Fox Movie Boss Says Execs Thought ‘X-Men’ Was a ‘Disaster’ and Rupert Murdoch Flipped Out Over ‘Fight Club’: ‘What Kind of Sick F—ing Human Would Make This?’

Apr 21, 2026 2:42pm PT Fox Movie Boss Says Execs Thought ‘X-Men’ Was a ‘Disaster’ and Rupert Murdoch Flipped Out Over ‘Fight Club’: ‘What Kind of Sick F—ing Human Would Make This?’

By Zack Sharf

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Zack Sharf

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ZSharf

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Bill Mechanic, the former CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, recently spoke to Business Insider to mark the upcoming 4K re-release of David Fincher’s “Fight Club,” the dismal box office for which in fall 1999 set the stage for Mechanic’s exit. He served as Fox’s studio boss from 1994-2000 and oversaw box office hits such as “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” “Independence Day” and “Titanic,” all of which were the highest-grossing films of their respective years.

But according to Mechanic, he was never able to make a fan out of Rupert Murdoch. Fox was owned at the time by Murdoch’s News Corps. Mechanic claimed Murdoch wanted the film studio to be like Page Six (which Murdoch also owned) in favoring flashy fare over artistically-driven projects

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