10 Movies So Bad Their Directors Disowned Them (2025)

10 Movies So Bad Their Directors Disowned Them (1)

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10 Movies So Bad Their Directors Disowned Them (2)

Bad movies are everywhere, but it's rare to see its directors, cast, or crew publicly voice just how much they hate the very things they worked on. Most of the time, people will defend a project they invested precious time and money on, trying to get their investment back. However, some directors understand that, sometimes, a finished product doesn't reflect their work and lacks quality.

Many directors who have disowned their movies were either unhappy with the direction that post-production took or had conflicts with the studios during filming. To them, the final product isn't the real deal, not what they had imagined, nor is it worth taking space in the credits for their life's work. Interestingly enough, directors who disown their movies are credited in the final product as 'Alan Smithee' to avoid their name being put on the project. These movies were so infamously terrible that their directors chose to reject them, cementing their place in infamy as the unclaimed children of some of the industry's best.

10 'Justice League' (2017)

Directed by Zack Snyder

10 Movies So Bad Their Directors Disowned Them (3)

Maybe the best-known recent example of a disowned movie is 2017's Justice League, a movie which was so disliked by literally everyone that Zack Snyder chose to release a longer cut of the movie in 2021. However, the problem around the Justice League isn't as simple as "Snyder hated it, disowned it, and made a new cut." He actually had to leave production during filming because of a personal tragedy, and Joss Whedon took the director's baton to finish the movie.

Putting another person in the middle of a half-finished project and expecting them to make the same quality movie as planned is, to say the least, ridiculous. Whedon did his thing, but it wasn't what Snyder wanted out of the movie. Just before releasing Zack Snyder's Justice League in 2021, with a runtime of four hours and two minutes, he stated he hoped he could "wipe the first version out of existence" with this extended cut. For anyone unfamiliar, Justice League follows the joining of DC's biggest heroes — Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg — in defeating a global threat.

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Justice League

PG-13

Adventure

Action

Fantasy

Where to Watch

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*Availability in US

Release Date
November 17, 2017
Cast
Jeremy Irons, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Ciarán Hinds, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller, J. K. Simmons, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher

Runtime
242 minutes

Writers
Chris Terrio, Joss Whedon

9 'Catchfire' (1990)

Directed by Dennis Hopper

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Dennis Hopper hasn't directed many movies during his illustrious and long career, but one that he did felt so out of place that he immediately disowned it. Having made ten movies as a director, Easy Rider is surely the most famous and beloved and even became culturally and historically significant. However, Hopper's 1990 movie Catchfire is neither. He hated the final version so much that the theatrical run credited director Alan Smithee instead of Hopper.

Catchfire stars some heavyweight actors, including Hopper as the male lead. The story follows Anne (Jodie Foster), a woman who ends up under witness protection to get away from the Mafia boss Lino Avoca (Vincent Price) after accidentally witnessing a murder by his goons. Avoca sends his hitman Milo (Hopper) to find Anne, but Milo becomes obsessed with her. Catchfire's original cut was about 180 minutes long, but the theatrical version was cut to 98, which Hopper disapproved of. He disowned the movie that, even as a director's cut, can't be saved from what it initially was — a disaster.

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Catchfire

R

Drama

Action

Thriller

Romance

Release Date
April 3, 1990
Cast
Dennis Hopper, Jodie Foster, Dean Stockwell, Vincent Price, John Turturro, Fred Ward, Julie Adams, Tony Sirico, Charlie Sheen, Catherine Keener, Sy Richardson, Frank Gio, Satya De La Manitou, Helena Kallianiotes, John Apicella, Katherine LaNasa, Anthony Pena, Sarina C. Grant, Tomás Goros, Lauren Lloyd, Michael Yama, Bob Dylan, Joe Pesci, Ted Markland, Toni Basil

Runtime
98 minutes

Writers
Ann Louise Bardach

Watch on Tubi

8 'Hellboy' (2019)

Directed by Neil Marshall

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After the success of Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy trilogy (which wasn't great but remains loved), the studios felt the story needed a refresher. Nobody really asked for it, but then, David Harbour was attached to play everyone's favorite red monster, and there was hope. Harbour's intimidating stature and demeanor were an excellent prerequisite for the character, but the script ended up lacking substance and style, and director Neil Marshall decided it was best to disown the movie overall.

