He released several films a year and many of them were huge box office hits. Most of them weren’t, however, critically acclaimed.
However, because they were making so much money, it was hard to classify them as “cult” hits. A “cult” film is usually one with a small but loyal audience. Ferrell’s audience was anything but small.
All of that changed with the release of “Land of the Lost,” which is a movie that is not only bad but also lost a huge amount of money for the studio. It damaged Ferrell’s brand permanently.
It was based on the classic children’s television show of the same name, but tried to be both faithful to the show and poke fun at it.
It tried to do what “The Brady Bunch” movie from the 1990s did for that show – display what people liked about it and still poke fun at it.
The “Land of the Lost” movie, however, is almost contemptuous towards the show it’s based on. That didn’t sit right with fans and the fact that it is almost aggressively unfunny didn’t sit right with anyone else.