# How Big Must a Flop Be to Ruin a Career? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404 "2012-06-07T17:16:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/61 "2012-07-11T17:03:49Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > I don’t think it completely ruined his career - he can probably live 10 full lives on Pulp Fiction alone - but has he really done anything since? Battlefield Earth came out a dozen years ago. Travolta has been in 16 movies since then with more on the way. ---
**Author:** ![JMH125](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@JMH125](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JMH125)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/62 "2012-07-11T17:07:02Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > How can this thread exist and not have anyone mention Travolta’s eyeball-gougingly bad Battlefield Earth? It’s one of only two movies I’ve ever stopped watching midway through. > > I don’t think it completely ruined his career - he can probably live 10 full lives on Pulp Fiction alone - but has he really done anything since? Has Travolta done anything since Battlefield Earth? Oh yeah, tons, some of them good :). A Love Song for Bobby Long and Lonesome Hearts were both good films. [http://www.fandango.com/johntravolta/filmography/p71670](http://www.fandango.com/johntravolta/filmography/p71670) ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/63 "2012-07-14T05:06:59Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Micheal Caine, Jaws 3. “I have not seen Jaws 3, I understand that it is a terrible movie. I have seen the house that the money from that movie built, and it is magnificent!” I read that in Micheal Caine’s voice, when he’s exasperated and his voice rises to a cockney crescendo ! That was fun, so thanks 😃 ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/64 "2012-07-14T19:20:15Z")
No, no, [like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFIQIpC5_wY)! ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/65 "2012-07-15T01:26:38Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > No, no, [like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFIQIpC5_wY)! I’ve only seen it once before but I remember that clip! Thanks 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/66 "2012-07-15T01:39:06Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > No, no, [like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFIQIpC5_wY)! I rented that a couple of months ago. Very funny! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/67 "2012-07-15T09:53:42Z")
Michael Parkinson, the British talk show host, once had Michael Caine on his programme and raised one of Caine’s recent stinkers. Why did Caine sometimes agree to appear in such terrible movies? Caine’s reply was: “Well, Michael, I’ve found that, in order to maintain a very high standard of living, you sometimes have to make a very low standard of movie”. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/68 "2012-07-18T20:17:45Z")
This is going back a ways, but I’ve read that [No Orchids For Miss Blandish](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040647/) pretty much wrecked the career of beautiful Linden Travers. UT~ ---
**Author:** ![Greekfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@Greekfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greekfreak)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/69 "2012-10-01T18:06:14Z")
Bernie Brillstein writes about what sinks an actor’s career is his/her ego when they get hot. He discusses the stupidity of Jim Carrey to have accepted 20 million bucks for “The Cable Guy” when it was clearly the wrong material for him at that time. If we’re talking directors, Cimino was the one who paid for all the excesses of the 70s. He was hardly the worst, just the most famous because of Heaven’s Gate. But more recently, Mike Figgis had the world by the balls after winning the oscar for “Leaving Las Vegas” but then decided to re-write “One Night Stand” as well as direct, and the film tanked. He’s hardly done much since then. “Hudson Hawk” destroyed Michael Lehmann’s career as a director. According to Joel Silver, who defended him, “Michael took the absolute worst shit a human being can take while making that movie.” “Cutthroat Island” destroyed both Geena Davis and director Renny Harlin’s careers. The film actually wasn’t that bad, however. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/70 "2012-10-01T19:16:43Z")
The problem with Michael Cimino wasn’t the massive bomb of “Heaven’s Gate”, it’s that he’s a incredible control freak. In the 80s, he turned down or bailed early on a number of name projects, from an aborted remake of “Mutiny On The Bounty” to brief work on “Footloose”(!). ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/71 "2012-10-01T21:45:04Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > The problem with Michael Cimino wasn’t the massive bomb of “Heaven’s Gate”, it’s that he’s a incredible control freak. In the 80s, he turned down or bailed early on a number of name projects, from an aborted remake of “Mutiny On The Bounty” to brief work on “Footloose”(!). This is just amateur psychology on my part but I’ve found that one’s being a “control freak” is often connected to having a severe lack of confidence in one’s abilities. I’m not saying Cimino suffers from this but the whole experience of making **Heaven’s Gate** and than having it bomb big would be enough to drain the confidence out of anyone. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/72 "2012-10-04T20:48:56Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Jennifer Aniston and Katherine Heigl still get work. I guess it depends on what’s a flop cause all of their movies suck. > > Except “Office Space” and it would have been the same without Aniston. You are overlooking the eye candy factor in their cases. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/73 "2012-10-04T21:47:47Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > I wonder the same thing about Elijah Wood, actually, but he seems to be doing just fine. Obviously he’s better off than most actors but…he stars on a sitcom on FX. His big movie roles have been basically non-existent unless he’s wearing prosthetic hairy feet. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/74 "2012-10-04T23:02:11Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Obviously he’s better off than most actors but…he stars on a sitcom on FX. His big movie roles have been basically non-existent unless he’s wearing prosthetic hairy feet. Let’s face it, aside from a role in the massive LOTR ensemble, was Elijah Woods ever a huge star? The answer, of course, is that he never was. He was always just an actor… and he’s an actor who has had a pretty extensive career, so there’s no way he qualifies for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/75 "2012-10-05T00:12:41Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > You are overlooking the eye candy factor in their cases. Yes, they have substantial, er, credentials. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/76 "2012-10-05T00:22:22Z")
[Rupert Everett](http://www.eonline.com/news/218179/feud-alert-rupert-everett-slams-jennifer-aniston-s-tasteless-career) had this to say about Jennifer Aniston’s inexplicable career. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/77 "2012-10-05T00:37:43Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > [Rupert Everett](http://www.eonline.com/news/218179/feud-alert-rupert-everett-slams-jennifer-aniston-s-tasteless-career) had this to say about Jennifer Aniston’s inexplicable career. Rupert Everett is an asshole who doesn’t know he’s an asshole and who thinks the world hates him because he’s gay instead of the real reason, which is… **Because he’s an asshole!** ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/78 "2012-10-05T00:46:26Z")
> [@ScarletNumber](#): > > I think Kevin Smith’s studio career is pretty much over after Zach & Miri and Cop Out. Smith has actually been pretty successful. He’s built his reputation in dialogue-heavy comedies - and that’s a low budget genre. _Zack & Miri_ only made forty-two million but that was a profit because it only cost twenty-four million. _Cop Out_ cost thirty million to make and earned fifty-six million. I’ll grant you that _Red State_ was an undeniable flop - it barely earned a million dollars. And its failure hit Smith particularly hard because he had invested a lot of his own money into it. But overall, Smith will probably always be able to find studios to bankroll him if he wishes. From a financial standpoint, he’s a low-cost low-risk investment. (This is the same reason Woody Allen can keep making movies.) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/79 "2012-10-05T00:49:41Z")
I think the answer is there is no movie flop big enough to can a career, it really depends on the actors body of work and respect in the filming community. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404/80 "2012-10-05T01:04:56Z")
I think someone moving from being a big star on TV might get 2-3 before it’s time to return to the boob tube. See Farrah Fawcett and David Caruso. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-must-a-flop-be-to-ruin-a-career/624404.md?page=5)