The cornerstone of British impresario Malcolm McLaren is: “Better a spectacular failure than a benevolent success.” That’s how it goes in life and sometimes in the cinema.
Hollywood makes a lot of films. Most of them are not good. Sometimes the good guys make money (many of the bad guys too), but sometimes … they don’t. Movies, however, fail at the box office for many reasons – a bad release date, a distracted news cycle, a break with the zeitgeist, a fading trend – not always because they’re bad. Some of the notorious money losers are my favorite films – and probably yours too.
What follows are 35 unrelated films that were unrelated to audiences in theaters – a nice way to say they flopped and made less on ticket sales than they cost to make and market. Sometimes it’s easy to see why (hit Speed Racer 10 years early). Other times not so much (why did John Carter stumble where Avatar went?). Whatever the reason, these films were originally viewed as disappointments – although many are now considered cult classics; They were too unconventional, quirky, or challenging to connect with mainstream audiences at first, and found their fans on video or streaming. Or maybe I just like them. (After all, it’s my list.)
Please note: I didn’t include The Shawshank Redemption on this list – maybe the flop-worthy ne plus ultra – because it doesn’t need any help from me. It was the internet’s favorite movie for over a decade, At long last. Think of it as mentioned.
