Top 10 Films That Were Doomed Before It's Release
10. Don't Worry Darling (2022)
If more people are discussing the backstage politics about your film rather than the film itself then you're off to a really bad start. Shia LaBeouf was originally meant to play Harry Styles role but ultimately dropped out which led to an online spat between Shia and the Director Olivia Wilde. Aside from that it also didn’t help matters that according to some people Florence Pugh was more of a Director on the film than Olivia Wilde herself. Even leading up to the film Florence Pugh wasn't really promoting it at all.
Apparently the script was a lot darker and went through a couple different re-writes. If you have seen Get Out & The Truman Show then you have seen this film. It seems like Florence Pugh & Chris Pine were the only actors that actually tried (and succeeded) to put on a performance. While movies like The Truman Show & Get Out had a clear narrative, this one left viewers scratching their heads more than anything.
9. Transformers One (2024)
While a lot of critics and fans alike praised Transformers One, the poor promotion of the film was it's ultimate downfall. This is one of my favorite films of the year and it's a shame because if it had the right promotion then more people would have seen it. The marketing of the film left so many fans confused because everyone assumed it was going to be just a “kids” film. Maybe next time around they can fix the marketing of the film because this was exceptional.
8. Cocktail (1988)
Cocktail is still to this day Tom Cruise's, “biggest mistake.” While, the film isn't necessarily, “terrible" the marketing to this film definitely is. Cocktail was promoted as a romantic drama which to me was the least interesting part of the film. The first half-hour of this film is great and sadly enough is the best portion of the film. Yes, Cocktail was one of the highest grossing films of that year, but it was also panned by critics and fans alike.
If I'm watching a film about a character with a certain profession then I expect the entire film to be about that character with said profession. It doesn't matter rather their playing a doctor, lawyer, basketball player, etc. This film takes a left turn after the half-hour mark by abandoning plot lines and turning it into a romantic drama.
7. Madame Web (2024)
Wow! A Sony film made the list?! What a shocker! In all seriousness not only did I not watch this film but I knew this was going to flop before it even came out. People can say they like the Venom films all they want but I tapped out after the first one.
Not only is the marketing for Sony's films absolutely terrible but they have way too much confidence in their godawful Spider-Man spin-off films that display some of the worst acting, action sequences and CGI I’ve ever seen. Madame Web suffers from what every other Sony film suffers from: lack of marketing and lying to audiences. What I mean by the second one is Sony is known for showing scenes in their trailer that never make the final cut. This is not only frustrating as hell but Dakota Johnson not knowing anything about comic books and her bland boring interviews didn't really motivate people to see this either.
6. If (2024)
I’ll ask the question one more time: why did you guys/gals think this movie was going to succeed? I knew that this movie was doomed from the start when they were primarily promoting the voice cast over the actual premise of the film. Not only that but this movie is just a headache to sit through.
5. Justice League (2017)
2017's Justice League or as fans call it, “Josstice League” was taken over by Joss Whedon after Zack Snyder step away due to family issues. It was a last minute decision and because of it suffered because fans were irate that they were not going to see Zack Snyder's vision of Justice League. Joss Whedon tried to undue the damage that Zack Snyder caused in Man Of Steel & Dawn Of Justice but by then it was too late. It certainly didn’t help that reports came out about the actors not enjoying their time on set due to Whedon's toxic behavior.
4. The Marvel's (2023)
Honestly, I think The Marvel's failure can be attributed to four things: the SAG strike, Nia DaCosta's lack of creative control, poor marketing and not pushing the films release date. Nia DaCosta has talked about her lack of creative freedom when she was working on this film. The finished product left fans unsatisfied and Disney practically threw her under the bus because of it.
Disney not pushing the films release date during the SAG strike was really dumb on their part. A lot of fans and actors were protesting until the strike was over so the actors couldn’t even promote the film because of it. Maybe if Nia DaCosta was given more creative liberty on the film and it was released during the summer of 2024 instead of in the middle of an actors/writers strike it could have done better.
3. The Flash (2023)
Having the lead actor for your film being in legal issues isn’t exactly a good look for the studio or anyone else attached to the project. Ezra Miller still going to the premiere of his film despite all the charges against him is beyond me. Just based on the trailers it seemed as if Warner Bros was banking on nostalgia for this film to win fans over. Boy were they wrong for that because not only did fans trash the look of the film but a lot of fans skipped out on seeing it due to Ezra's legal issues. Also, in my opinion if you're banking over nostalgia instead of a good story then that's where you lose me.
2. Tenet (2020)
Christopher Nolan took several years off to write the script for Tenet. The ultimate result of the film left many people divided. While the VFX was praised, the narrative left critics and audiences scratching their heads in utter confusion. On top of this Tenet was released during the height of COVID so not a lot of people were going outside. When Warner Bros decided to release the film on their streaming service instead this did not sit well with Christopher Nolan who ultimately decided to cut ties with the studio.
1. Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
Are you surprised this is number 1? I'm not going to lie: I was never excited about the idea of a sequel to the previous Joker released in 2019. Some movies don’t need sequels and Joker was one of them. Warner Bros deciding to be greedy and capitalize off the success of the previous Joker decided to go a different route and make it a musical. As soon as I saw the trailer I knew this was an Oscar bait film.
This film was released of October of this year and I'm still not interested in seeing it. When I heard the negative reaction to the film before it's release, just like other fans I was surprised. Todd Phillips lack of interest to make this sequel any good told me to exit stage left and just avoid this film at all cost.
