10 Great Films That Lost Money On Ambitious Sets

Popeye is amazing, but from a financial standpoint, studio capitalists were ill-advised in choosing an unorthodox director. Musical adaptations were huge. Grease had just been released a few years prior, regaining it's production cost in under a week. Robert Evans of Paramount, lost the bidding war for Annie, but retained the old rights to Popeye. He and Disney soon had slot-machines for eyeballs.

It was an especially odd time to elect Altman, who had recently been abstruse. 1980's Quintet was slow, laborious, and to some even unwatchable. They gave him money, though, and lots of it--around £45 million. Altman had an entire coastal village constructed in Malta for the main set and even installed a 70 meter breakwater for protection, all of which took 7 months to build. His appropriation of the budget for personal enjoyment, and the substances required, is somewhat legendary. Popeye Village, or Sweethaven, still stands as a tourist attraction, with Popeye characters and other amusements.

Popeye actually did well financially by most standards, but not for its producers, and the failure would damage Altman's reputation for some time and force him to create more independently. Also concurrent was Evans' drug trafficking scandal and embroilment in a murder case, all along the inglorious road from Chinatown to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.