--- description: Directors explain why they think their most disappointing movies failed. title: 10 Directors Explain What Went Wrong With Biggest Flops Ever image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 10 Directors Defend Their Most Disappointing Movies Ever by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2016 7:23 PM CUT by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2016 7:23 PM CUT Director David Ayer recently reflected on _Suicide Squad._ Though a commercial hit, the superhero flick [got panned](http://time.com/4430396/suicide-squad-review/ "undefined") in part for hyping up Jared Leto’s Joker, but delivering precious little of him. “I love the movie and believe in it,” he wrote in a letter posted to [Twitter](https://twitter.com/DavidAyerMovies/status/822948443110842369/photo/1?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined"). “Wish I had a time machine. I’d make Joker the main villain and engineer a more grounded story.” Film’s a divisive medium, and a movie can take a thousand different wrong turns. A remake of a much-loved original can make diehard fans groan, blockbusters can shatter the box office without winning over critics and a true work of art can fail to find an audience at all. When it comes to these disappointments, directors don’t always get the opportunity to explain themselves. Here, we’ve assembled defenses from directors (and one producer) on ten of their most infamously disappointing movies—from humble regrets to the bold, “no, you’re just watching it wrong.” ### **_13 Hours_** (2016) **What disappointed people:** With this action film, Michael Bay turned his eye to the 2012 Benghazi attacks on U.S. diplomatic compounds in Libya four years after it happened. Bloody and graphic, it got flack from some for how it handled such recent events. In [her review](http://time.com/4181921/13-hours-secret-soldiers-of-benghazi-review/ "undefined"), TIME’s film critic Stephanie Zacharek said, “there is something unscrupulous about the way it interprets and presents a real-life tragedy for the delectation of movie audiences.” It was based on a historical account, but did the movie catch the realities? See the film fact-checked right [here](http://time.com/4178593/benghazi-movie-13-hours-accuracy-fact-check/ "undefined"). **Director’s defense**: Bay insisted that politicizing the movie interfered with the heartfelt tale. **How it fared since the release:** Audiences didn’t come out for this film as much as they had for movies that championed military heroes like _American Sniper_ and _Lone Survivor_, and it just nearly missed its box office expectations, according to [_Forbes_](http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2016/01/17/box-office-why-13-hours-the-secret-soldiers-of-benghazi-was-no-american-sniper/ "undefined"). So Paramount Pictures sought an audience by partnering with conservative media outlets; political private screenings gave it a boost, according to [_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/13-hours-benghazi-movie-being-855720 "undefined"). **What’s next:** Bay directs _Transformers: The Last Knight_, out in 2017. ### **_Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice_** **(2016)** **What disappointed people:** In the movie, DC Comics’ swolest heroes square off. What’s to criticize? Everything, according to [reviewers](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/batman%5Fv%5Fsuperman%5Fdawn%5Fof%5Fjustice/ "undefined") who almost universally dismissed the story as heavy-handed. [They weren’t alone](http://time.com/4268724/batmanvsuperman-review-movie-ben-affleck-henry-cavill/ "undefined"). Moviegoers also felt the intense blockbuster was crying out for a dose of levity. Nonetheless, audiences were clearly into the idea of a superhero fight club; it was the seventh biggest superhero movie in history at [the world box office](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-verdict-batman-v-889234 "undefined"). **Director’s defense:** Speaking on the [Hall of Justice podcast](http://www.newsarama.com/27836-zack-snyder-if-you-re-a-comic-book-fan-you-know-i-didn-t-change-superman.html "undefined"), Zack Snyder addressed some of the fans who blasted the movie for reinventing Superman. **How it fared since the release:** Despite the lackluster critical response, the superheroes will cross paths again in a number of [upcoming films](http://time.com/4267760/batman-v-superman-dc-movies-connected/ "undefined"), including _Wonder Woman_, _Justice League_ and _Aquaman_. **What’s next:** Snyder’s _Justice League_ hits theaters Nov. 17, 2017. ### _Exodus: Gods and Kings_ (2014) **What disappointed