6. Brazil
UniversalTerry Gilliam doesn't exactly have a charmed relationship with film executives, consistently conflicting with them over the artistic merits of his films versus their worth as a commercial enterprise. So it came to the surprise of exactly no one when he brought the creative, ambitious fantasy film Brazil to the studios, they were less than impressed. It did poorly with test audiences and there were concerns over its extravagant run time (clocking in at just about two and a half hours long). When Gilliam balked at the idea of editing his precious film, Universal commissioned Sid Sheinberg to cut Brazil down to studio-approved size. The 148 minute long film was mercilessly chopped down to 94 minutes, and a saccharine happy ending in which love conquers all was tacked on. Gilliam was so outraged by its treatment that he took out an ad in Variety, drawing attention to the fact that the film Brazil, with his name on it, had been hacked to pieces. Universal eventually caved, and released Gilliam's original cut to audiences, albeit with a few minor (and Gilliam-approved) revisions.