10 Directors Who Survived Huge Movie Failures
8. George Miller (Happy Feet Two)
In 2006, the man who brought us Mad Max, Mad Max 2, and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome directed Happy Feet, an animated musical about a group of fluffy penguins. That doesn't sound right, but we promise you, it's true.
An odd combination of filmmaker and material, yes, but regardless, the movie was a smash-hit, more than tripling its budget and spawning a 2011 sequel, Happy Feet Two. Unfortunately for Miller though, lightning did not strike twice.
The furry follow-up was a dud in every sense of the word: it lost money for its backers, got a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, and even led to the closure of Dr D. Studios, one of the animation companies that produced the film.
Miller was at a career-low, and with his next film - Mad Max: Fury Road - being stuck in development hell (Warner Bros was so concerned about the project that they sent an executive to keep an eye on Miller's set and keep the movie "on track"), it looked like things were only going to get worse from there.
But against all the odds and despite all the naysayers, Fury Road came out of the gates with an explosive middle finger to all those who were sure it would be a failure.
Hailed as one of the finest action films of the decade, the movie was nominated for several Academy Awards - including Best Picture - and while it didn't blow the doors off the box-office, it reaffirmed that Miller was a fantastic filmmaker who perhaps just got a little bit unlucky with Happy Feet Two's underwhelming reception.