14 Directors Who Desperately Need A Hit Movie

11. Robert Rodriguez

Robert Rodriguez has had one of the weirdest careers of just about any filmmaker, getting his start with the low-budget action flick El Mariachi, becoming a cult B-movie filmmaker throughout the 1990s, then directing a bunch of the Spy Kids movies, before returning to his schlock roots while throwing in the occasional family movie for good measure.

Unfortunately, his last movie to be both critically and financially successful was Machete back in 2010, with 2014's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For ending up an unexpected box office bomb.

He's such a talented director, so it's a shame he so often picks low-hanging fruit rather than honing his craft on more worthy projects.

Will It Happen?: Unlike most directors on this list, Rodriguez has one golden opportunity ahead of him for sure: he's already wrapped shooting a $200 million, James Cameron-produced adaptation of the Battle Angel Alita manga.

Granted, Rodriguez has never directed a film on this scale before and if he screws it up, he'll probably be back shooting Spy Kids 5 before you know it, but with the guidance of a filmmaker as brilliant as Cameron, there's a good chance he'll make a decent film. Box office prospects are a little more dicey, though.