10 Worst Summer Movies Of All Time

No amount of popcorn could save them.

Transformers Bumblebee2
Paramount Pictures

“When the first 747s landed at Los Angeles International Airport, everybody thought flying through the sky was the greatest marvel they had ever seen,” Steven Spielberg said in 2000. “Today we never even look at 747s. They’re a dime a dozen, and it’s the same with the blockbuster.”

He has a point: when Jaws opened in 1975, it played all summer long in American theaters. Four decades later, Wonder Woman astonished Hollywood’s bean counters by still being in the top three in its third week. There’s a strange kind of madness at work here, one that allows audiences to put each big summer movie from their minds before moving on to the next.

Given the quality of most summer movies, that’s probably a blessing. If you want quality, intelligence or basic storytelling competence, you’ve got the wrong season. Richard Donner’s Superman was released at Christmas, as were Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings films. Fox kept Deadpool away from the silly season altogether, releasing it in February.

The studios reserved summer release dates for the likes of Ben Hur, Spiderman 3 and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End, but are these the worst of their breed?

10. Superman IV: The Quest For Peace

Transformers Bumblebee2
Warner Bros.

Release Date: 24 July 1987

In this era of $250 million blockbusters, it’s hard to imagine the Superman franchise being sold off to a glorified exploitation outfit, but that’s happened when Superman III “underperformed” and the Salkinds, convinced the series had run its course, sold their interest to Golan-Globus.

The result was the lowest grossing entry in the franchise and a future staple of All Time Worst lists. You can tell that only half the proposed $34 million budget ever materialized from the opening credits, which are more akin to a TV series than a big summer popcorn movie.

The flying sequences are sub-par too, accomplished either with visible wires or by pasting the actors onto the screen. Poor rear projection, obvious models and wobbly sets are apparent throughout, but what really sets the movie apart from its predecessors is the attempt to recreate Metropolis on an industrial park in Milton Keynes because Cannon couldn’t afford to film in New York.

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Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'