"Trainwreckords" but for movies

[dominicmgm]

Todd in the Shadows has a series called "Trainwreckords" where he covers albums that flopped so hard, they killed artists careers (e.g. Cut the Crap by The Clash, American Life by Madonna). This got me thinking: what are some film director's Trainwreckords?

Gonna start with Richard Kelly's Southland Tales. After Donnie Darko became a cult hit on DVD, it seemed like Kelly would be the next big thing. However, his follow-up was booed at Cannes and tanked at the box office (although it has become a cult hit nowadays). His next film, The Box, met with indifference critically and commercially, after which he completely vanished off the face of the Earth.

[The Great Owl]

Heaven's Gate (1980) and Showgirls (1995) are two prominent examples.

Time has been kind to both of these two movies, but they tanked really hard when they were first released and tarnished the careers of the directors and the cast.

[Watershipdownisgood]

Heavens Gate really?

I refuse to call that film a train wreck you want an actual train wreck of a film like an actual train wreck.

The Swarm is an entertaining albeit unintentionally hilarious train wreck of a movie
Tom and Jerry the Movie This film is absolutely bonkers and that climax just what the heck is even going on with all of the villains going after the main characters.
The Beast Must Die
Hard Ticket to Hawaii pure train wreck insanity it’s also an absolutely crazy action film
Breaker! Breaker! Not one of Chuck Norris’s best films let alone a hidden gem of his, but it definitely is entertaining and completely absurd especially making Chuck Norris’s character a truck driver.
Frogs
Wolf Guy this film man this film
Machine Girl

[dominicmgm]

Originally Posted by Watershipdownisgood

Heavens Gate really?

I refuse to call that film a train wreck you want an actual train wreck of a film like an actual train wreck.

The Swarm is an entertaining albeit unintentionally hilarious train wreck of a movie
Tom and Jerry the Movie This film is absolutely bonkers and that climax just what the heck is even going on with all of the villains going after the main characters.
The Beast Must Die
Hard Ticket to Hawaii pure train wreck insanity it’s also an absolutely crazy action film
Breaker! Breaker! Not one of Chuck Norris’s best films let alone a hidden gem of his, but it definitely is entertaining and completely absurd especially making Chuck Norris’s character a truck driver.
Frogs
Wolf Guy this film man this film
Machine Girl

In this case, "trainwreck" does not mean "bad", it means "killed the director's career". And indeed, Heaven's Gate was not so much a career killer, it was an atom bomb - not only sunk Cimino's career, but also destroyed United Artists and was a stake through New Hollywood's heart.

[RossyG]

Unfortunately Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom is one such film.

I guess Rollerball totally wrecked John McTiernan’s life as well as career, but he was mostly the author of his own misfortune.

[DR Herbert West]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

[Martoto]

The Postman.

After Dances With Wolves swept all before it, Costner's directorial career fell at the second hurdle and had to be destroyed.

[defwarrior4000]

Batman & Robin, Cutthroat Island, and The Marvels.

B&R had a sequel put on ice (couldn't resist) and names like Alicia Silverstone were never the same after.

Cutthroat Island killed the pirate movie until POTC, killed Carolco, and brought the down the careers of Harlin and Davis.

The Marvels being a sequel to a billion dollar grosser probably shouldn't have led to one of the biggest financial disasters of all time, but it did.

[Modren]

Originally Posted by defwarrior4000

The Marvels being a sequel to a billion dollar grosser probably shouldn't have led to one of the biggest financial disasters of all time, but it did.

You could also swap in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom or Joker: Folie à Deux for that. If anything, I think Joker is a far bigger disaster, since it failed both commercially and critically, when the original was highly acclaimed. Captain Marvel made a lot of money, but it was generally regarded as fine at best.

[idlebrain]

The Marvels & Aquaman 2 shouldn't be in this list IMO. They are BO disasters but didn't killed director's careers or any major impact on their projects. James Wan is still a sought-after director.

[Cremildo]

Gigli killed off Martin Brest's career.

We haven't heard of Josh Trank since Capone.

[The Sovereign]

Ishtar

[Crib79]

The Boondock saints director Troy Duffy apparently was a trainwreck all by himself.

[defwarrior4000]

Originally Posted by idlebrain

The Marvels & Aquaman 2 shouldn't be in this list IMO. They are BO disasters but didn't killed director's careers or any major impact on their projects. James Wan is still a sought-after director.

Doesn't necessarily have to be a Director killer. Joel Schumacher still did okay for the rest of his career after Batman and Robin. However, Alicia Silverstone and Chris O'Donnell were not quite the same afterward as far as being rising stars.

[defwarrior4000]

Originally Posted by Modren

You could also swap in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom or Joker: Folie à Deux for that. If anything, I think Joker is a far bigger disaster, since it failed both commercially and critically, when the original was highly acclaimed. Captain Marvel made a lot of money, but it was generally regarded as fine at best.

You're probably right that Joker 2 would be the better pick.

[HotTastyChili]

Rob Reiner's North is pretty close. His filmography was basically spotless before that, and almost entirely crap after it.

[starsteam]

While I expect she'll have a comeback someday Patty Jenkins fell off hard after WW84. Practically every project she was attached to has dropped her, gone into development hell or outright canned.

[Zivouhr]

Did anyone mention Fantastic 4 2016 by Josh Trank? I haven't seen it yet, but I think it probably didn't help that director's career since. He made Capone in 2020 and silence since then it seems.

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Stephen Norrington from Blade 1 seemed to dislike large productions with lots of people and abandoned filmmaking entirely after his experience with L of EG, which was a decent action movie with some cool scenes.

[levcore]

The lack of success for The Avengers (1998) pretty much stopped Jeremiah Chechik from directing movies, and he's done pretty much only tv since. Not sure if that counts?

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra or maybe Odd Thomas seemed to finish off Stephen Sommers directorial career. The guy just vanished after the latter and has not directed since.