The 10 most hated movies of all time
Movie directors don’t set out to make bad movies, well, unless you’re John Waters or Lars von Trier, two filmmakers who make movies that intentionally drive a wedge between different audience tastes. But, for the most part, the likes of Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, and Greta Gerwig make movies that they hope will be lapped up by audiences, with success meaning more dosh in their back pocket and more creative licence for their next film.
Alas, the world isn’t so simple, and sometimes good intentions don’t always cause desirable outcomes, with some of the industry’s greatest ever minds creating some awful creative duds. Do you think David Lynch was trying to make a bad movie when he made Dune in 1984? Or, how about when John Carpenter created Ghosts of Mars in 2001? No, of course, they weren’t; they were simply trying to make great entertainment for you, you ungrateful sods.
Still, this doesn’t stop modern audiences, in particular, from tearing movies apart limb from limb, chewing on the celluloid as if it’s a zebra’s leg and they’re a pack of ravenous hyenas. More often than not, these movies come from major franchises and, indeed, aren’t the worst movies of all time; rather, they are among the most disappointing, causing audiences to foam at the mouth and bark at the screen.
Take a look at the list of the most hated movies of all time below, which includes classic films from the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Tim Burton and even Steven Spielberg.
The 10 most hated movies:
10. Planet of the Apes (Tim Burton, 2001)
It might not seem so much of a giant franchise these days, but before the turn of the new millennium, five Planet of the Apes movies had been released since 1968, and the first was considered to be a definitive sci-fi classic. So, who better to take on a modern remake than Tim Burton, the American filmmaking oddball known for his gothic takes on fairy tale character dramas?
Unsurprisingly, Burton’s remake was a weird mess that infuriated lovers of the franchise, destroying everything great about the original movie while showing no ambition at all. As for that final scene, it’s one of the worst of all time.
9. The Godfather: Part III (Francis Ford Coppola, 1990)
Here’s a classic example of a movie that isn’t all that bad but was claimed to be a ‘disasterclass’ by the rabid fans of the previous two instalments of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy. Continuing the odyssey of Michael Corleone, the head of the mafia, now in his 60s, who is trying to find a successor to his throne, Coppola’s film is a worthy effort, even if it does lack the panache of the previous ‘Best Picture’ winners.
Although Al Pacino did a cracking job in the lead role, he was unable to carry the whole cast, particularly Sofia Coppola, who was highly criticised for her performance. Reflecting on the role, she once stated, “It was a learning experience, but since I never wanted to be an actress, it wasn’t devastating for me that people generally weren’t too fond of me being in it. After all, it was good because these kinds of experiences make you stronger”.
8. Halloween (Rob Zombie, 2007)
Did John Carpenter’s Halloween spark the slasher horror craze back in the 1980s? Or was it Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre or even Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho? While horror fans scrap over the contentious debate, let’s move onto something everyone can agree on: Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of Carpenter’s genre classic was a genuine bastardisation of the original.
Taking everything great about the original before ripping it all up and chewing on the A4 paper, Zombie’s long-awaited remake/sequel was despised by horror fans after ruining the origins of the villain Michael Myers and turning Laurie Strode into an unlikeable protagonist.
7. Eternals (Chloé Zhao, 2021)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken quite the dive since the 2010s, with even die-hard fans admitting that the franchise is utter guff in comparison to its heyday. While there are countless movies and TV series to blame for the downfall, often Chloé Zhao’s 2021 film Eternals is seen as the fall guy, introducing audiences to a needless new cast of superheroes who have since had no impact at all on the wider universe.
Despite boasting a cast that bulged with award winners, including Barry Keoghan, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie, Eternals was criticised for being a bloated, nonsensical mess. Yet, as an ambitious, genuinely revolutionary Marvel movie, this wasn’t as bad as audiences suggested it was.