2019's Hellboy follows the titular character fighting the evil sorceress Nimue, the Blood Queen (Milla Jovovich). The movie has a lot of seemingly unconnected moments, with shallow performances from expected powerhouse actors. According to Neil Marshall, the movie didn't work because the script "was literally copying and pasting a comic to the screen, and the story beats." Adapting written material into a movie takes more effort than that, but Marshall, as much as he tried making Hellboy into a decent movie, realized it's best if he stayed away from it.

Hellboy

R

Superhero

Action

Adventure

Fantasy

Horror

Sci-Fi

Release Date
April 10, 2019
Cast
David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Daniel Dae Kim, Sophie Okonedo, Brian Gleeson

Runtime
120

Writers
Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola

Watch on Hulu

7 'Alien 3' (1992)

Directed by David Fincher

The Alien movies are a science fiction staple, but it's well-known that Alien 3 is the most lacking of the original series. It was David Fincher's directorial debut, which, interestingly, didn't put a damper on the rest of his career. The movie continues after the story of Aliens, when Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her crew members, including Aliens characters Newt, Hicks, and the android Bishop (Lance Henriksen), crash into a maximum security prison, Fiorina 161, with a xenomorph on board.

The movie was critically panned, and audiences mostly hated it; many also claimed the movie was ruined for them with the immediate deaths of crew members Newt and Hicks. Sigourney Weaver said Fincher fought with the studio execs for creative control of the movie every day, which made filming all the more exhausting. Alien 3 also didn't have a finished script when filming started, which Fincher himself called "a truly f–ked-up situation." Fincher disowned the movie but also said he learned from it the most; this may be why he has a great directing record today.

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6 'Batman & Robin' (1997)

Directed by Joel Schumacher

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may be one of the most talked about movies to this day, but not for the right reasons. Everyone remembers the disapproval that happened with its release — people felt the movie was terrible, had conflicting narratives, and was gimmicky and hollow despite beautiful sets and colorful, high-end, even fashionable costumes. For many, the movie was nothing but a display of budget and one of the worst superhero movies of all time.

All of this was enough for Joel Schumacher to disown the movie and even apologize for it. He mentioned how most of the decisions made were his because, in hindsight, he believed the idea would be good. There were some production obstacles like Val Kilmer leaving, but Schumacher ultimately said: "No one is responsible for my mistakes but me." The movie follows Batman (George Clooney) and his sidekick Robin (Chris O'Donnell) fighting two joined enemies - the violent Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the seductive Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman).

10 Movies So Bad Their Directors Disowned Them (9)

Batman and Robin

pg-13

Action

Thriller

Sci-Fi

Release Date
June 20, 1997
Cast
George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman

Runtime
2h 5m
Writers
George Clooney, Akiva Goldsman

Watch on Max

5 'Fantastic Four' or 'Fant4stic' (2015)

Directed by Josh Trank

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The Fantastic Four are on par with the X-Men in terms of beloved Marvel comics continuously getting inadequate movie adaptations. Still, with X-Men having some saveable installments, The Fantastic Four never could get an adaptation that respects its characters. The worst example is 2015's Fantastic Four, also stylized as Fant4stic. Starring Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Kate Mara as Sue Storm, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm, the movie was heavily miscast, offbeat, and lacking in humor and cleverness.

Director Josh Trank directed a version that the studio executives hated. The movie was dissected and put together much differently than what Trank imagined, leading to him essentially disowning the product released in theaters. However, this action came amid rumors that Trank went off-script and was uncommunicative, explaining why the studio justified kicking him out of the editing room. The reboot of The Fantastic Four franchise had a terrible start, but it's left to see if the upcoming reboot starring Pedro Pascal will give the comic book its deserved adaptation.

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Fantastic Four

PG-13

Action

Sci-Fiq

Where to Watch

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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date
August 4, 2015
Cast
Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey, Tim Blake Nelson

Runtime
100 Minutes

Writers
Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg, Josh Trank

4 'Hollow Man' (2000)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

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Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is someone who's always taken chances with his scripts and directing style. He's well-known to US audiences as the author of RoboCop, Total Recall, and Showgirls, while European audiences know Verhoeven a bit more for his more recent work, like the thriller Elle starring Isabelle Huppert. He made Hollow Man in 2000, which was the last movie he made in the US; it took Verhoeven six years to get back into a director's chair, mostly filming in Europe.

