10 Bad Movies Oscar-Winning Directors Went On To Make

5. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - Steven Spielberg

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Lucasfilm

Steven Spielberg has directed over thirty feature-films in his career and if you take the sheer volume of them into consideration, his batting average is actually rather good.

And because of this, it's deeply saddening that one of his few major misfires can be found in a franchise that up until the fourth instalment, was considered near-perfect.

Spielberg has won two directing Oscars - one in 1994 and one in 1999 - for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. But even before those accomplishments, he was considered one of the best, if not the best, in the business, with the likes of Jaws, the Indy trilogy and Jurassic Park already under his belt.

And that's why Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull was such a crushing disappointment. One of the finest directors in history returning to a series that inspired a generation and is beloved by millions and millions of people? Everybody expected greatness, but what we got was Shia LaBeouf swinging through the jungle, a group of monkeys in tow.

Spielberg swiftly returned to form with the likes of War Horse, Lincoln and Bridge Of Spies, and while Indiana Jones' latest escapade didn't put the director's Oscar-win into question, it ever-so-slightly tainted his career in the eyes of the fans.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!