movie jail

noun

A state of derailment of a career or limited opportunities to which a film industry professional is seemingly relegated, usually as a result of making an unsuccessful film.

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Meanings

nounmovie jail (uncountable)
  1. idiomaticinformaluncountablebroadcastingA state of derailment of a career or limited opportunities to which a film industry professional is seemingly relegated, usually as a result of making an unsuccessful film.

    2016, June 10, "10 Actors Who Got Sent to Movie Jail", Screen Rant.

    2 more examples

    "They have this term in Hollywood, movie jail. When a director does this horrible movie that fails, he's in movie jail, where they're not letting him make another movie again."

    2010, Alison Macor, Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: Thirty Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas., University of Texas Press

    2019, April 15, Gabe Worgaftik, AV Club. "Movie jail is real. He's been there. He was excommunicated at Fox for a decade after turning down Speed 2 to go play Hamlet onstage in fucking Winnipeg."

Cite this entry
APA

movie jail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/movie%20jail

MLA

“movie jail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/movie%20jail. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “movie jail,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/movie%20jail.

Source: movie jail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.