people:** Ridley Scott’s big-budget movie about Moses featured a predominately [white cast playing Egyptians](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1528100/ "undefined"), causing thousands to boycott the epic on social media before it came out. It opened to a chorus of takedowns, which mostly cited the story itself. [_TIME_](http://time.com/3632659/exodus-gods-and-kings-review/ "undefined") critic Richard Corliss wrote, “racial sensitivities aside, this _Exodus_ is a stolid mess, bleakly laughable without being an entertaining hoot like De Mille’s camp classic.” It also didn’t help that _The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies_ dropped the same weekend. _Exodus’_ [opening box office](https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/ridley-scotts-exodus-underwhelms-at-the-box-office/?%5Fr=0 "undefined") was merely mediocre. **Director’s defense:** When asked to address people who criticized the movie’s casting during an on-camera interview with the [Associated Press](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/29866a953d034ab891d2fd87a79ff54b/scott-bale-defend-choice-exodus-casting "undefined"), Scott responded bluntly: **How it fared over time:** The United Arab Emirates, and Egypt and Morocco reportedly [banned it over historical and religious concerns](http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/uae-follows-egypt-morocco-in-exodus-gods-and-kings-ban-20141230-12furr.html "undefined"). On the biblical epic front, two years later, the Alex Proyas-directed _Gods of Egypt_, was also criticized for its predominantly white cast acting in a story about ancient Egypt. Lionsgate issued a longer [explanation](http://time.com/4128406/gods-of-egypt-director-and-studio-apologize-for-films-lack-of-diversity/ "undefined"), but the movie still tanked at the box office, thus killing the studio’s plans to turn the story into a franchise. **What’s next:** Scott will direct _Alien: Covenant_, out in 2017. ### **_The Lone Ranger_** **(2013)** **What disappointed people:** From the team who brought you the _Pirates of Caribbean_ franchise, this Disney adventure remake starred Johnny Depp as the Native American warrior, Tonto, opposite Armie Hammer as his partner, the Lone Ranger. (For the role of Tonto, Depp said he studied up with elder chiefs and aimed to portray the leader [“the right way.”](http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/johnny-depp-says-he-drew-on-his-own-native-heritage-to-play-the-lone-rangers-tonto "undefined")) Critics didn’t go for the western’s hyperactive pace, even though this movie had Helena Bonham Carter as a PG-13 Madam with a wooden leg gun. Disappointing box office receipts made this one of Disney’s [hugest box office flops](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/aug/07/the-lone-ranger-film-flop "undefined") to date. **Director’s defense:** The most passionate defense came from the film’s producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, who discussed what he and Depp viewed as unwarranted bad buzz in an interview with [Yahoo UK](https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/armie-hammer--critics-%E2%80%9Cslit-the-jugular%E2%80%9D-of-lone-ranger-141408705.html "undefined"): **How it fared over time:** In the end, Disney [couldn’t recoup](http://cdn.media.ir.thewaltdisneycompany.com/2014/events/ab-baml-2014-0917.pdf "undefined") its losses, thanks to weak subsequent releases and action figure sales. People still [revisit the film](http://www.norwegianmorningwood.com/2016/07/three-years-gone-revisiting-lone-ranger.html "undefined"), but the warmest review came from Quentin Tarantino who [surprised people](http://screencrush.com/quentin-tarantino-explains-lone-ranger/ "undefined") by declaring it one of the top movies of 2013 long after the movie could have used his endorsement. **What’s next:** Director Gore Verbinski will direct _A Cure for Wellness_, and Bruckheimer will produce _Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales_, both out in 2017. ### **_John Carter_** **(2012)** **What disappointed people:** Andrew Stanton directed this CGI-heavy adaptation about Civil War veteran John Carter’s attempt to save Mars, which critics found both [confusing](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/john%5Fcarter/ "undefined") and [dull](https://www.timeout.com/us/film/john-carter "undefined"). Once the [film failed](http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/26/showbiz/movies/taylor-kitsch-john-carter-ew/ "undefined") at the box office—it brought in just a quarter of its budget, which had ballooned to unprecedented heights—Disney ditched