6. Fantastic Four (Josh Trank, 2015)
From one Marvel movie to another, John Trank’s 2015 adaptation of the Fantastic Four was despised for its sheer inability to recognise the potential in its source material. A much beloved comic book series, even if the superhero team aren’t quite as well-known as Spider-Man or Batman, fans of the comics were distraught to see their adored family of spandex-wearing lionhearts being bastardised on screen.
A genuinely awful movie that saw a bounty of production issues and studio meddling, Fantastic Four was mocked to no end by fans and wasn’t even given the venom it deserved from critics; it was indeed ‘already dead’.
5. Suicide Squad (David Ayer, 2016)
The final superhero flick to grace our list is the misguided action comedy movie Suicide Squad by David Ayer. A novel concept, telling the story of a group of villainous superpowered beings forced into a team against their will, fans were excited to see the obscure tale come to the big screen but were ultimately left disappointed with the utter mess they were served up.
Despite a lovely cast that included Margot Robbie, Will Smith and Viola Davis, the film was utterly incoherent and was utterly embarrassed five years later upon the release of The Suicide Squad by James Gunn, a far more superior remake that righted the wrongs of the original.
4. The Emoji Movie (Tony Leondis, 2017)
What twisted business bigwig came up with the idea of making The Emoji Movie, a genuine insult to the senses of movie lovers across the globe? Well, to name and shame just a few, Michelle Raimo and Ben Waisbren were two of the key producers who helped serve up such tripe, with audiences being quick to criticise the animation, which was so obviously devoid of any kind of novel thought and imagination.
Certainly the worst movie of the 21st century, cinephiles rightfully ripped this film apart, largely for the fact that it so prominently featured such apps as LinkedIn and CandyCrush, feeling like the product of a capitalist Hollywood machine that had flagrantly admitted to losing all its credibility.
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Steven Spielberg, 2008)
Back in the 1980s, Indiana Jones became one of cinema’s most beloved action heroes, and for good reason, too, with Steven Spielberg featuring the character in three iconic movies that boasted class and creativity. ‘Just imagine what a 21st century Indiana Jones movie might offer, fit with modern day CGI and effects’, audiences likely thought at the time, only to be given a thick creampie to the face when they walked into the movie theatre.
Hilariously bad in comparison to its predecessors while destroying the mysticism created in the series by introducing the very real concept of aliens without any nuance, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s only saving grace is that it looks relatively consumable in comparison to 2023’s awful Dial of Destiny.
2. The Last Airbender (M. Night Shyamalan, 2010)
If there’s one section of fans studios should steer clear of angering its fans of animated shows that are heavy with lore. Avatar: The Last Airbender is one such show, with fans from across the world chomping at the bit to get a glimpse at the live-action version of their beloved programme in 2010 when M. Night Shyamalan got the gig to bring the animation to the big screen.
Safe to say fans were baying for blood after eventually seeing the film, with Shyamalan’s face being cut out for target practice due to the movie’s downright shoddy attempt at recreating the series’ magic. Half-arsed and limp, it’s surprising that Netflix is daring to try and give the live-action adaptation another go.
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017)
No fanbase in the world of cinema is as big and as passionate as the Star Wars community. It was, after all, the sci-fi series that first popularised the idea of ginormous movie franchises, with fans going mad for the cosmic melodrama back in the late 20th century, gobbling up every single movie, novella, lunchbox and more, just so that they could boast to their friends that they knew more about Star Wars than they did.
Yet, when the prequel trilogy dropped at the turn of the new millennium, the series lost considerable trust from fans. But, even though 1999’s Phantom Menace was a giant disappointment, it didn’t compare to the pure hatred Disney’s The Last Jedi received decades later.
Disney was supposed to cure the series, but they ended up diluting what made it so good in the first place. While The Last Jedi wasn’t totally awful, it was the straw that broke C-3PO’s back, with fans feeling as though director Rian Johnson had just stuck his middle finger up to them by contradicting decades of Star Wars lore. Indeed, the franchise has never properly recovered since.
