The Scarlet Letter (1995)

The Scarlet Letter (1995) commits the ultimate sin of literary adaptation by rewriting Nathaniel Hawthorne's tragic ending into a triumphant Hollywood fantasy complete with Native American attacks and a happy escape. Director Roland Joffe proudly marketed the film as "freely adapted" from the novel, a confession that signaled its creative bankruptcy. It grossed just $10 million on a $25 million budget, losing 60% of its investment and performing over 50% worse than the average literary adaptation of the mid-1990s. Its $10 million domestic take is lower than #6 Artemis Fowl's production budget.