12 Movies Studios Tried (And Failed) To Fix After Fan Reactions

Very early on in auteur director David Fincher's career, he was brought on board to make the third entry in what was one of the most successful horror franchises to date.

Alien 3 should have been a cakewalk, a slam dunk, a back to basics Xenomorph romp that would put Fincher immediately in his rightful place next to the first two films' directors, James Cameron and Ridley Scott. But the production was mired in studio interference from the off, beginning with a half-finished script and $7 million spent without a single cell of film being shot.

Fincher and Sigourney Weaver made the best of a bad lot, but events came to a head when, following dubious test screening results, the studio - 20th Century Fox - ordered reshoots months after production had concluded and ultimately wrested control away from the director.

What resulted was an executive-cut film that derailed the focused vision of the franchise. Though a relative commercial success, taking $175 million at the box office against a $60 million budget, it was considered to have under-performed for what it was. As a result of this meddling, Fincher disowned Alien 3 and, in recent years, has only further solidified this sentiment in interviews.

Still, it set him up for a career of no compromises that has brought exponential returns, Alien be damned.