Box Office Bombs That Somehow Became Cult Classics

It may be considered one of the all-time classic films today, but "The Shawshank Redemption" didn't attract much attention when it was first released. This wasn't due to bad reviews; on the contrary, it was praised by most contemporary critics. The main issue the film had gaining traction in theaters was the competition — it opened in only 33 theaters over its first weekend, and by the time it had a wider release in its fourth week, it was pitted in a losing battle against more popular releases like "Pulp Fiction," "The Specialist," and "The River Wild." It ended up only making $28 million in theaters, against its $25 million budget.

Although it was nominated for seven Academy Awards – albeit without any wins — and it became a success in the video rental market, it wouldn't be until 1997 that "The Shawshank Redemption" really came into its own. That year, Ted Turner acquired Castle Rock Entertainment (and the rights to "The Shawshank Redemption") and subsequently started playing it almost daily on his flagship channel, TNT. Turner's marketing ploy worked, and the movie gained legions of fans. It was added to the U.S. Library of Congress's National Film Registry in 2015.

If it hadn't been for now-defunct video rental chain Blockbuster, "The Boondock Saints" never would have stood a chance. The film did abysmally during its original theatrical run, primarily due to an extremely limited release. In the wake of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, violence in films was a touchy subject in Hollywood and for theater owners. As a result, "The Boondock Saints" was only shown in five U.S. theaters upon its release, earning just $30,000 domestically. It did a little better internationally, but the total gross earnings of $411,000 didn't come anywhere close to recouping the $6 million budget.

Thankfully for the cast and for writer/director Troy Duffy, Blockbuster Video came to save the day, striking a deal with distributor Indican Pictures to distribute "The Boondock Saints" on video as a "Blockbuster Exclusive." The movie soon gained a massive cult following, bringing in over $50 million in DVD/Blu-ray sales. It became so popular that it spawned a sequel in 2009, and rumor has it that a television series based on the Saints is somewhere in the development process.

Not even the combined star wattage of Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne could keep "Event Horizon" from sinking at the box office. This suspenseful sci-fi film received unfavorable reviews when it was first released, and earned an abysmal $26.7 million at the box office—losing over $30 million along the way. While theatrical audiences were turned off by the prevalent gore in the film, it eventually found its niche among sci-fi fans on the home release market. 

Our only regret is that we will likely never see the director's cut: the footage removed from the theatrical version was reportedly scrapped by the studio, and the only remaining copy is on VHS. Fans have new "Event Horizon" content to look forward to, though. In 2019, it was announced in Variety that Amazon was in the process of developing a follow-up mini-series of the science-fiction cult classic.

John Carpenter's "The Thing" faced an uphill battle: Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" had been released just two weeks before, and it debuted the same day as Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner". As a result, "The Thing" only made $3 million during its opening weekend and went on to gross only $19 million during its theatrical run. Compared with a budget of $15 million and poor contemporary reviews from critics, "The Thing" was a definite failure for Universal Pictures.

But as would later prove to be the case with Carpenter's "Big Trouble in Little China" and "They Live," a disappointing theatrical run wasn't the end of the road for "The Thing." It would eventually find a major following among horror fans, becoming yet another cult classic on Carpenter's resumé. It's been named among the scariest films of all time and has spawned numerous other works—including a novel, comic books, a video game, and an ill-advised 2011 prequel (directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.) that had no chance of standing up to the original.

Even though it essentially had a built-in fanbase from the original "Judge Dredd" comic books and the 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone, 2012's reboot "Dredd" didn't perform well at the box office. Overall, the movie managed to pull in just $41 million from theatergoers around the world, against a budget of $50 million. It's hard to understand exactly why "Dredd" bombed; the reboot had a positive critical reception, while 1995's "Judge Dredd" was panned by critics and still managed to earn over $110 million. It seems that at least some of the blame can be placed on the marketing for the movie. While reports indicate that over $25 million was spent to advertise "Dredd," lead actor Karl Urban told Den of Geek that there was "zero audience awareness" about the movie when it was released.