the two _John Carter_ sequels the company had planned. **Director’s defense:** Speaking with the [_Los Angeles Times_](http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/08/entertainment/la-et-mn-john-carter-director-20120908 "undefined"), Stanton essentially said the answer is blowing in the wind. **How it fared over time:** Not even [encouraging DVD sales](http://www.filmbuffonline.com/FBOLNewsreel/wordpress/2012/04/02/flop-john-carter-grosses-surpasses-production-budget/ "undefined") were enough to come close to helping Disney recover from the [loss, according to Disney](http://cdn.media.ir.thewaltdisneycompany.com/2014/events/ab-baml-2014-0917.pdf "undefined"). **What’s next:** Stanton will be on the writing team story for _Toy Story 4_, out in 2019, and he recently directed [_Finding Dory_](http://time.com/4371173/finding-dory-review/ "undefined"). ### **_Cowboys and Aliens_** **(2011)** **What disappointed people:** In Jon Favreau’s alien fable, invaders descend on a Western town to yank the villagers into space. Detractors called out the movie’s mysterious marketing: Ultimately it was a sci-fi movie wrapped in a package that screamed comedy. So everyone banking on the laughs was in for a letdown, proving that the movie may have just been too misunderstood to merit all the hype. Opening weekend, it tied with _The Smurfs_ [at the box office](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/smurfs-tied-cowboys-aliens-box-office-217612 "undefined"), but that wasn’t enough to save _Cowboys_. **Director’s defense:** In an interview on the _WTF with_ [_Marc Maron_](http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode%5F344%5F-%5Fjon%5Ffavreau "undefined") podcast, Favreau admitted _Cowboys & Aliens_ should have gone with a different tone. **How it fared over time:** The genre-mixing story has since landed on a list of [criminally underrated](http://whatculture.com/film/10-most-criminally-underrated-blockbusters-since-2000?page=7 "undefined") blockbusters. **What’s next:** Favreau will direct _Jungle Book 2_ and _The Lion King_, both Disney. ### **_Mars Needs Moms_** **(2011)** **What went wrong:** How’s this for a premise that reinvents the alien takeover? In this one, aliens are abducting moms from Earth to raise their alien babies in outer space. The movie suffered from a low turnout. [BoxOffice.com](http://boxoffice.com/ "undefined") analyst Phil Contrino blamed the oversaturated market, and others suggested the word [“moms”](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-disneys-mars-needs-moms-167551 "undefined") in the title turned off young male fans. Most decisive of all? It looked weird, with audiences notably rejecting the movie’s motion-capture technology which made the cast look drastically different. It was one of the biggest money-losing movies of all time, and [TIME](http://business.time.com/2012/03/21/the-top-ten-biggest-money-losing-movies-of-all-time/ "undefined") observed the bust made _John Carter’s_ devastating results “pale in comparison.” **Director’s defense:** Asked why it failed and why people should give the DVD a chance, director Simon Wells told [Movie Web](http://movieweb.com/exclusive-simon-wells-talks-mars-needs-moms/ "undefined") about its virtues. **How it fared over time:** Overseas, _Mars_ didn’t compensate for its low American showing, and despite a heartfelt pitch from Wells, [DVD sales](http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Mars-Needs-Moms#tab=video-sales "undefined") were meager as far as Disney toons go. **What’s next:** Wells hasn’t directed a new offering since _Mars._ ### **_Superman Returns_** **(2006)** **What disappointed people:** Superman was taking flight after a long hiatus (since 1987), so the pressure was on. This sentimental take on a comic book movie imagined the caped savior returning to New York City after a break of his own to get back to his side hustle—saving humanity. Bryan Singer’s movie enjoyed lukewarm success at the box office, but [some](http://entertainment.time.com/2010/05/06/top-10-worst-superhero-sequels/slide/superman-returns-2006/ "undefined") found the Man of Steel’s martyrdom overbearing. **Director’s defense:** In an interview with [VoicesFromKrypton.com](http://www.comicbookmovie.com/superman/superman-exclusive-bryan-singer-looks-back-at-superman-returns-a33821 "undefined"), Singer explained why he felt the sentiments may have been tough pills to swallow. **How it fared over time:** The overwhelming “no thanks” from critics didn’t stop DC Comics from giving people more Superman. Case in point: Zack Snyder’s _Man of Steel_ (2013) netted more than [$600 