So the gist of the question, what movies did you see in an empty theater opening weekend later became huge hits once it hit home video/dvd?

Three specific examples come to mind for me:

Office Space ($10m) - saw a opening day, midnight show* and the theater was a ghost town. Loved it and tried to convince everyone I knew to see it. Didn't help.

The Big Lebowski ($17m) - again, opening night midnight show and less than a dozen people there. Tried to convince friends into going another night since I wanted to see it again, to no avail.

The Shawshank Redemption ($28m) - don't recall the attendance on this one just that it was pretty vacant. Having read and loved the novel I wasn't going to miss out. This one deserved more love. It did have a limited run though, which didn't help.

*saw many, many midnight showings and typically they drew a decent crowd. These however did not.

Eddie and the Cruisers wasn't a hit until it was on VHS.

Office Space and The Big Lebowski like above.

Dredd being the last one.

It wasn't a bomb ($64 million USBO off an estimated $17 million budget), but I saw Pitch Perfect in an empty theater, and once it was on home video everyone I knew was raving about it.

I'd say Frailty.

On the flip-side, I remember seeing Howard The Duck twice with two well-sized crowds (Surprised that still bombed hard)

When I went to see The Shawshank Redemption, there was a full house. Sunday matinee.

Tron
Dune
The Lost Boys
UHF
Dazed and Confused
The Usual Suspects
Trainspotting
Boogie Nights
Dark City
The Big Lebowski
Office Space
The Iron Giant
Memento

'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' (1971)
-Saw this when I was a kid and LOVED it
-Budget: $3,000,000 (estimated)
-Box Office $4,000,000

'Blade Runner' (1982)
-Like it alot, but loved it even more on Home Video...DVD I was able to replay and understand movie more.
-Box Office $32,868,943

The Iron Giant
-I believe I went to the theater to watch it by myself and LOVED it
-I was very disappointed that this did not do better at the Box Office, but loved watching again and again on DVD.
-Not sure the sales stats for DVD, but I guess it is NOT ENOUGH TO RELEASE IT ON BLU-RAY, I would love to have this on BR.
-So, maybe this should not be on the list, not sure how will it did in DVD sales.

Ditto. A friend of mine went opening weekend to see it and there were at least 10 other people there. The sad part was that I watched it in West Covina, CA where some of the movie was filmed but that didn't seem to matter for a better attendance.

I wouldn't call Memento "tanking" so much, it was fairly limited (at its widest was what, 500 theaters?), had a rather steady growth as it expanded in its art house setting, and was in theaters a minimum 100 theaters for 20 some odd weeks. I wound up seeing that one in theaters after some ridiculously high praise online. Donnie Darko on the otherhand did tank, even with its re-release.

I think anyone that saw Fight Club gets to claim that one too. That one was a wide release with huge stars and a big budget.

I sat in a theater to see The Abyss and there weren't many people in it. Saw it a few weeks later in an empty theater. Did it become a big home entertainment hit? I'm not so sure.

I saw The Big Lebowski and Office Space in empty theaters as well.

I saw the first Austin Powers in theaters. Though it didn't bomb, it wasn't a hit until it came to video, and the rest is history.

Raising Arizona. There were probably 10 people in the theater when I saw it the weekend it opened. Eight sat in silence, while my buddy and I laughed our asses off and enjoyed it thoroughly. I don't know if it qualifies as a "hit" exactly, but the reviews were very mixed when it came out but retrospective reviews are near uniformly positive.

I saw the already mentioned Trainspotting, Dazed and Confused and Frailty in the theater. Also Pecker and Orgazmo. I'm not sure if those two count or not.

A couple of friends and I saw Fight Club on opening night back in high school. I would say less than 10 people in the theater.

I saw Office Space the Saturday of opening weekend in the heart of what is now google territory and it was jam packed.

Damn, that's a good one. Wish I saw that in the theater.

I don't remember a lot of people seeing the first "Austin Powers" when it opened. I also don't remember many people at school or on-line (AOL) making much noise about it. That all seemed to change when it came out on video though.

I saw both of these movies in the theater with my Dad, they played in the arthouse cinema and neither were empty just not packed like when I saw Iron Man and every was there.

Yeah the theater I went to wasn't busy either opening weekend, there was an mtv special right when the movie came out that had to have helped.

I don't know if I'd call it a hit, but I saw Mallrats the week it opened.

When I was in college I had Tuesdays off and would go to the first screening of the day (usually 10am) every week and I'd say in three years of doing that, without missing a week, there were probably only two or three occasions where I wasn't the only person in the theater.

Office Space, Frailty, Dark City, Big Lebowski, all movies I saw alone in theaters.

There's a lot of home video "cult hits" I saw in theaters that were lightly attended as well.
Earth Girls are Easy
UHF
Clerks
Real Genius

I went to see The Usual Suspects when it came out and there were about 5 people at the screening in a room that could easily handle i would estimate 400.

Went to see Pulp Fiction on my 21st Birthday and the screening had about 20 people in it. Not sure what happened there as expected a lot more.

I have seen a few movies where i have been the only one in the cinema. One that comes to mind is being sat in a huge screening room on a Saturday afternoon and being the only person sat watching "Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead." I really liked the movie and when i was walking out i felt that i had discovered a little gem. Shame its still not out on Blu Ray.

I don't know if it has obtained 'hit' status, but I saw GRINDHOUSE on opening weekend (Easter weekend, I believe) with two other people in the theater.

I also saw IRON GIANT in the theater, but I remember it being relatively full.

I remember seeing both BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE and the first AUSTIN POWERS movie to relatively sparse crowds on opening weekend, although I think both did moderately well at the box office (never #1 though).

I think there is a big cult audience that developed after they released the Special Edition Cut in 1993 (27 minutes were added) on Laserdisk and eventually on DVD. I actually think it makes it a much better movie and a much different one too, as it gives the ending a more emotional punch that was lacking in the theatrical cut.

Still waiting for this one on BluRay!