Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
09-15-17, 09:08 AM
#1
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Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
What are some movies which were critically acclaimed, everyone (well relatively) who saw the movie loved it, but just overall not many people saw it and it bombed badly at the box office ?
09-15-17, 09:23 AM
#2
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
First movie i thought of was The Shawshank Redemption. Everyone loves it, got nominated for tonnes of Oscars (and losing out on them all i think) and it bombed hard at the box office.
09-15-17, 09:34 AM
#3
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
There are lots of examples. The first thing that came to my mind was Citizen Kane. It's box office failure is pretty easy to explain, with the Hearst publishing empire doing everything it could to destroy the movie. Plus, it was so ahead of its time that it's easy to see it not playing well to the mass audience.
John Carpenters The Thing famously bombed on release because it had the misfortune is competing with ET and Blade Runner. Though at release the critical praise wasn't anywhere near as universal as it is now.
Most cult movie classics are the definition of what you're looking for.
John Carpenters The Thing famously bombed on release because it had the misfortune is competing with ET and Blade Runner. Though at release the critical praise wasn't anywhere near as universal as it is now.
Most cult movie classics are the definition of what you're looking for.
Last edited by brainee; 09-15-17 at 12:13 PM.
09-15-17, 09:39 AM
#5
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
The Ed Norton Collection:
American History X
Fight Club
The People v. Larry Flint
Office Space
Dredd
Shawshank Redemption
Donnie Darko
Slither
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
The Thing ('82)
Citizen Kane
American History X
Fight Club
The People v. Larry Flint
Office Space
Dredd
Shawshank Redemption
Donnie Darko
Slither
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
The Thing ('82)
Citizen Kane
Last edited by RichC2; 09-15-17 at 09:45 AM.
09-15-17, 09:52 AM
#6
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
09-15-17, 10:40 AM
#9
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Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
i just remember them re-releasing during Oscar time and me and a friend went to see and needlesstosay, it's one of my favorite movies of all time. i can't think it had to have a high budget. i'm pretty sure it made it's production budget back and more...
yeah, just checked IMDb and it made it's $25 million budget back just here in states. home video, etc. much more...
yeah, just checked IMDb and it made it's $25 million budget back just here in states. home video, etc. much more...
09-15-17, 11:18 AM
#10
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
No doubt Bladerunner didn't do as well as the filmmakers hoped (Star Wars level box office), but I think it's an exaggeration to say it "bombed". It opened at #2 at the box office second only to the mighty ET and remained in the top ten for several weeks. A lot of people did go see it during its initial run.
09-15-17, 11:36 AM
#11
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
09-15-17, 12:14 PM
#12
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
The thing got slammed by critics and ET took up the buzz right before it's release. What a shame!
09-15-17, 02:35 PM
#13
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
Any old E.T. memorabilia such as lunchboxes, dolls, bubble-gum cards have no value on eBay. There are no high-profile E.T. conventions that I'm aware of.
And yet look at movies like Blade Runner and The Thing which came and went without much thought in 1982 that have enormous fan bases.
09-15-17, 06:26 PM
#15
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Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
The Thing was by no means critically-acclaimed upon release. In fact it was nominated for a few Razzies that year. Blade Runner also had middling reviews.
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09-16-17, 05:58 PM
#16
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Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
I remember that THE THING got some savage reviews in my local papers and it's box office failure was no surprise to me at the time.
09-16-17, 07:43 PM
#17
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
Fight Club is interesting in that its DVD release seems to have turned it into a classic. The movie opened to poor professional reviews (before the days of Rotten Tomatoes and its ilk) and did poorly at the box office for what was a Brad Pitt-led blockbuster.
Fight Club did phenomenal on DVD and home video, and it became one of the earliest examples of IMDB's user ratings changing the entire perception about a film. It's one of the first films the Internet "saved" from obscurity.
Fight Club did phenomenal on DVD and home video, and it became one of the earliest examples of IMDB's user ratings changing the entire perception about a film. It's one of the first films the Internet "saved" from obscurity.
09-16-17, 11:46 PM
#18
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Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
It's funny for E.T. and all of its success at the time, it's a movie that, after 35 years, doesn't really have much of a fervent fan following.
Any old E.T. memorabilia such as lunchboxes, dolls, bubble-gum cards have no value on eBay. There are no high-profile E.T. conventions that I'm aware of.
And yet look at movies like Blade Runner and The Thing which came and went without much thought in 1982 that have enormous fan bases.
Any old E.T. memorabilia such as lunchboxes, dolls, bubble-gum cards have no value on eBay. There are no high-profile E.T. conventions that I'm aware of.
And yet look at movies like Blade Runner and The Thing which came and went without much thought in 1982 that have enormous fan bases.
09-17-17, 10:26 AM
#20
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Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
It's funny for E.T. and all of its success at the time, it's a movie that, after 35 years, doesn't really have much of a fervent fan following.
Any old E.T. memorabilia such as lunchboxes, dolls, bubble-gum cards have no value on eBay. There are no high-profile E.T. conventions that I'm aware of.
And yet look at movies like Blade Runner and The Thing which came and went without much thought in 1982 that have enormous fan bases.
Any old E.T. memorabilia such as lunchboxes, dolls, bubble-gum cards have no value on eBay. There are no high-profile E.T. conventions that I'm aware of.
And yet look at movies like Blade Runner and The Thing which came and went without much thought in 1982 that have enormous fan bases.
09-17-17, 11:15 AM
#21
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
For what it's worth, I saw E.T. in a theater when it came out, THE THING in a 42nd Street theater the following year (1983), and BLADE RUNNER on a reissue in 1984. I remember liking all three. I may have liked E.T., initially at least, the best of the three. I've seen THE THING a few times since then and BLADE RUNNER again when the Director's Cut played theatrically in 1992. I still have seen E.T. only once. I've never felt like revisiting it. Maybe it's the curmudgeon in me who's reluctant to spend any time with those Goddamned annoying kids again or that equally annoying alien.
Yet I watch new episodes of Pokémon every Saturday morning. Maybe I can only tolerate a limited amount of annoying kids and their freaky pets in my life?
Yet I watch new episodes of Pokémon every Saturday morning. Maybe I can only tolerate a limited amount of annoying kids and their freaky pets in my life?
09-17-17, 04:12 PM
#22
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
2007's Zodiac came out with 89% fresh and struggled for an audience. I think this would have been a bigger commercial success had it come out in October of that year rather than March. One of David Fincher's better movies.
09-17-17, 04:20 PM
#23
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
09-17-17, 04:21 PM
#24
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
For what it's worth, I saw E.T. in a theater when it came out, THE THING in a 42nd Street theater the following year (1983), and BLADE RUNNER on a reissue in 1984. I remember liking all three. I may have liked E.T., initially at least, the best of the three. I've seen THE THING a few times since then and BLADE RUNNER again when the Director's Cut played theatrically in 1992. I still have seen E.T. only once. I've never felt like revisiting it. Maybe it's the curmudgeon in me who's reluctant to spend any time with those Goddamned annoying kids again or that equally annoying alien.
Yet I watch new episodes of Pokémon every Saturday morning. Maybe I can only tolerate a limited amount of annoying kids and their freaky pets in my life?
Yet I watch new episodes of Pokémon every Saturday morning. Maybe I can only tolerate a limited amount of annoying kids and their freaky pets in my life?
09-17-17, 04:25 PM
#25
Re: Critically Acclaimed movies which Bombed badly at the Box Office ?
