5 Directors Who Are Still Living Off The Good Will Of One Film

john singleton People are so often happy to just cruise these days as the amount of goodwill the cinema going public has towards a director is often relative to past successes. The better the previous work the more good will that you'll have in the bank. Every time that I go and see a new Quentin Tarantino film, I always have the thought in my mind that this is the director that gave us the double whammy of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, not the director who gave us the bloated mess that was Grindhouse or the Kill Bill double-bill. And as he continues to disappoint, I'm left thinking, "Oh well. Maybe next time." Looking at the directors working in Hollywood today, there are so many that constantly using the, "A film from the director that brought you..." format to promote their newest film and the problem is the mentioned film tends to be the only success that they've had and the ad campaign seems to omit the numerous turkey's that the filmmakers have spewed out since that hit. So without further ado, let's have a look at people that need to make another hit and stop living off the past;

5. M Night Shyamalan

AKA - "From The Director of The Sixth Sense..."m-night-shyamalan-slick Yes, we as well start with the obvious entry when it comes to living of the success of one film, it is indeed M Night Sham-alam-a-ding dong. I'd personally say since Signs, though it's disputable, the man has done nothing but direct critical flop after critical flop and yet he somehow continues to get financing for his next features. The shock statistic? He has never made a commercial flop. His films may be kicked around by everyone that goes to see them, but they always make at least double their budget back. The only exception is The Lady in Water, which only just recovered it's budget. Yes, The Happening with Mark "Funky Bunch" Wahlberg begging a potted plant not to kill his family and The Last Airbender, the plot heavy CGI headache, were both well received at the box office making $ 163 and $319 million respectively. He is constantly referred to as the man who directed The Sixth Sense, because marketing knows that no matter how old that film may be and how well known the twist is, they'd much rather promote M Night as the successful director of a 14 year old film, than as the man who gave us the 6% rotten Last Airbender. His name has even been removed entirely from his next film, Will & Jaden Smith's After Earth. Maybe they figure one Fresh Prince negates one M Night?
 
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A simple chap who loves the magic of cinema despite the odd disappointment or two. Get in touch with Jay on Twitter@reellife32.