History Trivia / Catwoman2004

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: According to one of the writers, "insane legal issues" prevented Selina Kyle being the main character.

* CreatorsApathy: There's an interview where one of the producers admitted they couldn't make sense of the clashing back stories of Selina Kyle's character -- which has ranged from jewel thief to urban protector to dominatrix. So they decided to just throw it all in the waste bin and rip off ''Film/TheCrow''.

** As often noted on the web, the film bears a striking resemblance to ''Film/TheCrow''. In fact, the movie's first trailer was alleged to have the same narration script as ''The Crow'''s own trailer, only changing the respective animal.

* StillbornFranchise: Creator/HalleBerry had signed for a sequel, but after all the bad reviews, development on the sequel was quickly squashed. This also made her available for the third ''X-Men'' film, ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''; she rejoined that series, but allegedly got paid less for her role that go round. The film also managed the impressive feat of killing off another, unrelated series before it could even really begin; a film starring Berry's ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' character Jinx had been in development for the previous two years, but the critical and commercial failure of this film killed that one too.

* TheOtherDarrin: Every actor except for Frances Conroy got replaced by a voice double.

* CreatorKiller: This film, and the process of making it, killed whatever hopes its director, Jean-Christophe "Pitof" Comar, might've had as a frontline director. Even back in Europe, Pitof has only directed one more film since, and it's a TV movie. To make matters worse, he was a successful and respected special effects supervisors prior and after the success of his ''Film/{{Vicocq}}'', he burned all the bridges to that industry, too, when going for a Hollywood deal.

* CreatorKiller: This film, and the process of making it, killed whatever hopes its director, Jean-Christophe "Pitof" Comar, might've had as a frontline director. Even back in Europe, Pitof has only directed one more film since, and it's a TV movie. To make matters worse, he was a successful and respected special effects supervisors prior and after the success of his ''Film/Vicocq'', he burned all the bridges to that industry, too, when going for a Hollywood deal.

* CreatorKiller: This film, and the process of making it, killed whatever hopes its director, Jean-Christophe "Pitof" Comar, might've had of breaking into American cinema as a frontline director. Even back in Europe, Pitof has only directed one more film since, and it's a TV movie.

* CreatorBacklash: Director Pitof and his production designer Jean Rabasse disliked the film's plot and script. They had actually suggested another plot which they had thought up together, but execs rejected it for being supposedly "too artistic".

* OldShame:
** For Halle Berry in years to come: She famously appeared at the [[http://www.agonybooth.com/video328_Catwoman_2004_Halle_Berry.aspx Razzies]] to [[MedalOfDishonor accept her award for "Worst Actress"]]. The entire time, she was holding her Oscar for ''Film/MonstersBall'' in the other hand, publicly reminding people that she is usually a good actress; the movie was just THAT bad. Razzies founder John Wilson even remarked that after seeing this, he expects Berry to run for the Oscar again.
--->'''Halle Berry:''' First of all, I want to thank Creator/WarnerBros. Thank you for putting me in a piece of shit, God-awful movie. [...] It was just what my career needed.
** In addition to Berry, the film also became a big shame for co-writer Creator/JohnRogers.
** This also happened with one of the film's VFX vendors, Creator/TippettStudio, who actually went out of their way to point out that the only effects they did in the film were the cats. They've since furthered their distance from the film by not even making ''any'' mention of it on their site.
** Averted with Creator/AlexBorstein, who loved doing it and asked Halle Berry on Instagram if she remembered it.

* CreatorKiller: This game seems to have finished off Creator/ArgonautSoftware, the developers of the game, since they were liquidated in 2004, the year of the game's release, and then ceased to exist entirely in 2007. The only work of theirs that was released since then was ''VideoGame/StarFox2'', and even then, [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment that was finished long before this game was even concieved]].

** The romantic basketball game between Patience and the detective was lifted verbatim from ''Film/{{Daredevil}}''.

* StarDerailingRole: For Halle Berry, and it was also the beginning of the end for Creator/SharonStone's time in the upper tiers of stars.
* StillbornFranchise:
** Creator/HalleBerry had signed for a sequel, but after all the bad reviews, development on the sequel was quickly squashed. This also made her available for the third ''X-Men'' film, ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''; she rejoined that series, but allegedly got paid less for her role that go round.
** The film also managed the impressive feat of killing off an unrelated series before it could even really begin; a film starring Berry's ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' character Jinx had been in development for the previous two years, but the critical and commercial failure of this film killed that one too.

* HostilityOnTheSet: According to insiders, Sharon Stone was difficult to work with for this film, among other reasons because she personally disliked Benjamin Bratt (she had previously vetoed his casting from ''Film/BasicInstinct2'' claiming he was a bad actor). While shooting a scene, Stone's mobile phone rang, and she nonchalantly interrupted the scene to take the call.

