WTF Happened To This Movie

Starship Troopers

In this episode of "WTF Happened To This Movie," we look back at what happened to director Paul Verhoeven's now-classic sci-fi epic, STARSHIP TROOPERS! Initially released in 1997, the film was hated by critics and quickly fell out of the Box-office Top 10 after debuting at number 1. The film starred a young cast comprised of Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris, Jake Busey, Dina Meyer, and Clancy Brown. The adaptation of the award-winning novel by Robert A. Heinlein was plagued with production problems that saw its release date pushed back several times. The film barely recouped its reported $105-million production costs in its initial release. But, once it hit home video, the movie's ultra-violent action, savvy satirical perspective, and amazing visual effects turned it into a revered cult classic. Which leaves us to ask the question, WTF Happened To This Movie?

Alien 3

In this episode of WTF Happened to This Movie we look back at what happened to David Fincher's feature film debut and sequel to the Alien series, Alien 3. Met with critical backlash and fan rage over the death of key characters, as well as a claustrophobic setting, Alien 3 quickly became the Black Sheep of the franchise, but later gained a cult following with a longer cut released and a revisit after Alien: Resurrection, the 4th sequel, failed to right any wrongs of the past.

Big Trouble In Little China

In this episode of "WTF Happened To This Movie," we look at what happened to John Carpenter's 1986 martial arts fantasy action pic "Big Trouble In Little China," starring Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrell, Dennis Dun, James Hong, and Victor Wong. 20th Fox century tapped John Carpenter to direct the film. Armed with a relatively large budget of $25-million, the director who had recently turned down the chance to helm a little movie called Top Gun reunited with actor Kurt Russell to create an action-packed martial arts masterpiece.  But the film became a massive box-office bomb making only $10-million in its initial run and debuting out of the Top Ten. What happened? How did a movie that became one of the biggest cult classics of all time fail? We'll find out in this episode of "WTF Happened To This Movie."

Dead Pool

In this week's episode of WRF Happened to This Movie we take a deep dive into the long road to the big-screen success of DEADPOOL, starring Ryan Reynolds. The movie ended up a worldwide phenomenon, so why did it take to long to happen? Why was the rating so important? What kept Ryan Reynolds chasing the project for so long, even after a failed first attempt at a superhero role? Time to make the chimichangas and find out!

Super Mario Brothers

In this episode of WTF Happened To This Movie, host Ian Jentzsch dives into the insane production and release 1993's videogame adaptation of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper. Hoskins famously called the film the worst" he'd ever done and Hopper said it was a "nightmare" to work on. The movie flopped at the box office and was a critical failure, now residing in a weird kind of cult status. So, What The F*ck Happened To This Movie?