After existing for over a century, the movie industry has made its fair share of mistakes. Looking back, it's easy to spot the terrible decisions that changed the business forever, and others that had catastrophic consequences for the team involved.
A fascinating Reddit discussion started by CosmosisJones42 is looking for "the single worst call in film history", with examples such as MGM burning their original silent film library, the untapped potential of Disney's Star Wars film era, John Carter's disastrous box office flop, or The Hobbit being stretched into three movies.
Over the weekend, over a thousand Redditors joined the conversation, sharing some unbelievable Hollywood stories.
"The decision to make Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton in 1963. It was wildly expensive and the audiences hated it. It nearly bankrupted the studio and forced them to sell off their backlot to developers," said one user, calling it "the single biggest mistake in movie history".
"Los Angeles would look utterly different today if not for the folly of Cleopatra," claimed another user.
Some mistakes led to deadly consequences for the team involved. A few users recalled the horrifying making of John Wayne's historical drama The Conqueror from 1956. If you can believe it, there was an even worse decision in that movie than casting Wayne as the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan.
"Decision was made to film downwind of a Nuclear testing site. 41% of the entire cast & crew ended up developing cancer," wrote one user, highlighting actor Pedro Armendariz's case. "He was diagnosed with terminal neck cancer and chose to appear in the Bond movie From Russia With Love during his cancer treatment to help secure his family's financial future. The pain eventually got too great for him though and he took his own life shortly after filming."
There's no denying that the old Hollywood era had some questionable decision-making.
"The blacklisting during the McCarthy Era. They should not have given in. It killed or severely damaged so many careers, not in the least of Charlie Chaplin," shared another redditor.
However, there are more recent stories that fit the bill, too. While the introduction mentioned the bad call of adapting The Hobbit into three films instead of one, there's another story worth mentioning in the cinematic history of the fantasy saga.
"Every studio that passed on Lord of the Rings when it went into [turnaround]. New Line was literally the last pitch Peter Jackson & Co. had to save the film. New Line loved their pitch so much they signed on and added the additional 3rd film. They went on to make nearly $3 Billion at the box office for the whole trilogy," explained one user.
The Reddit discussion continues with plenty of other "bad" choices, from movies that should never have happened (like Cats) to marketing decisions (like M&Ms turning down E.T.) that, in hindsight, were totally wrong for the brand involved.
If you want to spot the future "worst bad calls" in movie history, check out our list of all upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond.
