10 Movies That Ruined Their Studios

Adapted from the 1996 novel by Jeffrey Shaara, epic war drama Gods and Generals was a passion project for writer-director Ronald F. Maxwell and his producer, media mogul Ted Turner. who financed it to the tune of $56 million via his Ted Turner Pictures company. 

The film takes us back to the American Civil War and follows Stonewall Jackson (Stephen Lang) right up to his death at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Now, the USA’s cult of patriotism usually knows no bounds, and so anything with a Civil War vibe can usually fill screens on vague ideas alone. But US audiences are also the reason 90 minutes is considered the ideal movie runtime; as Hollywood tells it, they don’t like to sit and pay attention to one thing for too long. 

Unfortunate, then, that Gods and Generals is three hours and 40 minutes long (four hours 40 if you catch the director’s cut).

The film made around $13 million at the box office, which was bad enough considering the initial $56 million budget, but that was made all the worse by the reported $30 million Ted Turner Pictures sunk into marketing. Needless to say, this was the final movie Ted Turner or Ted Turner Pictures produced.