[Updated with video]

Since the earliest days of motion pictures, studios and marketers have fused images with words to sell a film: whether referencing its story, cast, technology, or source material.  Over the past decades, the creation of the movie tagline has been elevated to an art form, delivering movie fans some of the greatest one-line summaries of an entire movie (or franchise).

Not all tagline are winners, of course: sometimes, combining a few buzz marketing words into a sentence is considering good enough to put audiences into theaters. Even more often, attempts at humor are more likely to elicit groans and eye-rolls than laughs. But occasionally, a professional marketing team comes up with a tagline so clunky, so bland, or so downright uninspired, they may have been better off simply leaving it out of the advertising.

There are plenty to choose from, but here is our list of the 10 Worst Movie Taglines.

10. A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

Worst Movie Taglines Good Day to Die Hard

The Die Hard series has never been known for its subtlety, relying instead on intense action and John McClane's attitude - and the taglines tended to reflect it. But with A Good Day to Die Hard, things took a different turn. Although the film does take place in Russia, we find it hard to believe that McClane would approve of his catchphrase being twisted into some eye-rolling wordplay.

Even the film's other tagline, "Like Father. Like Son. Like Hell" doesn't actually make sense given the film's story, simply warning that the series' no-nonsense heroics had given way to some questionable comedy.

9. Basic Instinct 2 (2010)

Worst Movie Taglines Basic Instinct 2

A movie doesn't have to be an award-winner to sport one truly disappointing tagline. Scholars may argue (briefly) whether there was ever any reason to make Basic Instinct 2, but sex sells, after all. And for an entire generation, Sharon Stone's nude scenes in the original had become synonymous with the film as a whole.

The first poster featuring Stone once again cross-legged with cigarette in hand threw subtlety out the window, but then came the tagline: "everything interesting begins in the mind." While that is... technically true, we would wager that any reader could take a few seconds and come up with a more clever, in-joke tagline to the original film (and scene being alluded to). Instead, the generic and self-important tagline showed what fans could expect from the sequel, and the finished product was as flawed as predicted.

8. Alex Cross (2012)

Worst Movie Taglines Alex Cross

There is a time and place for puns, and movie taglines are most certainly one of them. But even so, audiences have come to expect at lease a slight sense of wit or humor, and usually only if the film's tone permits it. In the case of Alex Cross, a dark adaptation of James Patterson's novel "I, Alex Cross," it seemed out of place. In hindsight, "don't ever cross Alex Cross" was the first sign fans had that the adaptation would be far from inspired.

Besides being too long to come off as 'badass' as the marketers likely intended ('Don't Cross Cross' is at least somewhat clever and catchy), the tagline seems to position the titular psychologist/detective as an action hero. It's likely meant to differentiate Tyler Perry's version from Morgan Freeman's, but ends up promising an attitude and story that the movie couldn't deliver.

7. Citizen Kane (1941)

Worst Movie Taglines Citizen Kane

Director and star Orson Welles left a permanent mark on cinema with Citizen Kane, hailed by many as one of the greatest movies ever made. The studio clearly wasn't aware that the film would become a Hollywood treasure, since it was also given one of the most uninspired taglines in movie history.

Telling moviegoers that it's simply "terrific" is a far cry from advertising Welles' unforgettable performance, and sells short the truly revolutionary picture Citizen Kane turned out to be.

6. Clash of the Titans (2010)

Worst Movie Taglines Clash of Titans

Nobody is going to give Clash of the Titans praise for its story or ingenuity; but it was intended to be a swords-and-sandals action film, and packed enough action and spectacle to live up to that charge. It was going to be difficult to live up to the nostalgia and affection movie fans have for Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion Medusa in the 1981 film, or the tagline that accompanied it ("An Epic Entertainment Spectacular!").

So how did the studio decide to excite audiences about the events set to unfold in Clash of the Titans? By confirming that in the film, "Titans will clash." No other tagline on our list required less energy or thought than this entry, and the fact that at no point in the film do Titans clash only proves that those charged with creating it never even bothered to see the film.

