All it takes is one tragic misstep to tank a once-beloved actor's career, turning them
from icon to has-been in just a matter of months.
Some actors weather this fickle Hollywood storm better than others, and keep their careers
afloat following even the most devastating flops.
Others, however, are not so fortunate, and see their star status fall fast after one
particularly embarrassing bomb.
Actors such as ...
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Back when movie studios were tripping over each other to put out teen slasher flicks
and rom-coms, Freddie Prinze Jr. was a young man in high demand.
He starred in 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer and its 1998 sequel, then went on to
cement his position as a Hollywood heartthrob with 1999's She's All That ...
"Who the hell does she think she is?
There are 2,000 girls in this school and I could bump monkeys with every one of them."
The new millennium brought a change in fortunes for the actor: While filmmakers were still
keen to put out Freddie-fronted romantic comedies, audiences became less interested in seeing
them.
The actor starred in a string of critical flops in the first few years of the decade,
and then decided to try something a little different: playing bleach-blond paranormal
investigator Fred in the Scooby-Doo movie ...
"Fred, what's the secret of your success?"
"Teamwork.
I do a tremendous amount of teamwork."
Brief reaction from Velma.
Despite a good showing at the box office, the 2002 adaptation of the classic Hanna-Barbera
cartoon was panned by critics and left Prinze Jr. struggling for credibility, something
he more or less gave up on when he returned for the film's 2004 sequel.
The actor later revealed that he "didn't have fun" making either movie, and he retreated
to smaller projects afterward, including writing for the WWE and penning his own cookbook.
Alicia Silverstone
Everyone within a six-mile blast radius of the studio felt the career aftershocks of
Joel Schumacher's epically awful bomb Batman & Robin, but former Clueless darling Alicia
Silverstone went from a "Betty" to a "Barney" faster than anyone ...
"You're about to become compost."
Her Razzie-winning turn as Batgirl to George Clooney's begrudging Batman helped spoil the
release of Excess Baggage, the poorly received crime-comedy that was supposed to be her big
starring vehicle.
1995's "It Girl" quickly became 1997's has-been.
Although Silverstone received an Emmy nomination in 2003 for her short-lived ABC series Miss
Match and appeared in 2005's Beauty Shop, Batman & Robin foiled her chance at lasting
stardom.
John Travolta
It's a story of multiple resurrections: John Travolta became one of the world's most recognizable
movie stars in the late-'70s after Saturday Night Fever and Grease, but by the mid-'80s
his star faded somewhat thanks to a string of poorly received pictures.
He shot back to the top at the turn of the decade after 1989's chatty baby comedy Look
Who's Talking raked in an unexpected fortune of almost $300 million worldwide.
But it wasn't until the mid-'90s that he became relevant again, thanks to Quentin Tarantino
and Pulp Fiction.
"Whoo-ee, you're good looking!
You're hot!"
A string of successful films followed, but he took a serious misstep with 2000's disastrous
Battlefield Earth.
Widely panned as one of the worst movies ever made, this drastically miscalculated L. Ron
Hubbard adaptation cost $73 million to make and returned less than $30 million, sinking
Travolta's career once more.
Despite his best efforts, he's been unable to claw his way back since.
Demi Moore
She rose to prominence as part of the Brat Pack, an influential group of young actors
who had the run of Hollywood in the mid-to-late '80s.
A breakout star of the bunch, Demi Moore went on to mold paranormal pottery opposite Patrick
Swayze in 1990's Ghost, a surprise box office sensation.
Moore remained a hot property throughout the early '90s, and by the middle of the decade
she officially became Hollywood's highest-paid actress.
But her 1996 erotic comedy Striptease tanked, and Moore's reputation went down with it.
She was branded box office poison overnight, to the point that Disney started sweating
over the release of her next starring role as a soldier in G.I.
Jane.
One senior executive reportedly told Newsweek, "People just don't want to see her.
We would have to drag them kicking and screaming to see this movie."
After G.I.
Jane also failed to turn a profit, Moore left the spotlight, later becoming better known
for her marriage to — and divorce from — Ashton Kutcher than for her acting work.
Taylor Kitsch
When he won the part of running back Tim Riggins in NBC's football drama Friday Night Lights,
Taylor Kitsch gained a cult following, which may have ultimately worked against him.
Gawker argued the actor was "a victim of the Friends effect," claiming Kitsch fans just
didn't want to see him outside his signature role — something the studios didn't count
on.
In 2012, the actor fronted Disney's disastrous John Carter adaptation.
The studio lost $200 million, and "John Carter" became synonymous with "box office bomb."
The disappointing performance of Battleship later that year proved to be the final nail
in Kitsch's coffin, despite his best efforts at channeling Tim Riggins in the doomed board
game adaptation ...
"What seems to be the problem?"
"I want a chicken burrito."
"Johnny, chicken burrito her."
"It ain't happening."
"Chicken burrito her."
"Kitchen's closed, Hopper."
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