The Bottom Line: Too Much Pain, No Gain for Charlize?

No pain, no gain?

Unlikely for Charlize Theron.

Hollywood’s most gorgeous Monster injured her neck filming a stunt for Aeon Flux, causing production to shut down more than a month as she recovered from a herniated disk.

Ouch.

The hurt doesn’t end there. Aeon Flux–which could be to Theron what Catwoman was to Halle Berry–probably won’t change the box office misfortunes she’s endured following her 2004 Oscar win.

Budgeted at $55 million, this live-action version of MTV’s sci-fi animated series crashes into theaters on Dec. 2. That’s a bad sign. Studios usually dump potential misfires or certain flops the weekend after Thanksgiving, when everyone’s too busy with Christmas shopping to notice.

To make matters worse, Paramount won’t screen Aeon Flux for critics. And the trailer suggests a Neo-ish Theron’s sleepwalking her way through the mayhem. Anyone smell a turkey?

Still, with a lack of competition, Aeon Flux could match Catwoman’s $16.7 million opening–and then tumble just as fast.

If that’s the case, Aeon Flux would mark Theron’s third misfire since scoring an Oscar for her revelatory performance in Monster.

How bad was Head in the Clouds? Not even Theron smooching Penelope Cruz could tempt dirty old men in raincoats to see this tired tale of love and sacrifice in a time of war.

Theron can’t shoulder the blame for North Country disappearing down a mine shaft. Proving that Monster was no fluke, Theron stormed through the fact-based drama as a victim of sexual harassment who turns her anger and humiliation into a force of legal vengeance. Warner Bros. poorly marketed North Country, saddling it with a meaningless title and a mid-October release date that hardly placed it in the thick of the Oscar race. Its failure could unfortunately cost Theron an Oscar nod.

Theron’s streak of bad luck extends beyond theaters. Her stint on Arrested Development failed to improve ratings, and has Fox virtually canceled the dysfunctional family sitcom. At least HBO’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers–with Theron as Swedish sexpot Britt Ekland–landed three Emmys.

Like all her post-Monster roles, Theron committed to Aeon Flux before she gave her Oscar acceptance speech. Playing an ice-cold killer isn’t stretch: our first impression of the leggy blonde South African was as a gun-toting femme fatale in the Pulp Fiction knockoff 2 Days in the Valley. And she’s shown she’s no lady in distress in The Italian Job, Mighty Joe Young and Reindeer Games.

But Theron’s padded her resume with too many forgettable thrillers and horror yarns. With no new projects in the works, she needs to think carefully about what she does next. If she truly wants to earn our respect, then now’s time to continue what she started with Monster and North Country.