No matter how great a director is, they have some missteps within their filmography.

Nobody’s perfect, so I get it. Sometimes, it takes some time to get going. Other times, a director can stumble. Sometimes it’s due to unchecked ambition. Other times, it’s because they’ve lost a step.

Either way, it’s just a small blemish on an otherwise incredible record.

With that in mind, we set out to find examples of subpar movies from renowned directors.

Martin Campbell – Green Lantern

On the one hand, having the director of GoldenEye, Casino Royale, and The Mask of Zorro handle the Green Lantern movie is a fantastic idea.

However, well, Green Lantern was what it was: a massive disappointment of epic proportions.

Not only did the movie put a damper on the Green Lantern property, but Campbell’s career never recovered.

Ang Lee – Hulk

Maybe there’s something about these comic book movies from acclaimed directors that just don’t work out.

At least in the case of Ang Lee, he was able to have 2003’s Hulk sandwiched between two incredible films: 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and 2005’s Brokeback Mountain.

It’s also a stark reminder that, no matter how successful the Marvel Cinematic Universe was leading into Infinity War and Endgame, it wasn’t perfect.

Francis Ford Coppola – Megalopolis

I’m not sure how you go from The Godfather to whatever Megalopis was, but that’s what happened with Francis Ford Coppola!

To be fair, the man is well into his 80s at this point; he’s clearly lost his touch.

The worst part, though, was that before 2024, there was another easy contender for this entry: Jack, which he described as a “dumb Disney film with Robin Williams.”

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Peter Jackson – Meet the Feebles

The Lord of the Rings was a massive risk for so many reasons. Filming three movies like that all at once was a massive undertaking; what if the first movie didn’t work?

The bigger issue, though, is the fact that the guy making these was the director of Meet the Feebles, which isn’t necessarily a bad film, but it’s certainly not for everyone, as indicated by its box office failure.

Steven Spielberg – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I’m sorry; this isn’t a good movie. It’s not a proper Indiana Jones movie.

There’s no real imagination here; it feels like a soulless cash grab where everyone is going through the motions.

South Park said it best, and sadly, no one seemed to learn their lesson when they trotted Harrison Ford back out for Dial of Destiny. At least the Indiana Jones video game is pretty good!

Rob Reiner – North

Few directors start their careers as strongly as Rob Reiner. This Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, and I’m missing some other classic movies in here, too!

1994’s North, however, is nowhere near as good as those. I’ll let Roger Ebert take it from here:

“I have no idea why Rob Reiner, or anyone else, wanted to make this story into a movie, and close examination of the film itself is no help. North is one of the most unpleasant, contrived, artificial, cloying experiences I’ve had at the movies. To call it manipulative would be inaccurate; it has an ambition to manipulate, but fails…it is a bad film – one of the worst movies ever made. But it is not by a bad filmmaker, and must represent some sort of lapse from which Reiner will recover – possibly sooner than I will.”

James Cameron – Piranha II: The Spawning

James Cameron gave us Terminator and Terminator 2. He’s the director who launched the Avatar franchise. He was the king of the world after Titanic.

Before all that, though, his first project was a monster movie about piranhas.

Cameron would, wisely, disown the movie following its release, but according to an interview, it may not have been his fault.

“It wasn’t until much later that I even figured out what had happened. It was like, “Oh, man, I thought I was doing a good job.” But when I saw what they were cutting together, it was horrible…I used it as a credit when it did me some good, which was to get Terminator. Subsequently, I dropped it. I think that makes sense. What the heck. There’s no truth but what we make.”

David Fincher – Alien 3

Like Cameron, David Fincher had to start somewhere. Also like Cameron, Fincher started with a pretty bad movie.

Also, like Cameron, it may not have been his fault, as the film was plagued by constant studio meddling.

He would follow it up with 1995’s Seven. If you ask me, it’s a copy of Alien 3 in the box. There’s nothing scarier than that.

Sam Raimi – Oz the Great and Powerful

If Wicked has taught us anything, it’s that there is plenty of staying power and mass appeal with the “extended universe” of The Wizard of Oz.

The original film is an all-time classic, and the interest in learning more about Oz and its inhabitants shouldn’t be surprising. It’s one thing that made Oz the Great and Powerful such an appealing film.

Sadly, Sam Raimi wasn’t able to salvage the film. It feels incredibly miscast; James Franco has zero energy in his performance, and it also suffers as a far inferior “prequel” compared to Wicked. Still made a bunch of money at the box office, though, so there’s that!

Kirk Wise – Bobbleheads: The Movie

You may not know the name Kirk Wise, but you’ve certainly seen his movies.

Beauty and the Beast is one of the best animated movies of all time. The Huncback of Notre Dame is a Disney Renaissance classic.

Wise would take a break from the industry for a while, but he’d return in 2020 for, and I’m serious, Bobbleheads: The Movie, which is far worse than you could ever imagine.

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