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

How do you follow four big-budget pictures, one of which is the greatest fantasy epic trilogy ever made? By adapting a young adult novel about the rape, murder and subsequent afterlife in limbo of a teenage girl, apparently.

Or you do if you're Peter Jackson.

Production of the Lovely Bones went smoothly, with a formidable cast in the form of Stanley Tucci and a young Saoirse Ronan, but audiences weren't happy at test screenings, complaining that the film's killer got away with too gentle or passive a death.

Though Jackson had creative control over the film - see where directing the Lord of the Rings gets you - he was encouraged by the studio to adapt the film to the audience's demands and satiate their bloodlust, extending the scene out and shooting more footage for maximum on-screen suffering while keeping the rating within 12/PG-13 limits.

Unfortunately, the film was still a critical failure, with critics and audiences alike noting the troubling tone shifts from whimsical sentimentality to adult themes and violence. This was not helped by the surprisingly awkward 'in-between' (limbo) visuals and a structure that was better suited to the noble medium of the novel, not the big screen.