Top 10 Times Movie Reshoots RUINED Everything

To be fair, this superhero flick is far from the first blockbuster to need a few extra days of filming. But, instead of rising from the ashes, “Dark Phoenix” sank into them. What started as a routine, two weeks of pickups became an extensive three-month process that completely reworked the third act. So, after all that blood, sweat, and tears, what did they have to show for it? One of the biggest bombs of the entire “X-Men” franchise, that’s what. The shoehorned climax made the messy film even harder to follow. Not to mention the lackluster special effects. In the end, the only thing these reshoots accomplished was making “Dark Phoenix” an even costlier embarrassment.

Ironically, the only things raising hell in this horror flick were the distributors. Despite having reservations on the script, the studio waited until “Hellraiser: Bloodline” had completed production to voice their concerns. And, cue the reshoots. Although, calling them “reshoots”is pretty generous considering it was all completely new material. The original two-hour cut was spliced, rearranged, and butchered into an 85-minute snoozefest. As if to prove it, the original director swore off the final cut and went credited under a pseudonym. There’s no way of knowing if the first edit was any good, but it couldn’t have been any worse than the movie we got.

It’s painfully apparent that 20th Century Fox had no idea what to do with “Nightbreed.” They let writer-director Clive Barker make an unapologetically weird monster movie, and then immediately backtracked when they saw the final cut. Their big solution? Add more exposition, and a lot of it. To make room, they had to trim nearly an hour from Barker’s original edit, turning the movie into an uneven mish-mash of ideas. Too safe to stand out, yet too quirky to sell tickets, “Nightbreed” failed to impress anyone in theaters. Thankfully, this horror story has a happy ending. Barker reassembled his work into a massively popular director’s cut, giving “Nightbreed” the legacy it’s always deserved.

Don’t get too excited; this 2014 remake is pretty much “RoboCop” in name alone. While it definitely has glimmers of the blood-stained action fans know and love, that’s clearly not the movie the studio wanted to make. No, they wanted their murderous, cybertronic hero’s to be “family friendly.” It went about as well as you’d expect. The clashing visions forced a series of revisions that watered down everything that makes RoboCop, “RoboCop.” It’s maddening to see it unfold onscreen. If the studio had just stuck to their guns, this remake could have been genuinely great. Instead, the distributors were saddled with a box-office dud that killed a planned-trilogy before it ever really started.

Despite the name, “Cursed” was anything but during filming. The script was done, the make-up was next-level, and everyone was happy with the shot footage. Well, everyone except distributor Miramax. With just six days of filming left to go, they put “Cursed” through a massive creative overhaul. Including, you guessed it, a whole lot of reshoots. Of the hour-and-a-half already shot, only a meager twelve minutes made the theatrical cut. At that point, Miramax could’ve just made a whole other movie! Although, based on the horrible reviews, this new vision seems like it was doomed, anyways. It’s just a shame that “Cursed” had to go down with it.

The most depressing part of this movie is just how close it was to greatness. Taking cues from the original novel, “I Am Legend” was supposed to end with the reveal that the mutant Darkseekers are sentient, too. It’s a bold twist that adds a whole new dimension to the story’s exploration of humanity and prejudice. Unfortunately, test audiences didn’t like it. So, the studio demanded a round of reshoots to completely rework the story’s climax. Just like that, “I Am Legend” lost its twist ending, and much of its rich subtext, too. It was such a mistake that the upcoming sequel will actually disregard the theatrical cut, continuing the story based on the conclusion that was originally intended.

Supervillains or not, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, and the others were not the biggest threats here. No, that belongs to distributor Warner Bros. In an attempt to make the movie more quote-unquote “light-hearted,” they insisted “Suicide Squad” go through a metric-ton of additional photography. And boy, does it show. Rather than ironing out the movie’s kinks, these muddled addendums turned “Suicide Squad” into an incomprehensible trainwreck. In fact, the theatrical cut is such a mess of tones and characters that you can practically see where the first edit ends and the reshoots begin. Given “Suicide Squad’s” toxic reviews, it’s clear that Warner Bros. should have just left good enough alone.

Most of the time, creative differences are worked out before cameras start rolling. But, not with “Solo.” Original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller clashed with the studio so much that, four months into filming, the two parties went through a very messy, very public break-up. Without a director, a vision, or a plan, director Ron Howard stepped in to salvage the film. AKA, reshooting and reworking nearly three-quarters of “Solo’s” story. Not that it mattered. By the time the movie came out, audiences agreed there was more drama behind the scenes than in front of it, turning “Solo” into the lowest-grossing live-action “Star Wars” film ever. And it’s not even close.

Put aside the reshoots. It’s amazing this movie finished filming in the first place. Allegedly, director Josh Trank wanted a much darker superhero tale than 20th Century Fox was comfortable with. Their opposing views continued well into production until, finally, it all boiled over. Trank never did get to finish his cut of the movie. Actually, he never even got a vote on the final edit. Fed-up with the feuding, 20th Century Fox went over Trank’s head to get the reshoots they wanted. But, their meddling only turned things from bad to worse. Without any coherent vision to pull it all together, 2015’s “Fantastic Four” is rightfully considered one of the worst superhero films ever made.

Where are the heroes when you need them? In 2016, Warner Bros. got major cold feet about the direction of Zack Snyder’s DC universe. Part of their course-correction included hiring Joss Whedon to spruce up the in-production “Justice League.” He reshot key scenes, injected a ton of misplaced humor, and turned in a Frankenstein edit that no one wanted to see. But, in 2021, Snyder vindicated his fans by releasing his own edit of “Justice League.” While not a total slam-dunk, Snyder’s cut is almost universally considered to be the superior version. If Warner Bros. had realized that a few years sooner, they could’ve saved their movie, their brand, and their wallets all in one.