How NOT To Make A Comic Book Movie (Why These 10 Failed)
3. Alienating The Fanbase Entirely - Catwoman (2004)
When Catwoman was released in 2004, it emerged from more than a decade of development hell, and it should have stayed there. It was initially going to star Michelle Pfeiffer with Tim Burton on to direct, but that eventually fell through, and after people were brought on, it eventually landed on Halle Berry to star as Catwoman.
If you've ever read a single issue of a Catwoman comic... no, scratch that; if you've ever read a comic book of any kind that contained a depiction of Catwoman, you wouldn't recognize her in this movie. The main reason why this film failed was due to a complete abandonment of the source material.
Literally, everything about Catwoman was stripped out and redone, and it completely destroyed this film. Catwoman was no longer Selina Kyle, she was Patience Phillips, and she got an overhauled origin story as well. It can't be stressed enough: this movie has nothing to do with the DC Comics character.
When you develop a comic book movie, it's important to remember that there's already an eager group of fans ready and willing to see it. When you alienate them completely and deliver a sub-par film, it's going to fail. Catwoman cost around $100 million to make, and it only made $82.1 million at the global box office.
The film was so bad, Berry knew it, which is why she is one of the few stars to ever show up and claim a Razzie. When she stood at the podium, accepting the award, she said, "I want to thank Warner Bros. for casting me in this piece-of-s***, god-awful movie."