Did you ever watch a movie, and like half way through during a big action sequence the protagonist gets hurt real bad and you think "if I made this movie I would just have him die right there and then roll credits leaving everyone super confused and pissed off"? 'Cause I think of this all the time! Why does this never happen? Yes I get it no one would make money from that and your directing career would be over. Not to mention you'd never find A-listers to sign up for that - but if I were very wealthy, I'd certainly be able to pull it off. And holy jeez would it be worth it!
Imagine you're watching The Meg and 30 minutes in the he just eats the whole crew. The end. How great is that?! - you're sitting there, popcorn half-eaten, waiting for someone to miraculously save the day. But nope, the credits just start rolling. Everyone's mumbling, scratching their heads, googling if there's a part two. No one knows what just happened. People are definitely talking about this. Critics are baffled. Twitter is ablaze with hashtags of the movie name followed by "WTF?"
But wait, there’s a silver lining. You'd have created a cult classic! Years down the line, folks in obscure internet forums are still debating the genius behind that fateful decision. You're immortalized in the annals of film history as the director who dared to defy convention, the one who had the guts to say, “Yeah, they just die and that’s it. Deal with it.”
So, who knows? Maybe it’s not such a career-ending move after all. Your films, forever known as the most unpredictable in cinema, would certainly attract a crowd ready for anything… except a sequel.