* GenreKiller:
** The failure of both ''Catwoman'' and ''Film/{{Elektra}}'' was a major reason that studios became so skittish about female superhero movies. Of course, this has resulted in numerous accusations that it was just being used as a cheap excuse, acting like them both being such awful movies couldn't be a factor in no one wanting to see them. It took the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse's ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' more than a decade later to eventually prove that a female-led superhero movie can succeed critically and financially.
** Likewise, the failure of this film was also one of the reasons for which studios became unwilling to do any more superhero movies focused on villains. Another superhero film centered on a villain would not be made until Creator/SonyPictures released ''Film/{{Venom|2018}}'' fourteen years later, which was negatively received as well, yet audiences mostly loved it. In the end, it wasn't until the next year that Creator/WarnerBros released ''Film/{{Joker|2019}}'' to universal acclaim, effectively redeeming themselves from the disaster ''Catwoman'' was and demonstrating that bad guys have a possibility of shining on the big screen.

* CreatorsApathy: There's an interview where one of the producers admitted they couldn't make sense of the clashing back stories of Selina Kyle's character -- which has ranged from jewel thief to urban protector to dominatrix. So they decided to just throw it all in the waste bin and rip off ''The Crow''.

** The film was originally a {{spinoff}} from ''Film/BatmanReturns'', and would have followed Selina Kyle (intended to be played once again by Creator/MichellePfeiffer) as she supposedly took on a new enemy during a stay at a resort. The script was written by Daniel Waters and completed in 1995 (ironically, on the same day ''Film/BatmanForever'' was released), but both Creator/TimBurton and Pfeiffer dropped out soon after and the film was stuck in DevelopmentHell for years.

* CreatorBacklash: Director Pitof and his production designer Jean Rabasse disliked the film's plot and script. They even suggested another plot which they had thought together, but execs rejected it for being supposedly "too artistic".
* CreatorKiller: This film killed whatever hopes its director, Jean-Christophe "Pitof" Comar, might've had of breaking into American cinema as a frontline director. Even back in Europe, Pitof has only directed one more film since, and it's a TV movie.

** The failure of both ''Catwoman'' and ''Film/{{Elektra}}'' was a major reason that studios became so skittish about female superhero movies. Of course, this has resulted in numerous accusations that it was just being used as a cheap excuse, acting like their both being such awful movies couldn't be a factor in no one wanting to see them. It took the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse's ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' more than a decade later to eventually prove that a female-led superhero movie can succeed critically and financially.

** As often noted on the web, the film bears a striking resemblance to ''Film/TheCrow''. In fact, the movie's first trailer was alleged to have the same narration script as ''The Crow'''s own trailer - only changing the respective animal.

** Creator/HalleBerry signed for a sequel but after all the bad reviews, development on the sequel was quickly squashed. This also made her available for the third ''X-Men'' film, ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''; she rejoined that series, but allegedly got paid less for her role that go round.

** The film was originally a {{spinoff}} from ''Film/BatmanReturns'', and would have followed Selena (intended to be played once again by Creator/MichellePfeiffer) as she supposedly took on a new enemy during a stay at a resort. The script was written by Daniel Waters and completed in 1995 (ironically, on the same day ''Film/BatmanForever'' was released), but both Creator/TimBurton and Pfeiffer dropped out soon after and the film was stuck in DevelopmentHell for years.

** As often noted on the web, the film bears a striking resemblance to ''Franchise/TheCrow''. In fact, the movie's first trailer was alleged to have the same narration script as ''Franchise/TheCrow'''s own trailer - only changing the respective animal.

** Creator/HalleBerry signed for a sequel but after all the bad reviews, development on the sequel was quickly squashed. This also made her available for the third ''Film/XMenTheLastStand X-Men'' film, ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''; she rejoined that series, but allegedly got paid less for her role that go round.

! Trivia for the film:

** For Miss Berry in years to come:
--->''First of all, I want to thank Creator/WarnerBros. Thank you for putting me in a piece of shit, God-awful movie[...] It was just what my career needed.''
*** The context for that quote: She said it at the [[http://www.agonybooth.com/video328_Catwoman_2004_Halle_Berry.aspx Razzies]] as [[MedalOfDishonor she accepted her award for "Worst Actress"]]. The entire time, she was holding her Oscar for ''Film/MonstersBall'' in the other hand, publicly reminding people that she is usually a good actress; the movie was just THAT bad. Razzies founder John Wilson even remarked that after seeing this, he expects Berry to run for the Oscar again.

** Creator/HalleBerry signed for a sequel but after all the bad reviews, development on the sequel was quickly squashed. This also made her available for the [[Film/XMenTheLastStand third]] ''[[Film/XMenTheLastStand X-Men]]'' [[Film/XMenTheLastStand film]]; she rejoined that series, but allegedly got paid less for her role that go round.

** The [[https://dcanimated.com//WF/batman/btas/backstage/interviews/kirkland.php scrapped]] DirectToVideo animated spinoff film would've had Patience meeting Selina along with delving deeper in the Egyptian mythology of the film, which would've satisfied fans of the titular character.

* This movie managed to become the second comic book movie and the first superhero-themed one to win the Worst Picture [[UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Razzie]]; 2015's infamous attempted [[Film/FantasticFour2015 Fantastic Four reboot]] became the second superhero film and third comic-book movie 11 years later. The other comic-book movie with a Worst Picture Razzie is 1986's ''Film/HowardTheDuck''.