Celebs Who Disappeared After A Giant Movie Flop

Hollywood is a tough town — you're only as good as your last movie. And if your last movie isn't a hit, you just might be done for ... or at least persona non grata for a year or two. While some stars have the clout and charisma to keep appearing in films even in spite of the occasional flop, most actors don't have that luxury and fall victim to the whims of the marketplace and movie producers. 

Even certain adaptations of the popular Superman, Batman, (and to a lesser extent) Tank Girl comic books proved to be disastrous for the stars like Brandon Routh, Chris O'Donnell, and Lori Petty who anchored them. Thankfully, they've all bounced back one way or another, but for a while, it was definitely touch-and-go career-wise for these box office botch artists. These are the celebs who disappeared after a giant movie flop.

For one moment — or however long it takes to walk atop a crowd of A-list actors at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion — Roberto Benigni was both the clown prince and next big thing in Hollywood. Already a huge star in his native Italy, Benigni broke through to the rest of the world with La vita è bella, a.k.a. Life is Beautiful, a film he wrote, directed, and starred in about a father who uses humor and laughter to shield his son from the horrors of life in a World War II concentration camp. It won him the Best Actor Academy Award in 1999, as well as Best Foreign Language Film. 

When fellow Italian export and iconic actress Sophia Loren called his name, Benigni kicked up his legs and then walked on arm rests and seat-backs with his arms raised in triumph. Hollywood and America eagerly wondered what this unique talent would do next, and boy was it weird — a live-action adaptation of Pinocchio. Benigni, 50 years old at the time, played the puppet boy who wanted to be a real boy. After that movie flopped to the tune of just under $4 million at the American box office, Benigni's A-list days in the U.S. were over. His next major appearance in a major film came more than a decade later, in Woody Allen's Italian-set To Rome with Love.

Dana Carvey was inarguably the star of Saturday Night Live in the late '80s and early '90s thanks to popular characters like the Church Lady, Garth, and his gonzo impression of President George Bush. He deserved a bigger post-SNL career, but with the exception of the Wayne's World movies, none of his projects (Clean Slate, Trapped in Paradise, The Dana Carvey Show) really took off. 

Put off by Hollywood, Carvey retreated and chose to raise his kids away from the big city. With those kids in mind, he took one last stab at big-screen stardom with the silly 2002 family comedy The Master of Disguise. He co-wrote the movie, in which he played Pistachio Disguisey, an Italian waiter who is also, you know, a master of disguise. It did middling business, while critics hated it — it currently enjoys a one percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. After the film, Carvey said goodbye to the movie star life once again. Ever since, his only acting gigs have been cameos and voice-overs.

In 1995, Carolco Pictures wanted to make a big, bombastic, good old fashioned pirate movie, and they hired action director Renny Harlin to do it. He spent $98 million to create a gorgeous, realistic-looking tale of high seas adventure, but the problem was that Americans weren't much interested in seeing a pirate movie (there hadn't been a successful one in years), especially one that starred, of all people, Matthew Modine. You know, respectable, subtle dramatic actor Matthew Modine, star of grown-up movies like Pacific Heights, Full Metal Jacket, and Vision Quest? Yeah, that guy — he had to anchor a pirate extravaganza. Carolco Pictures was in dire straits before they started shooting Cutthroat island, and the film did not help — it barely squeaked past $10 million at the box office. Carolco filed for bankruptcy in late 1995; Modine didn't make another movie for two years. 

Tank Girl was the perfect project for Lori Petty. It's just that the movie itself was less-than-perfect. The quirky, scrappy actor brought charm, energy, and a little bit of chaos to movies like Point Break, A League of Their Own, and even the Pauly Shore vehicle In the Army Now before she got a showy role in the big-screen adaptation of Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett's ironic comics about a smart-mouthed dystopian heroine. 

Tank Girl was a mess, however, loathed by critics, disowned by Martin and Hewlett (Martin says the film's "a bit of a sore point" and they "never really liked it"), and an utter disaster at the box office, earning barely more than $4 million on a $25 million budget. Unfortunately Tank Girl proved to be Lori Petty's big chance at leading lady status. Fortunately, she kept working ... after a break. More than a year after Tank Girl flopped, Petty returned with a role in the short-lived Fox sitcom Lush Life.

Okay, Madonna hasn't disappeared off the face of the Earth, such is the highly addictive nature of being incredibly famous, but she hasn't made a movie in years. And as far as movie critics are concerned, that's for the best. The once-British-accented Michigan native has had a movie career that's been spotty, at best. 

Sure, she did Evita and A League of Their Own, but Madonna also starred in clunkers like Shanghai Surprise, Body of Evidence, The Next Best Thing, and Swept Away. That last one, a romantic comedy set on a deserted island, was directed by Guy Ritchie (above), Madonna's husband at the time. After its release in 2002, neither Madonna's marriage nor movie career lasted much longer. Swept Away grossed about $600,000 in the U.S. ... and took home five not-so-coveted Razzie Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Actress. Madonna and Richie divorce in 2008, and she never starred in a movie again.