7. George Lucas - The Star Wars Prequels
I spent a lot of time debating if Lucas was suitable for this particular list. Does he count as a great director? I'd say he's a good world builder - THX, Star Wars and Indy all show this in abundance - but hasn't lots of behind the camera experience; lets not forget he only directed one of the Star Wars trilogy. But then if you look at American Graffiti (the film that got Star Wars made), there's definitely some real talent here. Now onto the miss. The Star Wars prequels aren't bad films. They act as above average blockbusters that tell a complete story in their run time. The issue is that they don't work as well when compared to the originals. The mysticism is gone and many of the classic trilogies throwaway moments (Jedi wear Tatooine garbs and are old) became key plot points while others (Leia remembering her mother) were hastily ignored. That's my main issue with the prequels (CGI obsession aside); they didn't honour the originals. Fans, however, tended to be a bit more forceful in their hate, twisting Lucas' reputation from being a visionary to a hack.
Did he pull it back? Indy 4 and Red Tails are his only contributions to the art form post-ROTS. The sale of Lucasfilm certainly helped him financially, but given the cheers when he left, it's clear the fans haven't forgiven him.