board, angry audiences, and disgusted critics, everyone goes scurrying. While directors and actors are usually easy to blame when their mistakes are obvious, it’s the studio that gets to hide behind the scenes, often making sweeping changes to the final product without public scrutiny. If not for the vocal response from those involved, these movies would be left to flap in the wind, picking up blame from whomever it can.
These 15 films all have suffered, and, in most cases, the fault has been assigned to the studios tasked to release them. Rather than looking for a scapegoat, it appears that these missteps can certainly be traced back to a meddling producer or executive (as was recently evidenced by M3GAN’s lack of R-rating). Everyone seems to have great ideas, but when dealing with a wide range of casts and crews, sometimes those ideas don’t flow with the overall story. These are great examples of that very point. While the movies might have been salvaged, they fell far short of where they could have been and there’s a very real reason why. These are 15 creative decisions that were forced on directors by studio execs that ultimately messed with the movie.
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15 Halloween 6
Dimension Films
By the time Halloween 6 limped to theaters, it was like watching a slashed babysitter run from Michael Myers. Still, those involved pressed on and tried to squeeze the last drip of blood from the machete for this franchise. Sadly, Miramax wanted in on the action. It would have been a cleaner cut if they had done it with a chainsaw.
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The changes that the studio made were abrupt and in response to early screenings. While the sequel aimed to give more backstory on Myers, including why he just won’t die, that cut of the film tested poorly. To this, the studio asked for a reshoot. The problem? Star Donald Pleasance had passed away since the original cut. The only thing left to do was edit his scenes. 20 minutes of footage was taken from the film’s final release, resulting in plot holes and a major pivot from the original direction of the movie.
14 Heaven’s Gate
United Artists
Proposed as 1980’s saving grace for western films, Heaven’s Gate was the opposite. Much like the cult of the same name, this Heaven’s Gate brought about Armageddon for the entire genre and nearly caused United Artists to go bankrupt.
This epic film was snake-bit from the start as director Michael Cimno’s vision was realized. Then, he realized that it was over five hours long. UA refused the release until it was shortened. It was…to three hours and 39 minutes. Coupled with drama on set and endless editing, the movie wasn’t even well received. In the end, it was the studio’s hands-off approach to Cinino’s final cut and their overreaching editing that caused this $44 million production to rake in just over $3 million.
13 All the Pretty Horses
Columbia Pictures
Another western that was put down like a sick animal, All the Pretty Horses seemed to have it all. Matt Damon and Billy Bob Thornton were Hollywood hotshots. Surely, a film with them in it would produce excitement. However, when the original cut came in at over three hours, that’s when Harvey Weinstein stepped in.
Weinstein had the film cut to two hours, a move that caused public criticism from Damon. Making matters worse, the act of disrespect by Weinstein caused composer Daniel Lanois to refuse to license the film’s score. It was yet another blow to a dying genre.
12 The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Sony
Andrew Garfield, one of a few Spider-Men, was pretty vocal after the release of the final cut of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Garfield claimed to “love” the original script. It was what happened to it that made him upset. Citing cuts to his character’s backstory and other vital parts of the film, he didn’t mince words.
In an interview with The Guardian in 2014, Garfield explained, “I think what happened was, through the pre-production, production, and post-production, when you have something that works as a whole, and then you start removing portions of it — because there was even more of it than was in the final cut, and everything was related. Once you start removing things and saying, ‘No, that doesn’t work,’ then the thread is broken, and it’s hard to go with the flow of the story.”
11 Spider-Man 3
Sony Pictures Releasing & Columbia Pictures
After such a public rebuking following the second incarnation of The Amazing Spider-Man, the studio couldn’t possibly interfere with another, right? Well, with great power comes great responsibility. It’s easy to mess up that responsibility sometimes.
Sam Raimi had a vision for Spider-Man 3. Unfortunately, so did the producers. Avi Arad apparently approached Raimi about toy sales: in order to drum up as many potential figures as possible for shelves, he had to fit in as many characters as possible. That’s where Venom, a character that Raimi wasn’t overly familiar with, came from. In the end, Spider-Man 3 ended up becoming the highest-grossing installment of the trilogy, however, pushed away many loyal fans and actors for its overloaded story.
10 Once Upon a Time in America
The Ladd Company
Italian film director Sergio Leone is Hollywood royalty. With credits like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars, and other gritty westerns, it seemed like he was a perfect fit to direct the crime drama Once Upon a Time in America, starring Robert De Niro and James Woods.
Leone’s cut of the film, after editing, was 229 minutes. Bloated by most standards, the work of Leone had always warranted a chance. Unfortunately, that was not the view of Warner Bros., who cut it down to 139 minutes for the U.S. release. This caused the film to feel rushed, messy, and missing major plot points.
