10 Directors Who Survived Huge Movie Failures

There really wasn't much excitement for Sony's recent reboot of Charlie's Angels, with a handful of okay trailers and a "budget" trio of leading ladies doing very little to hype general audiences up. And sure enough, the film paid for it. Literally.

Earning just $8 million during its opening weekend in North America (it was projected to rake in more than double that amount), the movie has earned just $51 million worldwide - to date - against an estimated $50 million budget, so unless a Christmas miracle happens, it will end up losing money for its financiers.

Worryingly for Elizabeth Banks, she not only directed the piece - she wrote it, produced it, and starred in it too. She couldn't have had more creative control if she'd tried, and because of her deep, deep involvement with the project, she hasn't emerged from this mess looking all that appealing in terms of future movie prospects.

Or so we thought. Barely a week after Charlie's Angels' disappointing opening, Universal hired Banks to develop an Invisible Woman movie, which she will star in, direct, and produce, once again having free reign to do whatever she likes.

Maybe this was in the works before the Charlie's Angels numbers came in, but regardless, it's pretty amazing that Banks was able to secure this deal immediately off the back of a major flop, a sign that she has a lot of important connections - and a lot of friends - within the industry.