Spielberg's Worst Directorial Failure

Lincoln is Steven Spieberg's 27th directorial effort in 38 years. He is listed as a producer on 63 films some of which people hated. Pretty obviously, no director or producer alive has made films that have collectively earned more money than Spielberg. I think I've seen 21 of the 27 films.

Starting in 1985 with "The Color Purple" Spielberg began to make films that were not designed to be blockbusters, but to achieve more critical success. These movies all had reasonable budgets, and obviously can't be judged purely on the lower number of ticket sales.

The date of of each film release, (the estimated number of domestic tickets sold in millions) for each film is listed below.

Probably his biggest financial failure was "The Adventures of TinTin" which had a $130 million budget, but completely failed to attract the American audience (most of whom were only vaguely familiar with the character). The movie ended up making 80% of it's revenue overseas. But Spielberg has never direct a movie like "Howard the Duck" which was George Lucas's near

Spielberg's debut feature film was "The Sugarland Express" which was a commercial failure but received a lot of praise. His second feature was "Jaws".

Today at the age of 65 with a personal net worth of over $3 billion, it is not clear if he will try and direct box office blockbusters. He may be satisfied trying to direct smaller movies and look for critical success. He may continue to produce movies that he hopes will be massive moneymakers but not personally direct them.

Jun 11, 1982 ( 141.9) E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Jun 20, 1975 ( 128.1) Jaws
Jun 12, 1981 ( 88.5 ) Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jun 11, 1993 ( 86.2 ) Jurassic Park
Nov 16, 1977 ( 55.6 ) Close Encounters of the Third Kind
May 23, 1984 ( 53.5 ) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
May 23, 1997 ( 49.9 ) The Lost World: Jurassic Park
May 24, 1989 ( 49.4 ) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Jul 24, 1998 ( 45.7 ) Saving Private Ryan
May 22, 2008 ( 44.2 ) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Jun 29, 2005 ( 36.5 ) War of the Worlds
Dec 11, 1991 ( 28.7 ) Hook
Dec 25, 2002 ( 27.4 ) Catch Me If You Can
Dec 20, 1985 ( 26.5 ) The Color Purple
Dec 15, 1993 ( 23.0 ) Schindler's List
Jun 21, 2002 ( 22.7 ) Minority Report
Jun 29, 2001 ( 13.9 ) A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Dec 14, 1979 ( 12.7 ) 1941
Jun 18, 2004 ( 12.5 ) The Terminal
Nov 9, 2012 ( 12.5 ) Lincoln to date
Dec 22, 1989 ( 10.5 ) Always
Dec 25, 2011 ( 10.1 ) War Horse
Dec 21, 2011 ( 9.8 ) The Adventures of Tintin
Dec 10, 1997 ( 9.5 ) Amistad
Dec 23, 2005 ( 7.3 ) Munich
Dec 11, 1987 ( 5.5 ) Empire of the Sun
Mar 31, 1974 ( 4.0 ) The Sugarland Express


Which, if any, of Spielberg's directorial features did you absolutely hate?

Quote: Pacomartin

Which, if any, of Spielberg's directorial features did you absolutely hate?

I can't say any, but due to my low movie watching habit, I don't often watch a movie unless it really catches my attention. As a result, "movies I hate" is a very short list for me.

Saving Private Ryan is absolutely one of my "deserted island" movies, a top 5 all time fave.

There are usually "moments of s**t " in a Spielberg movie I hate. Overall, I grudgingly have to admit there was no particular movie on this list I saw and hated.

There was some stuff he did for TV I hated. I think it was for TV; the stupid one where the ball turret gunner draws a cartoon tire... the train that appeared in someone's back yard... so bad who remembers the names?

Quote: odiousgambit

There was some stuff he did for TV I hated. I think it was for TV; the stupid one where the ball turret gunner draws a cartoon tire... the train that appeared in someone's back yard... so bad who remembers the names?

"Amazing Stories". I only know because we were just talking about this at work last week and had to Google it.

I was really into that flick the first time I saw it, and even at 6ish years old, the wheels came out and I was like WTF? That movie was 27 years ago and I can still remember how bad that part was. Imagine that, one of my 6-year-old-me memories is a terrible Speilberg moment. I think you just a fished an answer out of me for Paco ;)

Quote: odiousgambit

There are usually "moments of s**t " in a Spielberg movie I hate.

Yeah. Even in something as powerful as Schindler's List he has to have his maudlin moment at the end.

I am always impressed by your level of research and interesting topics for discussion. Looking over that list it is pretty impressive that most of the films were at least good and there are several truly great ones. I have seen 16 of them and can't say I actually hated any of them. I would have to say that 1941 was the worst of the ones I have seen but I would put it in the mediocre category, not awful. Some have aged better than others for sure. I loved ET when it came out and I was 15 years old but I doubt I will ever watch it again.

I disagree that Spielberg has given up on "blockbusters". His next two Directorial projects are "Robopocalypse", and "Indiana Jones 5". Whether the public will support him remains to be seen.

As for his films, I haven't hated any of them, (but consider "Hook" the weakest link, mainly due to my impatience with Robin Williams). I even spent the money to see Tintin in 3-D. He has a passion for the cinema, and is very good at communicating using this medium. He's no Scorcese (my favorite director), but doesn't try to be either.

I'm surprised at how poorly "Munich" did selling tickets. It was a great docu-drama. I highly recommend it.

Quote: odiousgambit

There are usually "moments of s**t " in a Spielberg movie I hate. Overall, I grudgingly have to admit there was no particular movie on this list I saw and hated.

The term MOS was big in describing SITCOMS of the 1970's and 1980's. Even "Louie De Palma" had to have his MOS.

It took a real act of bravery for Jerry Seinfeld to see that his characters never developed any redeeming qualities. He showed that people could enjoy characters just as much if they were unrepentant in their selfishness.

If you talk to people of the right age, especially guys, a huge percentage seem to remember the movie Duel. I had a DVD of that for a while and loaned it out: big mistake! I realize now it had a slim chance of ever making it back to me [g]

Some even claim to have read the story first in Playboy

The worst I've seen in "Close Encounters." Here's my review: A build up so big you could see it at the other end of the Galaxy, and a payoff so small you need an electron microscope to find it.

The most overhyped is E.T. I mean, it's not that it's bad, but there was no need for an actual alien being to be in the movie at all.

"Private Ryan" was reasonably good. Though I doubt any Army unit would take or be sent on such a mission.