Movies That Made or Killed Hollywood Careers

Cutthroat Island was a lavish pirate adventure meant to revive a dormant genre with swashbuckling action and romance. Geena Davis starred as a fearless pirate captain, performing physical feats and leaning fully into the film’s high-energy, old-school adventure tone.

The movie became a historic box-office failure, sinking its studio and stalling Davis’s momentum as a leading star. Despite previous successes, the scale of the flop overshadowed her performance. Afterward, her opportunities in big-budget films dwindled, and her career shifted away from mainstream studio projects.