An undecided studio meant bad news for Brendan Fraser's Monkeybone

"Monkeybone" was dead on arrival when it debuted in over 1,400 theaters in February 2001. Entertainment Weekly reported that the film grossed a meager 2.7 million dollars on its opening weekend. The film not only serves as a cautionary tale of how quickly audiences can lose interest in actors, but also the role studios play in the success of their films. More than just name recognition is needed.

Granted, the dark comedy meta aspects weren't an easy sell. In the film, an animator (Fraser) is sucked into a world of his own creation where he is harassed by a cheeky antagonistic monkey named Monkeybone. Fraser called the film the most expensive arthouse film ever made by Twentieth Century Fox. "What you see on screen is just handmade, all over the top," Fraser said recently. "It was as if the keys had been handed over to the inmates of this film."

Nevertheless, you would think that the combined power of Fraser, Bridget Fonda, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito and Rose McGowan would be enough to lure audiences to theaters.

Things started to get a little hairy when the studio head who greenlit the film was fired from Twentieth Century Fox. Director Henry Selick believes the studio scrapped the film when this happened. Then, audio issues plagued the film's initial showing, prompting the studio to push the film into editing hell.

After a studio cut, they brought in executive producer Chris Columbus to re-edit the film to make it more mainstream, moving the film away from Selick's original vision. Good editing can make or break a film. "Monkeybone" was now in its third edition.

Despite the final cut, it seemed that Twentieth Century Fox never wanted to release the film.