Great flops

[Morbius]

There are many great movies that initially flopped at the box office. Some recovered later, after TV revenue kicked in or when re-released at the theaters, and some achieved cult status later on. Here are a few; if you'd like to add some, go ahead.

The Wizard of Oz - Made for a budget of $2.8 million (a lot in 1939), the initial release saw the film make $3 miilion, not enough to cover all the release and promotion expenses. It broke even after a re-release some years later, and became successful after TV airings. Now it is a beloved classic, but first it was a bomb.

It's a Wonderful Life - The budget was $3.18 million and the take was $3.3 million, resulting in a loss for RKO studios of some $525,000. Frank Capra was financially ruined and never made another picture. When the copyright lapsed in 1974, no one picked it up... and TV stations across the country aired it for free - no royalties due. The exposure made it popular and today it is regarded as one of the best Christmas movies of all time.

Blade Runner - With a budget of $30 million and a gross take of $41.8 million, it wasn't a complete loss but was considered disappointing, as promotional and advertising costs made it technically a failure. It is now a cult favorite, one of the best science fiction movies of all time, and they even made a sequel - which was also a financial failure.

The Thing (1982) - One of the most unnerving science fiction movies ever was made with a budget of $15 million and earned less than $21 million, again not covering all the costs. It's likely this failure was because the movie was overshadowed the year it was released by the saccharine but ridiculously popular E.T. the Extraterrestrial, one of the biggest box office successes of the 80's.

Okay. There are a few. They're all terrific movies, worth the time it takes to watch them. Do you have any?

[johnp3907]

1. Return To Oz

One of my favorites movies. I remember critics complaining about things like the fact that they cast a child as Dorothy! Uh... you know Dorothy WAS a child in the books, right?

[KitFox]

2. "The Shawshank Redemption" did not do well

at the box office. It later became popular through TV showings and video.

[LogDog75]

3. The Thing is a remake of The Thing From Another World

The original The Thing From Another World from 1951 is, IMO, the better two of the movies. A good cast with Kenneth Toby, Margaret Sheridan, Douglas Spencer, and Dewey Martin. The more I see this movie the more I appreciate Margaret Sheridan's acting ability.

One of the things I like about the original movie is there are few special effects and much of the story plays upon your imagination.

[Morbius]

4. Actually, that's not so.

Both movies are adaptations of a novella called "Who Goes There?", by sci/fi legend John W. Campbell. I would absolutely consider them separate adaptations, not one a remake of the other, because aside from being about an encounter between humans and an alien in a polar environment, they're completely different. The John Carpenter version from 1982 is more faithful to the original story, or so I'm told; I never read it myself. I like both movies, quite a lot actually. Hollywood legend Howard Hawks directed the 1951 film, and it's snappy and well-paced. The budget was clearly limited and Hawks did well to manage suspense given what he had to work with.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Well... in one sense, *Monty Python and the Holy Grail*

in that its worldwide gross was just under $3 million. But, it was made for an impossible £229,575 (about $535,000 in 1975), and that was with financial assisance from Pnk Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Genesis.

I gather they did betterwith all the DVD re-releases and re-re-releases.