10 Big-Budget Movies That Were Doomed From The Start

John Travolta was seemingly the only person on the planet (or outwith the Church of Scientology, at least) that didn't think Battlefield Earth would be anything other than f**king terrible. After rejuvenating his career with an Academy Award-nominated performance in Pulp Fiction several years earlier, Travolta very nearly killed it entirely in one fell swoop.

Incredibly, Travolta initially approached Quentin Tarantino to direct, but was swiftly rejected. The actor certainly had supreme confidence in his passion project, describing it as both 'Pulp Fiction in the year 3000' and 'like Star Wars, only better'. That confidence was almost laughably misplaced, with Battlefield Earth rightly regarded as one of the worst movies ever made.

Critics absolutely tore it to pieces, with virtually no aspect of the production safe from their scorn. Derided and lambasted from virtually everywhere, audiences spoke with their wallets and Battlefield Earth mustered a worldwide total of just $29.7m against a $73m budget. Unsurprisingly, it remains the most high-profile Scientology-related movie to ever see the light of the day.