Not every film can be a success at the box office, and whilst some low-grossing movies may be deserving of their financial failing, some are actually rather good. Likewise, some of the highest grossing movies are utterly forgettable once the viewer has left the cinema. Here are some box office flops that ended up winning back their audiences, even if they didn’t win back the money they spent.
Heathers (1989)
Written to contrast the optimistic and hopeful high school comedies written by John Hughes, Heathers satirises the likes of Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. Clearly, moviegoers of the late eighties preferred the happily-ever-after John Hughes-esque endings, because Heathers bombed at the box office, garnering a mere $1.1 million of its $3 million budget. Owing to video and DVD releases, the film gained a cult following in the late 90s and early 2000s, even spawning a successful musical with sold-out performances.
Clue (1985)
Nowadays, Clue is known for its whodunnit plotline, quintessential creepy mansion and wacky characters, based on characters from the board game, Cluedo. At the time, audiences were not convinced. Theatres showed one of the three different endings, which just left people confused, rather than engaged, and grossed just $500,000 short of its $15 million budget. However, some years later, when Clue started to play on TV as an inexpensive slot-filler, a new generation who had never watched it flop at the box office were introduced to this zany, murder mystery, and loved it.
Fight Club (1999)
One of the most talked about films of the last two decades, even though the first rule is “you do not talk about fight club.” However, this David Fincher flick did not wow audiences upon its release, barely making $37 million of its $63 million budget. Marketing Fight Club was a nightmare, with the producers not even sure of who their intended audience was, even advertising it during WWF broadcasts, to which Fincher objected to, believing the marketing was too one-dimensional. A lot of effort was put into the marketing for the DVD home media release, which led to its cult status.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
This wacky, musical-comedy-horror is yet another Tim Curry movie that flopped at the box office. It was quickly withdrawn from its eight opening cities, making a mere $22,000 of its $1.4 million budget. It was the midnight showings that led to The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s success, developing a huge cult following. It is now rereleased at least once every year, usually as a Halloween tradition, where moviegoers dress up as their favourite characters. Due to its ongoing success, 20th Century Fox has never pulled it from its original release, making it the longest-running film release of all time.
Blade Runner (1982)
Now perceived as a cult classic, and one of the best sci-fi films of all time, however, audiences in 1982 weren’t convinced. Scraping $26 million of its $28 million budget, which was considered pretty ambitious at the time, Blade Runner took a decade or two to make an impression upon the people that saw it, so much so that a sequel was made, Blade Runner 2049. The latter was more of a commercial success and won Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards.
Donnie Darko (2001)
This sci-fi psychological thriller kickstarted the career of versatile actor, Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays the eponymous, troubled protagonist, who experiences visions of a giant rabbit. Released on October 26, 2001, much of Donnie Darko’s advertising had to be pulled, as it featured a crashing plane, which would have been in bad taste just a month after the September 11 attacks. The film was a massive failure at the US box office, barely scraping $500,000 of its $4.5 million budget. It was slightly more popular worldwide, earning $7.6 million in total, but still not a massive success. Now the film is considered a cult classic, appearing on many ‘films to see before you die’ lists.
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