Top 20 Movies Ruined By Their Own Studios

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a behind-the-scenes trainwreck. There were producer clashes, salary disputes, financing issues. You name it, “Superman II” probably suffered from it. Then, after 75% of “Superman II” had been shot, director Richard Donner’s tense relationship with the film's producers reached a boiling point. Suddenly, Donner was out, a new director was in, and the entire production was split in two over how to feel about it. That included Christopher Reeve himself, who almost didn’t return as Clark Kent at all. Given the intense turmoil, it’s a credit to Superman’s enduring appeal that the theatrical cut isn’t a total disaster. Still, when given the choice, we’ll take “The Richard Donner Cut.”

If this movie is any indication, silver bullets don’t kill werewolves. Studio-mandated reshoots do. See, Wes Craven marched into the 2000s as one of the most influential horror directors of all time. Throw in a prolific writer and some big-name stars, and “Cursed” seemed poised to be the genre’s next megahit. Unfortunately, audiences never got to see that version. Dissatisfied with the dailies from set, higher-ups at the production company decided to completely rework the film. In the shuffle, “Cursed” lost its intended R-rating, and much of its original vision. Only twelve minutes of the first shoot made the theatrical cut, and it wasn’t enough to save the flick from becoming a bonafide box-office bomb.

Book-to-movie adaptations are one of the few cases in Hollywood where you know what you’re getting into. But, when director Billy Bob Thornton turned in a three-hour+ epic faithfully adapting the novel’s story, Columbia Pictures had major buyers' remorse. So much so that they pawned off part of the film’s distribution to their production partner. There, “All the Pretty Horses” had an hour cut from its runtime, and was re-interpreted as a generic teen romance. The new edit failed to impress anyone, least of all audiences. The movie was a textbook flop, and at this point, not even the rumored director’s cut can save its tarnished legacy.

Don’t let the name fool you, this isn’t really a “Cloverfield” movie at all. The script was originally developed as a standalone sci-fi thriller called “God Particle.” But, salivating at the idea of a franchise, the producers slapped the “Cloverfield” name on it and called it a day. The film’s own writer didn’t learn of the connection until well into production, necessitating a series of last-minute rewrites. And it shows. “The Cloverfield Paradox” is a janky, confused mess that’s practically bursting at the seams of its disparate parts. It’s a shame since, had they just left good enough alone, “God Particle” could’ve started its own franchise instead of killing this one.

Richard Matheson’s iconic sci-fi novel ends with one hell of a plot twist. The monsters Neville’s been fighting are sentient. By doing experiments on their friends, he’s been the real villain all along. It’s a finale meant to keep you thinking, and originally, the film adaptation did that idea justice. But, when it tested poorly with early audiences, the studio completely reshot the climax. And, in the process, missed the entire point of the story. The theatrical version of the “I Am Legend” movie concludes with Will Smith’s Neville heroically sacrificing himself to stop the big, bad monsters. No twist. No intrigue. Suffice it to say, this is not a legend worth retelling.

The biggest supervillain here is whoever decided to edit this movie. Then again, that’s just scratching the surface of how Warner Bros. botched “Suicide Squad.” The film had already wrapped when the distributors suddenly got cold feet about its tone. That note became a full-on war of creative visions, and not even costly reshoots could get everyone on the same page. Everything about the movie was changing. Well, everything except the release date. The movie was rushed out to the door, and surprising no one, it played more like a frenetic music video than a coherent story. Let's just say that, critically speaking, “Suicide Squad” lived up to its name in all the wrong ways.

From idea to reality, it took roughly six years for this prequel to be made. But, it was only at the very end that Morgan Creek Productions decided they didn’t like “Exorcist: The Beginning” anymore. Instead of a methodical thriller, they wanted a gory fright-fest. The team re-edited the film, and then re-edited it again, but the suits still weren’t satisfied. So, Morgan Creek Production threw that cut in the garbage, and essentially started from scratch. As expected, that flip-flopping cost them a whole lot of cash when the movie released to downright toxic critical reception. The original cut surfaced a year later to marginally better marks, but by then, “The Beginning” was already at its end.

There’s a bevy of outstanding Wolverine-centric stories both on the page and on the big screen. “X-Men Origins” is not one of them. Most of the blame lies on 20th Century Fox’s fundamental misunderstanding of what this movie should be. Director Gavin Hood pushed for a grittier take on the character that acknowledged his post-traumatic stress disorder. Fox, on the other hand, insisted upon a lighter tone. That's right, a film about a war-seasoned antihero with adamantium claws…. That’s also family-friendly. You can see why these contradictory tones didn’t quite mesh. Oh, and don’t even get us started on what they did to Deadpool.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are very distinctive filmmakers. When it became clear that their vision for “Solo” didn’t align with Disney’s, the two parties went through a very messy, public breakup. The catch? Filming had already begun. A new director (Ron Howard) stepped up to finish up the film with an additional eight weeks of production. Those highly-expensive two months turned into reshooting around 70% of the movie, and still, it meant nothing to audiences. While the reviews weren’t abhorrent, “Solo” still went down as a total box-office embarrassment. It’s impossible to know if Lord and Miller’s version would have performed any better, but it certainly would have cost Disney less money.

After two films of spandex-clad crime-fighting, leveling up to a villain like Venom is the natural next step. The issue is that the filmmakers also wanted to resolve Harry Osborn’s story. And show a visually-interesting Sandman. And introduce Gwen Stacy, too. “Spider-Man 3’s” web of plotlines snapped under the weight of so many characters, and it has the bad reputation to prove it. It’s even more embarrassing because distributor Sony didn’t learn their lesson. In an attempt to fast-track a “Sinister Six” spinoff, they shoehorned a debilitating amount of villains into “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” For those keeping track, that’s officially two Spidey franchises done in by too many characters.