The mistake by Warner Brothers was so apparent that the partially restored version was shown at Cannes in 2012. This cut was so well-received that there are currently plans to fully restore it for future showings. Once Upon a Time in America still has a chance to be a true classic.
9 The Golden Compass
New Line Cinema
The original source material of The Golden Compass is dark and, admittedly, a bit scary. Still, the genre of dark children’s films isn’t completely foreign. New Line Cinema knew what they were buying, right?
It’s hard to understand how that can be true considering that the 2007 movie was completely changed from the novel. Dark points were cut in favor of a lighter mood. Between director changes, script edits, and massive cuts to the final release, The Golden Compass only pointed one direction: down.
8 Fantastic Four (2015)
20th Century Studios
One of the worst-reviewed movies of 2015, the word “fantastic” in Fantastic Four was ironic by the time this one hit theaters. Whether it was rewriting Josh Trank’s screenplay without permission, Trank’s Twitter denouncement of his own movie, or the miserable 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the Forgotten Four was a huge swing and a miss in the superhero cash cow world. Hopefully, the upcoming MCU reboot will reignite the fire of this franchise.
7 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
20th Century Fox
Six years before Fantastic Four flubbed, X-Men Origins: Wolverine crushed the spirits of sideburned fanboys around the world. For many wondering what happened, one name is all that needs to be said: David Benioff.
Held to the fire for his destruction of Game of Thrones, Benioff is a polarizing figure among audiences. For this film, though, it’s hard to lay the blame solely at his feet. It was the producers who reduced Deadpool’s highly anticipated role in the film to a non-speaking one. Add to that, the studio’s pushback against the thought of Wolverine suffering from PTSD, and it definitely changed a movie that seemed to have potential right up until the claws came out.
6 Super Mario Bros
Buena Vista Pictures
Perhaps the greatest video game of all time, Super Mario Bros on the big screen was a sure thing. The series had success on every console and even with Captain Lou Albano’s portrayal of the titular plumber on TV. So, what happened with the movie?
Hollywood Pictures couldn’t get out of their own way for this. They went through a number of writers and continuously changed the film’s tone. Even worse was that they strayed from the original video game story, which was the whole reason anyone would pay to see this movie at all. In the end, Nintendo’s clashes with the studio caused such massive issues that even Bowser and Toad were changed, and the Mushroom Kingdom was simply New York City. Needless to say, the final cut was Mario Brothers in name only.
5 Dark City
Dark City had a ton of potential. Unfortunately, it also had a ton of interference. This 1998 movie was praised by Roger Ebert and loved by its core group of fans. What it could have been, though, was so much more.
Meant to be a mind-bending mystery, Dark City took the easy route of action-packed scenes with over explaining dialogue. There were voice-overs added, which ruined plot twists, and an overall lack of a film noir vibe. This unique title ended up being just another dimly lit release.
4 The Magnificent Ambersons
RKO Radio Pictures
Director Orson Welles is famous for laying his feelings on the line. Never known for taking guff and always standing up for what he felt was right, the clash he had with RKO over The Magnificent Amebersons was inevitable. Not only was his vision changed to a final version he didn’t want, but the original cut was destroyed in a fire. It is one of the most crushing entries here as there will never be a chance to see what it could have been.
3 Alien 3
Watching the Alien franchise is like falling down the stairs. It starts at the top, takes one shaky step down, and then sends you careening into the abyss below. The blame for Alien 3 can be thrown across a wide field. There was a slew of production issues and changes right up until the final days. The inexplicable choices by Fox to task five different screenwriters, yet still begin shooting before the final script was complete speaks volumes for how poorly this was handled.
Years later, the movie was recut and released. It gave audiences a chance to complete the series without disavowing the third installment completely. It was a close call on this one, but the love of the franchise kept it alive.
2 The Last Airbender
Paramount Pictures
M. Night Shyamalan is an easy target. When his stock started to drop following countless twists, people were ready to point the finger at him for every film-making sin. The Last Airbender, however, is not all his fault.
The worst sins of this movie were laid at the feet of Paramount by a crewmember on AvatarSpirit.net (via Cinema Blend). According to the source, it was the studio that demanded the rewrites, major edits, constricting 100-minute runtime, and casting choices. The role of Nicola Peltz, a white actress playing a part meant for someone of color, was said to be due to nepotism directly from the studio itself. It also became a major issues for movie-goers.
1 I Am Legend
Warner Bros. Pictures
People wanted to love I Am Legend. This film from Will Smith had all the makings of a major franchise. The original ending featured vampires trying to help save one of the characters following Smith’s attempt to cure them. The moral was that even these monsters have humanity. Their issue with Smith was that they saw him as a monster from their point of view. It was kind of deep.
The studio wasn’t happy with that nuanced finish and called an audible. What we ended up with were mindless zombies forcing Smith’s character to kill himself with a grenade. I Am Legend could have been a legendary film. Instead, it was just another Night of the Living Dead.
