10 Movies That Destroyed Themselves

Since the heyday of the original two movies, most entries in the Alien series have been given short shrift by fans. But the dubious honour of being first to be rejected by sci-fi and horror lovers en masse goes to David Fincher, with his very first feature film.

Much like Fox giving Fantastic Four to Trank, they have a lot to answer for in placing the next entry in one of the biggest sci-fi horror blockbuster series of all time with a newbie. But it was their meddling in the first place that caused a rift with, and the eventual firing of original director Vincent Ward.

Add to this that Sigourney Weaver was kicking up a fuss over the writing of her character, Ripley, and that Fincher was brought in close to the start of shooting with an unfinished script, and the typically provident director was left with a mess of a production from the start. From an audience perspective though, the (un)creative decision to kill off Newt (Carrie Henn) and Hicks (Michael Biehn) at the beginning of the film was one disaster too many.

Despite its issues and mediocre critical rating, Alien Cubed still went on to become the best-selling entry in the franchise at the time, and the film has come to be regarded in a generally more positive light in recent years.