10 Movies So Awful They Were Pulled From Theatres
2. Swept Away (2002)
Filmmaker Guy Ritchie became famous for two well-received crime comedy films, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Shortly after the release of Snatch, Ritchie married pop icon Madonna. His first project after getting married was Swept Away, a remake of an award-winning 1974 Italian romantic comedy starring his new wife.
Dismissed by audiences as a Madonna vanity project, critics viewed Swept Away as if it were an unintentionally funny parody of the 1974 original. The pre-release trashing the film received caused U.S. distributor Screen Gems to get cold feet and it only opened Swept Away in 196 theatres.
Though it had a decent opening for such a limited release (grossing $354,052), the reviews and word-of-mouth were so bad that Screen Gems began pulling the film after two weeks. It spent one more weekend in 59 theatres before tapping out with a U.S. gross of $598,645. Foreign box office pushed its grosses to over $1 million, far short of its $10 million price tag.
The planned theatrical release in Ritchie's native UK was cancelled and he returned to directing crime movies immediately.