8 Movies That Bombed So Hard They BANKRUPTED Their Studios

Hammer Productions and Alfred Hitchcock are two titans of British cinema. Hammer is still known worldwide for its timeless ‘Hammer Horror’ films such as The Quatermass Xperiment and Christopher Lee’s iconic performance in their Dracula adaption. Hitchcock is, of course, known for equally well-regarded classics such as Psycho and Vertigo.

So you’d think that Hammer Productions remaking a Hitchcock masterpiece would be a recipe for critical and box office success. Sadly, what looks good on paper doesn’t always work out so well in reality.

By 1979, Hammer’s gothic horror films had fallen out of fashion and they attempted to pivot towards more serious fare with films like The Lady Vanishes. But critics were lukewarm at best towards it and it didn’t exactly make a splash at the box office.

This final financial disaster, after a long string of them, forced the studio into a long hibernation. Since a revival in 2007, they have been lending their name to the odd horror release, but they are undoubtedly a shadow of what they once were.