Whatever the reasons for its theatrical failure, nothing could keep Dredd down once it hit the home market, where it became an instant success. "Dredd" sold 650,000 copies the first week it was available on DVD and Blu-ray. Now a cult favorite with sci-fi and action fans, "Dredd" may have finally gained the street cred it needed to get a sequel — which is reported to be in the works as a television show.

Filmed in just 28 days by debuting writer-director Richard Kelly, "Donnie Darko" is a psychological horror/sci-fi film that tells the story of the title character as he searches for the cause and meaning of his apocalyptic visions. Filmed with a small budget of only $3.8 million and nearly sent straight to home video by the distributing studio, "Donnie Darko" debuted with a limited theatrical release on only 58 screens domestically; Its international release was delayed for almost a year because of the September 11 attacks. Theatrical audiences in the U.S. weren't quite sure what to make of the movie's odd aesthetic and mind-bending plot, but it found a more receptive audience overseas, and after its arrival on DVD, it gained cult status. (The sequel centering on Donnie's younger sister Samantha, however, is another story.)

Mike Judge must have some sort of cult movie magic about him. Making his return to feature film directing after the frustrations of 1999's "Office Space," Judge used "Idiocracy" to show viewers a horribly prescient vision of our future, filled with massage-parlor coffee shops and an expletive-laced, monster truck rally-esque system of law. Unfortunately, the movie never had a prayer after the studio mothballed it for years, failed to market it, and only released it to 130 theaters. While "Idiocracy" only made $495,000 at the box office, it became another of Judge's home video sensations, earning another $9 million in DVD rentals alone. And every year that goes by, "Idiocracy" becomes a more biting social satire.

It may be the movie with the longest-ever theatrical run, but "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" most definitely bombed during its initial release. Although it was based on a popular stage musical, the film adaptation only earned $21,245 in its opening weekend. Disappointed with the premiere, the studio pulled the movie from several other locations around the country. For most films, that would have been the end of the story. But one Fox advertising executive had a brilliant idea: Start showing "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at one of the popular "midnight shows" at the Waverly Theatre in New York City, where it proved an instant hit.

After several months of late-night showings with a party-like atmosphere, one of Waverly's "Rocky Horror" regulars — mild-mannered kindergarten teacher Louis Farese — started to shout improvised lines back at the screen. The midnight showings soon spread to other theaters around the country, along with the habit of shouted audience "call-backs." Eventually, dedicated fans began to form "shadow-cast" performance troupes — acting out the film in costume on stage as the movie plays on the big screen behind them. Within a year, "Rocky Horror" went from a box-office bomb to a cult sensation that's still going strong more than 40 years later.

It's hard to believe that "The Wizard of Oz," one of the most beloved musicals of all time, bombed at the box office, but it's true. When it was released in 1939, it made a mere $3 million against a production and distribution budget of over $4 million. People just weren't rushing to the theatres to see a farm girl explore an alternate world with a lion, scarecrow, and tin man. On the bright side, it mostly earned positive reviews and went on to win two Academy Awards: one for best original song ("Over the Rainbow") and the other for best original score.

The film started making profits after it was re-released in 1949, thanks in part to Judy Garland being a much bigger star by then. It earned even more money after it was re-released in 1955, aired on TV beginning in 1956, and came out on home video in 1980. Now it's an undeniable classic and has made around $25.6 million overall — not bad at all, considering its original budget. The film has also inspired multiple remakes and spin-offs, including the 2013 film "Oz the Great and Powerful," starring James Franco and Mila Kunis, and the upcoming 2024 film "Wicked," starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

Many of us grew up watching "Hocus Pocus" every Halloween, so it might come as a surprise that the cult classic wasn't an instant hit upon its 1993 release. The film grossed about $45 million, so it managed to recoup its $28 million budget, but not by much, especially compared to other Disney's other films. For instance, Disney released "The Santa Clause" the following year, which made almost $200 million on a $22 million budget.