million](http://deadline.com/2013/06/man-of-steel-passes-half-billion-global-mark-533070/ "undefined") and though some fans said Snyder’s _Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice_ (2016) was crucially missing fun, it grossed more than [$800 million globally](http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2016/04/15/box-office-as-batman-v-superman-tops-800m-global-a-look-at-one-big-advantage-marvel-had-over-dc/#47bcfb9854f9 "undefined"). **What’s next:** Singer will direct _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_, out in 2017. ### **_Showgirls_** **(1995)** **What disappointed people:** Elizabeth Berkley plays a showgirl who starts performing at one of the seedier establishments on the Vegas strip and ascends to stardom thanks to her mentor (Kyle MacLachlan), and also by pushing her rival down some stairs. Critics lambasted the over-the-top dialogue courtesy of Joe Eszterhas’s script. (A taste: in a [famous scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iM9Gav-G4c "undefined"), she mispronounces a fancy word.) But [_TIME’s_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983511,00.html "undefined") critic Richard Corliss saw potential for the greater good. “Showgirls….is one of those delirious, hilarious botches that could be taught in film schools as a How Not To.” **Director’s defense:** Speaking to [_Rolling Stone_](http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/showgirls-paul-verhoeven-on-the-greatest-stripper-movie-ever-made-20150922 "undefined") 20 years after the film’s release, director Paul Verhoeven admitted his moviemaking mistakes damaged his credibility and hurt Berkley’s career. But he was proud of its merits: **How it fared over time:** The film’s endured thanks to the very reason people bashed it: the so-ridiculous-it’s-funny factor. The campy favorite is a midnight theater cult hit, and the DVD has reportedly been a top seller for [MGM](https://www.instagram.com/p/4cYIMrSwBl/ "undefined"). It was even re-released in French movie theaters [in 2016](https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/paul-verhoevens-cult-classic-showgirls-gets-nsfw-trailer-for-4k-theatrical-restoration/ "undefined"). **What’s next:** Verhoeven may take the blame for hurting his lead actor’s career, but under his direction in _Elle_, Isabelle Huppert won several prestigious awards for her performance. Next up, Verhoeven will reportedly direct the French resistance movie, [_Lyon 1943._](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6321634/?ref%5F=nm%5Fflmg%5Fdr%5F1 "undefined") ### **_The Bonfire of the Vanities_** **(1990)** **What disappointed people:** The Dickensian story of a rich guy’s worst nightmare may have been a darkly funny masterpiece when it arrived in book form by Tom Wolfe, but the $45 million movie adaptation bombed. Detractors said that [the actors (including Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks) were ill-suited for their roles](https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Candy-Anatomy-Hollywood-Fiasco/dp/0306811235 "undefined"). Worse, audiences felt the movie was [too sarcastic](http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0CE7D8153FF932A15751C1A966958260 "undefined") about race and class divides, and the novel’s sophistication just didn’t translate to the big screen. **Director’s defense:** Brian De Palma, who said people who haven’t read the book might be able to see the film in a whole new way, said the casting was the movie’s downfall. **How it fared over time:** The same bestselling novel was later adapted as an opera under the direction of Michael Bergmann in 2015\. (One of the rare reviews in the [_New York Observer_](http://observer.com/2015/10/a-less-than-fiery-bonfire-of-the-vanities-plenty-of-distraction-at-tannhauser/ "undefined") slammed it, writing it put the “corn” in “carnal.”) **What’s Next:** De Palma will direct _Lights Out_ in 2017. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4421142/directors-defend-worst-movies-ever/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4421142/directors-defend-worst-movies-ever/"},"headline":"10 Directors Defend Their Most Disappointing Movies Ever","datePublished":"2016-08-05T19:23:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:34:44.391Z","description":"Directors explain why they think their most disappointing movies failed.","url":"https://time.com/4421142/directors-defend-worst-movies-ever/","keywords":["movies","Newsfeed","celebrities","Hollywood"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4421142/directors-defend-worst-movies-ever/","name":"10 Directors Defend Their Most Disappointing Movies Ever"}}]}] ```