3. Cutthroat Island
Estimated Loss: $137,488,885 (adjusted for inflation)
In 1994, Carolco the studio behind such hits as Total Recall and Terminator 2, needed a major blockbuster hit to keep afloat for a bit longer. Their choices were Crusade, a medieval epic starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Cutthroat Island, a pirate epic directed by Renny Harlin and starring his then-wife Geena Davis. In a fantastic irony, the studio passed on Crusade due to its budget and went forCutthroat. Michael Douglas was to star but when it became clear Harlin was pushing Davis’ role much bigger, he dropped out and spread the word the movie was bad to the point that just about every name actor in Hollywood steered clear of it. Matthew Modine was eventually chosen as Davis’ co-star as production went underway, hitting everything from massive storms to an open rebellion by the crew against Harlin’s wild direction and tyrannical control. Harlin spent a million dollars of his own money to rewrite the script which was mocked by critics as incoherent and Modine and Davis having no chemistry. The delays put off the planned summer 1995 release to Christmas, the budget finally ending up at about $100 million which was outrageous for the time. The movie only ended up with a pitiful $10 million and sunk Carolco completely while doing massive damage to Davis’ career. It would take a decade for a pirate movie to be attempted again thanks to Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow but the damage was done. The true sad irony is that if they’d gone with Crusade, Carolco might have survived to make its planned next two movies: Independence Day and Titanic.
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