"Hocus Pocus" should've been released around Halloween, but instead, it was released in July — a decision that essentially set it up to fail. It also wasn't marketed very well and faced serious competition from "Jurassic Park" and "Free Willy." Disney had thought a summer release would be better for the movie since kids would be out of school. From a practical standpoint, a July release would mean that it wouldn't compete with their other spooky film, "The Nightmare Before Christmas," set to come out in October, so it'd be a win-win for the studio. Oh, how wrong they were.

Despite its underwhelming premiere, "Hocus Pocus" eventually put a spell on viewers. It started airing on TV every Halloween in the late '90s and gained more fans after its 2002 DVD release. It was re-released in theatres in 2020 and the sequel, "Hocus Pocus 2," came out in 2022, starring the original trio of actresses as the Sanderson sisters.

"Tron" was way ahead of its time, leading to underwhelming box office numbers upon its 1982 theatrical release. It grossed about $33 million on a $17 million budget, so it wasn't a complete financial failure, but the profits weren't nearly impressive as some of Disney's other movies. For comparison, "The Fox and the Hound" came out the year prior, earning over $63 million on a $12 million budget.

"Tron" wasn't an instant success for a number of reasons. First, it had a confusing premise, when you consider the fact that the internet wasn't well-known among mainstream audiences, so viewers may not have been familiar with the idea of an avatar representing someone in a virtual space. The movie was also very expensive to make, due to its groundbreaking special effects that combined CGI, innovative lighting techniques, and live-action footage.

The movie struggled to compete against the massively popular "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." It was met with mixed reviews, with some critics praising its special effects while others complained that the story fell short. Ultimately though, people came to love "Tron" as time passed and they became more familiar with the idea of a digital world. The sequel "Tron: Legacy" was released in 2010, followed by the animated series "Tron: Uprising" in 2012.

When it comes to Christmas movies, "It's a Wonderful Life" is a go-to for many families year after year. However, when the movie came out in 1946, it was such a failure that it led to director Frank Capra's production company shutting down. The film originally had a budget of about $2 million, but multiple script rewrites and changes to the crew inflated the cost of production to about $3.7 million. It earned a measly $3.3 million upon its 1946 release and garnered mixed reviews.

The film was released the year after World War II had ended, which contributed to its unimpressive box office numbers. American audiences were not necessarily in the mood for a supposedly inspirational holiday movie that eventually has a happy ending, but also features more than a few shockingly dark moments. The film also came out around the same time as "The Best Years of Our Lives," which blew it out of the water.

"It's a Wonderful Life" didn't become popular until decades later. Its copyright ended in 1974, so TV studios started airing it every Christmas since they didn't have to pay any royalties. People began realizing how good of a film it is, and the rest is history.

When "Starship Troopers" came out in 1997, its marketing made it seem as though it would be a goofy science-fiction adventure rather than a satire of the military-industrial complex. That led to the movie earning a mere $54.8 million during its domestic release, failing to recoup its $105 million budget. The movie didn't have a star-studded cast that would draw audiences in; the lead actors were Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards, who weren't big names at the time. The film was also quite different from the 1959 novel by Robert Heinlein that it was based on, which threw some people off. The book depicted military life in a positive light, and audiences may have assumed the film would do the same — nothing could be further from the truth. What really put the nail in the coffin, though, was the film's release date. It came out just a few months after "The Fifth Element" and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and a month before "Titanic," so it was competing for viewers left and right.

Although the film was vastly misunderstood upon its release, it eventually gained popularity among a niche audience. Fans loved that the film made fun of military propaganda and fascism, drawing parallels between the story and real life. It eventually went on to gross $121 million overall.

The animated family film "The Iron Giant" has gained a cult audience since its release in 1999, but it was initially a huge commercial failure. The movie only made about $31.3 million against its $50 million budget due to Warner Bros. marketing it so poorly. They had recently released the animated film "Quest for Camelot" and it bombed at the box office, so they weren't willing to spend a lot of money promoting another animated movie. As a result, hardly anyone knew "The Iron Giant" was even coming out.

Despite all of that, the movie was loved by those who did go see it. Fans praised the film for its beautiful animation, likable characters, and the balance of funny and heart-wrenching moments. By the time it was released on DVD, it had already established a cult following, but being available on home video helped it reach an even wider audience.