$97 Million Flop: The ’90s Adventure Film That Tanked and Killed a Legendary Studio!

Some movies cost a fortune but barely make enough to break even. “Cutthroat Island” is a prime example: this adventure film directed by Renny Harlin turned into a financial black hole, dragging down its producer, Carolco Pictures, in the process.

Originally envisioned as a blockbuster entertainment film that would revive the pirate movie genre, “Cutthroat Island” was supposed to echo the glory days of classic swashbuckling films like “The Crimson Pirate” or “Captain Blood.” However, the project quickly spiraled into a storm of issues as the dream of an epic adventure turned into a disaster.

Massive Losses and a Spectacular Failure

Initially budgeted at $60 million, the production costs skyrocketed: from the expensive construction of actual wooden ships to numerous delays, the final tally exceeded $115 million.

Released in 1995, the film only managed to earn about ten million dollars in the United States and barely $18 million globally. The result was a net loss estimated at $97 million, which is roughly $195 million in today’s dollars. This monumental failure placed “Cutthroat Island” among the biggest flops in cinematic history, alongside “Heaven’s Gate” and “The 13th Warrior.”

A Cursed Genre and a Compromised Actress

Far from reviving interest in pirate films, the movie rather buried the genre for nearly a decade. The failure was so notable that Disney almost abandoned the idea of producing “Pirates of the Caribbean” years later. Director Gore Verbinski recalled in a March 2021 interview with Collider that some executives at the time thought a pirate movie was “the worst idea ever.”

The flop also tarnished the career of Geena Davis, who was at the peak of her popularity and married to Renny Harlin. She had even established her own production company to support the film—a gamble that cost her dearly and took years to recover from.

The Final Nail for Carolco Pictures

For Carolco Pictures, “Cutthroat Island,” which also starred Matthew Modine and Frank Langella, was the final straw. Founded in 1976 by Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna, the company had produced major hits like “Terminator 2,” “Total Recall,” “Cliffhanger,” “Basic Instinct,” and “The Doors,” among others. However, debts were already mounting before the debacle, and the financial disaster of the film definitively sealed its fate.

In 1996, Carolco sold its remaining assets to Twentieth Century Fox for $50 million, closing the book on an adventure marked by some of the greatest action films of the ’80s and ’90s.

A Tragic Irony

Before betting on “Cutthroat Island,” Carolco had considered funding an ambitious Paul Verhoeven project about the Crusades starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Deemed too risky and expensive, the project was abandoned after several million had been spent in pre-production. The studio ultimately chose the pirate script, considered safer. History would prove otherwise: this “reasonable” bet would be the one that definitively sealed its fate.

For those interested, “Cutthroat Island” is available on VOD.