Verhoeven disowned Hollow Man, calling it indefensible, and for a reason: this gimmicky version of The Invisible Man was full of terrible CGI, lacking performances from generally good actors, and unsatisfying moments that dampened the story's pacing. It revolves around a group of scientists led by the smug Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon), who invent a serum to make people invisible. Caine is so sure of his invention that he decides to be the test subject for the serum, wreaking havoc in the lab by the end of the movie. Nothing but the cast redeems Hollow Man, though it's hard to watch them struggle in a terrible movie.

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3 'Suicide Squad' (2016)

Directed by David Ayer

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The fate of David Ayer's Suicide Squad is mostly known to worldwide DC fans and cinemagoers in general. The movie's awful reviews rippled through space and time, causing people everywhere to focus on Suicide Squad's downsides over any possible upsides. When there's a movie that even its director hates — as is true in David Ayer's case — redeemable qualities go out of the window. Much like Josh Trank's fate with Fantastic Four, Ayer had the final version ripped out of his hands by studio executives, redoing the movie in such a way that people often choose to forget it ever happened.

Suicide Squad revolves around a group of comic book villains recruited by special agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). She gathers criminals like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) and blackmails them into helping Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) in defeating a supernatural enemy. After Warner Bros. gave James Gunn a chance to revive the story in 2021, David Ayer's version seems to be forgotten and largely ignored.

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Suicide Squad

PG-13

Action

Superhero

Where to Watch

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Not available

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*Availability in US

Release Date
August 5, 2016
Cast
Joel Kinnaman, Will Smith, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Jared Leto, Viola Davis, Margot Robbie, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Scott Eastwood

Runtime
123 minutes
Writers
David Ayer

2 'The Snowman' (2017)

Directed by Tomas Alfredson

10 Movies So Bad Their Directors Disowned Them (17)

Jo Nesbø, a famous Norwegian writer, penned a string of thriller novels featuring the hardened detective Harry Hole and sold rights for one of the acclaimed novels, The Snowman, to be adapted into a movie. When it was announced, fans were happy to see Nesbø's book coming to the big screen and that actors like Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson were attached. However, The Snowman was more abominable than anything else; the novel has more tension and inclusion of its surroundings, something that a visual representation should have improved on but instead failed so badly that it's considered the worst crime movie of all time.

Michael Fassbender plays Harry Hole, an Oslo detective; his personal history and a string of serial killings get him involved in a cat-and-mouse chase with a dangerous and swift serial killer. Acclaimed Swedish director Tomas Alfredson tried to tackle the cinematic depiction of the larger-than-life detective Harry Hole but ultimately completely regretted and even disowned the feature. He blamed the filming schedule and a lack of respect for the original script, which he claimed wasn't even filmed completely. Fans of the Harry Hole novels agree with Alfredson and mostly choose to ignore that the movie happened.

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The Snowman

R

Drama

Crime

Documentary

Thriller

Where to Watch

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*Availability in US

Release Date
October 12, 2017
Cast
Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jonas Karlsson, Michael Yates, Ronan Vibert

Runtime
140

Writers
Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini, Søren Sveistrup, Jo Nesbø

1 'Dune' (1984)

Directed by David Lynch

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David Lynch notoriously disowned Dune so hard that he insisted for years that the movie wasn't what he wanted it to be. The theatrical release had Alan Smithee as the listed director, and it was a box-office flop despite high expectations from the studio. The final product is a movie that both Lynch and the studio executives hated because it combined things both parties never wanted it to be. Kyle MacLachlan portrays Paul Atreides, the fated leader of the Fremen, the tribal people who live on Arrakis, and the film chronicles his struggle against the enemy family, the Harkonnens.

Dune is an iconic story by Frank Herbert, and with Dennis Vileneuve's latest two-part installment, it was given some justice after Lynch's version. However, the consequences of the first one never left the cinematic world. Lynch apparently rewrote an existing script and divided the story into two parts as well but was forced to make it one script, which is one of the reasons the movie bombed. A lot about this version of Dune can also be learned in the documentary called Jodorowsky's Dune, following the struggles of the initially attached director, Alejandro Jodorowsky.

10 Movies So Bad Their Directors Disowned Them (25)
Dune

PG-13

Where to Watch

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Not available

Not available

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date
December 14, 1984
Cast
Kyle MacLachlan, Francesca Annis, Brad Dourif, Richard Jordan, sting, Virginia Madsen, Everett McGill, Patrick Stewart, Kenneth McMillan, Jurgen Prochnow, Sean Young

Runtime
137 Mins

Writers
David Lynch

NEXT: The 10 Best Directors to Breakout in the 21st Century, Ranked

  • The Snowman
  • Alien 3

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