10 Directors Who Should Never Be Trusted With Giant Budgets

2. Renny Harlin

The man born Lauri Harjola has spent the better part of four decades working as a studio director for hire, bouncing across multiple genres. After making his debut with the curious-sounding Finnish action movie Born American starring Mike 'Son Of Chuck' Norris, Renny Harlin made the jump to Hollywood where his career has been interesting to say the least. Harlin got his crack at blockbuster film-making with $70m sequel Die Hard 2, which based on the goodwill to its iconic predecessor grossed over $240m at the box office. His next effort, $65m Sylvester Stallone vehicle Cliffhanger, was another commercial success that seemingly positioned Harlin as a safe pair of hands when it came to making studio blockbusters. Unfortunately, his next movie was Cutthroat Island. One of the biggest flops in history, the movie earned just over $10m worldwide against a $98m budget and served as the final nail in the coffin for struggling Carolco Pictures. Harlin would never again reach the heights that his career had enjoyed in the early 1990s following the Cutthroat Island debacle. In fact, the $165m gross of Deep Blue Sea remains the last hit of his career, and that was 15 years ago. The underrated Long Kiss Goodnight was a commercial disappointment, while the $72m racing drama Driven, $80m horror prequel Exorcist: The Beginning and this year's $70m historical actioner The Legend Of Hercules all failed to even recoup their hefty budgets at the box office. The Legend of Hercules was the director's first theatrical release since 2009's 12 Rounds, a $22m movie that still failed to earn back its low production costs, and his first big-budget effort in ten years. Based on his track record over the last two decades, its unlikely that Renny Harlin will be trusted with another expensive movie anytime soon.