5. Avatar (2009)

Worst Movie Taglines Avatar

James Cameron's Avatar has become something of a lightning rod among fantasy and sci-fi fans since release, but there's no denying its impact on blockbuster filmmaking - or box office sales records. The 3D spectacle promised in marketing has anyone even remotely interested convinced to see the film in theaters, which means many failed to realize Avatar even had a tagline. But it did. And it is truly baffling.

Telling moviegoers to "enter the world" is at best confusing, and even now seems like the first or last laugh of a full tagline. Was Cameron referring to the fictional world of Pandora, or the new age of 3D storytelling? While the movie may be immortalized for its scale and box office milestones, it's permanently burdened with a tagline that could be applied to nearly any genre movie ever made.

4. Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade (1989)

Worst Movie Taglines Indiana Jones

The first Indiana Jones tagline promised that the era of "Great Adventures" had returned, and Raiders of the Lost Ark didn't disappoint. But when The Last Crusade called Indy back into action, the studio decided to ignore the film's plot, action, or even its fitting send-off for the franchise hero. Aside from the fact that "the man with the hat" is a terrible nickname, it was never applied to Jones in the first place, and the claim that he "brings his dad" makes the film sound more like a cheesy gimmick.

The actual film remains a favorite for many Indiana Jones fans, making the lack of any real promise or hype in the tagline a complete mystery. Perhaps Paramount had their doubts that Harrison Ford and Sean Connery would win over audiences as father and son?

3. Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Worst Movie Taglines Lethal Weapon

Generally seen as not only one of the films that helped define the "buddy cop" genre, but one of the best of all time, Lethal Weapon was a success from its story and action down to its taglines. Warning audiences to "pity the bad guys" and that "Glover carries a weapon. Gibson is one" gave a dose of humor and bravado, and the movie delivered on both. While Lethal Weapon 2 mostly continued that success, the taglines were a different story.

"The magic is back!" may seem a suitable tagline for a fantasy adventure, but in the context of Lethal Weapon, it's incomprehensible. Honestly, "Still too old for this" would have been at least something of a reference to the actual movies, but the studio decided to stick with "magic." Lethal Weapon 3's "the magic is back again" takes the cake for worst in the series, but it's the second in the series we have to blame for it.

2. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Worst Movie Taglines Star Trek 5 Final Frontier

Although Star Trek fans may accuse J.J. Abrams of sullying the intellectual style of the original TV series with blockbuster action, he wasn't the first to try to draw audiences in with the promise of big screen spectacle. That title rests with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, a movie hinting that the action would be so impressive, movie theaters would need to install seatbelts.

The marketing apparently worked, bringing the fifth film a larger opening weekend box office than the prior installments. However, the odd direction for a tagline was a clear indicator of just how problematic the movie had been from beginning to end. The other taglines ranged from forgettable to spoiling the climax, so this may not be the worst crafted. But with a franchise like Trek, it still seems out of place.

1. Earthquake (1974)

Worst Movie Taglines Earthquake Event

These days, the term "event film" is thrown around quite often, or used interchangeably with terms like "tentpole, flagship," or "blockbuster." But back in the 1970s, the term was just beginning to gain meaning, as disaster films became the most coveted to American audiences. Universal's Earthquake was one such project to take advantage of the wave, and the overall enthusiasm is evident in just how unimpressive a tagline the film required.

Promising nothing more than "an event" was good enough to earn the film a total of $80 million ($367 million in today's dollars), even if it's mostly remembered for the technical aspects than the story or characters. The cast of survivors spread across a massive disaster is still a structure seen in modern blockbusters, but a tagline describing virtually any film in history no longer makes the cut (thankfully).

Conclusion

Worst Bad Movie Taglines List

That's just a small sample of the many taglines that have left movie fans underwhelming, misled, or simply confused. Some movie fans are clearly willing to overlook some fumbled marketing if the attached film is strong enough to stand on its own, but there's no denying that while taglines may be works of art for some, they are still elusive for others. Be sure to name your own favorites in the comments.