Yes, there’s a lot of violence in this movie. But, that’s the whole point. The European edit understood that. But, the American version? Not so much. Concerned about the film’s heavy themes, the U.S. distributors removed almost an hour and a half of footage from the original cut. They rearranged what was left, and effectively released a completely different product. All without the original director’s consent. For a movie with “America” in its name, it’s ironic that “Once Upon a Time” received the worst reception in the United States. At least, at first. The original edit has since made its way overseas and is rightfully heralded as one of the greatest gangster movies ever made.

With a rich and beloved book series to pull from, this compass pointed directly toward box-office gold. But, unfortunately, the studio didn’t want a straight adaptation. They wanted a family-oriented holiday blockbuster, and that meant watering down the source material’s aggressive religious commentary. Alas, the studio’s attempts at broadening the novel’s appeal only alienated the fans it did have, ensuring the “Golden Compass” ended its theatrical run as a major disappointment. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that BBC eventually did the series right with the TV adaptation, “His Dark Materials.” Nowadays, the serial is considered the de-facto adaptation of Philip Pullman’s work, if only because it actually got a complete adaptation.

45 minutes is an enormous amount of real estate in a feature film. Especially in the hands of someone like Ridley Scott. But, tragically, 20th Century Fox didn’t see it that way. Stirred by early test screenings, the studio insisted that 45 minutes be cut from the three-hour feature. What did Fox get for their troubles? A big, fat shrug from audiences and critics, that’s what. “Kingdom of Heaven” massively underperformed by just about every conceivable metric. But, at the very least, Scott got his revenge. His director’s cut received unanimous praise, with many citing it as one of the most influential re-edits in history. All that from just 45 more minutes.

Cramming twenty episodes of world-building, character growth, and bending action into just an hour-and-a-half is a bad idea. But, Paramount persisted nonetheless. They had a grand pitch for a live-action “Avatar” trilogy, and nothing as silly as pacing was going to stop them. The poor decision-making didn’t stop there, either. The script was rewritten to oblivion, they overused greenscreens, and the cast list is genuinely baffling. From rumors of nepotism to the obvious racial profiling, this lineup is simply a mess. We could go on, but you get the point. There’s no way one person made all these mistakes. No, it takes a village to screw up this bad.

In an attempt to reinvigorate their sagging profits, 20th Century Fox greenlit a little movie called “Cleopatra.” To say they spared no expense would be an understatement. In fact, it set the record for the most expensive film ever produced at the time. The only thing is you don’t see that on screen. Most of the costs came from Fox’s habit of firing, hiring, and re-firing the film’s production team on a whim. The hostile work environment carried on well into the editing process, where another spontaneous firing nearly caused Elizabeth Taylor to protest the project. After all that, it’s a miracle the movie turned out at least somewhat watchable.

Zack Snyder’s work on “Batman v Superman” didn’t inspire much faith in the ongoing DC universe, and his cut of the in-production “Justice League” wasn’t faring any better. Some executives even called it “unwatchable.” So, what was their plan? Spend money, and a lot of it. The movie got a new director, a ton of misplaced jokes, and a strict two-hour runtime. Then, the Frankenstein feature was unceremoniously dropped into theaters just so executives could get their yearly bonuses on time. It was an unmitigated disaster for everyone - except Zack Snyder. His long-awaited director’s cut hit streaming in 2021 to noticeably better fan reception. Not quite what we’d call “unwatchable,” that’s for sure.

Director Ridley Scott had an utter embarrassment of riches working on “Blade Runner.” He had amazing source material, cutting-edge special effects, and an A-list Harrison Ford. What he didn’t have, though, was a say on the final edit. When test audiences found the dense story confusing, distributor Warner Bros. added in thirteen - yes, thirteen - expository voiceovers. Even Ford himself will tell you that this narration is just plain bad. Pair that with a forced happy ending, and the edgy drama suddenly became a droll snoozefest. While “Blade Runner” failed to meet expectations on release, the much-improved director’s cut(s) eventually turned it into the cult phenomenon it is today.

Production company United Artists put all their faith into director Michael Cimino, for better or for worse. His maddening attention to detail caused the Western to go almost four times over its intended budget. In return, he delivered an ambitious, five-hour thinkpiece that has to be seen to be believed. But, at that point, United Artists was understandably fed-up. Cimino was forced to trim down his work to a more acceptable three-and-a-half hours, but all that did was tank the film’s creative merits. The movie was a bomb of biblical proportions. It was so bad, some historians say the failure of “Heaven’s Gate” is the reason Hollywood steered away from director-driven passion projects.

There’s a world where Josh Trank delivers a gritty, thoughtful “Fantastic Four” film, and it absolutely rocks. Unfortunately, that’s not the movie 20th Century Fox wanted to make. Whether it was because of Trank's erratic directing or too many studio notes, the fact of the matter is that no one had a clear idea of what this movie was supposed to look like. Allegedly, Fox even had to go over Trank’s head just to get the reshoots they wanted. As if there was any doubt left, on opening weekend, Trank took to social media to openly denounce the studio-enforced edit of the film. After seeing those career-ending reviews, we don’t blame him.

Xenomorphs have nothing on movie studios. To put it into perspective, “Alien 3” couldn’t even start filming before issues arose. It went through no less than five different writers, none of whom could make the studio’s ideas work. No need to worry, though. Fox had a great backup plan: filming without a finished script! To make matters worse, first-time director David Fincher didn’t have the clout to fight back against the studio’s mandates. Allegedly, they even locked him out of the editing room, causing Fincher to condemn the movie altogether. He wasn’t the only one, either. Even after a quasi-director’s cut earned slightly better reception, it’s clear that many would rather just forget about“Alien 3.”