7. Cutthroat Island (Carolco Pictures)
Carolco Pictures' business history reveals a combination of awful decisions and downright bad luck; for instance, they were only minority partners in the production of Cliffhanger, and as such when the film was a box office juggernaut, they saw few returns on their investment, and a 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger project later had to be shelved because the budget somehow spiralled in excess of $100 million. Their most embarrassing foible, however, is unquestionably their attempt to make the big time, with horrendous adventure flick Cutthroat Island. The film was budgeted at $98 million - with Carolco selling off the rights to Showgirls, another ultimately highly successful film, to secure the budget - and after Michael Douglas dropped out, the studio for some reason allowed a not-so-popular Matthew Modine to be cast alongside Geena Davis, who was herself trying to recover after a series of flops. The studio filed for bankruptcy a month before the film was released, and so everything hinged on the film succeeding; it didn't, making barely 10% of its budget back, killing Carolco stone dead.