10 Big-Budget Movies That Were Doomed From The Start
5. The Avengers
These days when someone mentions the Avengers movie, your mind immediately thinks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and their epic superhero team-up that raked in over $1.5bn at the box office. And rightfully so, as anyone associated with the other Avengers doesn't seem to have a kind word to say about it.
A hugely misjudged update of the popular 1960s television series, the $60m summer blockbuster sought to emulate the slick espionage thrills of the recent Mission: Impossible adaptation, but unintentionally mirrored the high-camp antics of Austin Powers instead.
Warner Bros. knew they had a disaster on their hands while The Avengers was still shooting, so much so that no preview screenings were held for critics and there wasn't even a world premiere, which is virtually unheard of for a heavily-promoted studio project.
The studio was so appalled by an early version of the movie that it was hastily recut from 115 minutes down to 89, rendering the final product virtually incomprehensible. Director Jeremiah S. Chechik had such a miserable experience that he literally vanished off the face of the planet for years, and the movie itself limped into theaters and bombed hard, earning just $48.6m.