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35 decent/great movies that underperformed/flopped at the box office

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
33 replies | jump to latest

A Simple Plan (1998)
Ali (2001)
Blackhat (2015)
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Children of Men (2006)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Clockers (1995)
Deepwater Horizon (2016)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Event Horizon (1997)
Fight Club (1999)
Hard Rain (1998)
Heaven's Gate (1980)
Hugo (2011)
Ishtar (1987)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Man on the Moon (1999)
Mother! (2017)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010)
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
The BFG (2016)
The Good Dinosaur (2015)
The Insider (1999)
The Iron Giant (1999)
The King of Comedy (1982)
The Lone Ranger (2013)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

How many have you seen? Are there any you like a lot? :)

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

The Lone Ranger is no surprise. Citizen Kane is a classic and The Children of Men is an underrated gem.

[–] BullSchmidt (3189) 5 years ago

Are you looking for suggestions to add to the list? If so, how about Quiz Show (1994). According to IMDB, budget was $31 million (estimated), US gross was $24.8 million. Quite a few people, including me, thought it should have got the Academy Award for Best Picture that year. It did get nominated, but Forrest Gump (which certainly wasn't a bad movie) ended up taking the prize.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Suggestions are welcome :)

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Then add Cleopatra (1963) to the list :)

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20777) 5 years ago

I had a 2 VHS copy of Cleopatra (1963) in the 90’s and I may have wore out the 1st half. Rex Harrison’s exchanges with everyone he spoke to was like sarcastic comedy gold to me.

[–] nyctc7 (42036) 5 years ago

The love story between Caesar (Burton) and Cleopatra (Taylor) sucked. Everything else was mostly good to excellent.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (20777) 5 years ago

Wait, Cesar is played by Harrison and Antony is played by Burton. So the 1st half consisted of the love story between Cesar and Cleopatra.

[–] nyctc7 (42036) 5 years ago

oops, I meant the love angle at all. Made the movie very long and was the least interesting and least well acted part.

[–] TexasJack (12515) 5 years ago

Quiz Show was excellent.

[–] nyctc7 (42036) 5 years ago

Agreed!

[–] snepts (11123) 5 years ago

I enjoyed the Aronofsky film The Fountain with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz.

[–] mcqueen (1150) 5 years ago

one of my favorites!

[–] snepts (11123) 5 years ago

Noice ! I guess it's a personal thing since a lot of people don't seem to like it, but it had a real daring to it. I thought the colors of the look of the film were ravishing, telling three related stories was innovative ala Nolan's Memento, (telling a story in reverse), and it was sad, heart-felt and involving. Glad I saw it in the theater with the overwhelming scale.
And I wasn't too exposed to Hugh at the time. I'm at the end of Logan's run.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Some of these are very surprising. I've seen a lot of them and enjoyed many.

The most surprising to me is The Shawshank Redemption. I thought that was a hit right out of the box!

A few I knew were box office flops: Bladerunner 2049, Heaven's Gate, Ishtar.

On a side note, I saw The BFG not too long ago, because I couldn't find anything else on Netflix, and was surprised that I liked it. Much better than I'd thought it was going to be.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (73803) 5 years ago

Hi ITTY:)

I saw a bunch of these but some notables:

I was unaware that Ali lost money...such a good movie, Smith owned the role and it had a good script

Children of Men was perfection
10/10...many of my friends have never seen it
I should get new friends!

Citizen Kane bored the shit out of me
Great camera work though👍

Clockers is probably my favorite Spike joint but it was a very depressing film
Maybe it drove audiences away because it was so real and heavy?
Great movie

Assassination...Ford was a very good movie, the violent shootings were filmed realistically (everyone looked scared and clumsy) and the landscapes were gorgeous
The movie was too long though

Shawshank Redemption was very good but how the hell is it the IMDB numero Uno
It was better than Casablanca and The Godfather?!?
Ok...

Spinal Tap Is still hilarious and always will be the quintessential Mockumentary 10/10

At a loss to figure out how Willy Wonka was not a smash hit...maybe the scary bits were too much for kids at the time?
Anyway, it sure is a classic!

Good thread🍻

[–] snepts (11123) 5 years ago

I saw the Ass/Ford movie on TV one day, maybe w/o commercials, idr. But it seemed like we had to follow of a bunch of unlikable and not very smart people in a slow grind to the end that was already announced. I'm sure it's well made but I don't know if I'm sold on it. Not awful at all, but all the sepia tone and Jesse being ten steps ahead of Robert, it just seemed like an exercise.

And in a nod how important seeing a film in the theater is. had I seen A/F in the theater, I likely would have studied it much closer. Fortunately I saw Hugo in the big film box, and adored it. It's so nostalgic and it practically twinkles from the screen. I don't care much about the performance of the kids, that's always a matter of whether they are winsome or not. I just love the concept and execution of the film. Loved Kingsley, loved the long segment that was a tribute to the French origins of film.
I don't expect everyone to love it, but I hope more people do.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Fantasia.

[–] ColumboKate (5375) 5 years ago

I remember watching Stir Of Echoes years after it was released - I'd never heard of it. Turns out it was released around the same time as The Sixth Sense and just got eclipsed. Stir of echoes is more re-watchable imo.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (73803) 5 years ago

Agreed
I rewatched Stir of Echoes some months back and loved it all over again
I only saw The Sixth Sense once...it was great but has low rewatch value...might see it again for the Willis performance some day

[–] ColumboKate (5375) 5 years ago

Agree. I loved sixth sense the first time but once you know the twist it kind of loses the appeal. Thought it was amazing at the time though.

[–] Stratego (29567) 5 years ago

Gotta disagree. The Sixth Sense is extremely rewatchable because of all the hints, the touching story and great acting.

[–] captainbucky (15252) 5 years ago

Lone Ranger sucked

[–] NoodlesMacIntosh (74) 5 years ago

I love these movies and consider them all great:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
The Insider
Shawshank Redemption
Children of Men
It’s a wonderful life
Citizen Kane
This is Spinal Tap

Pretty Good:
Hugo
Ali

Didn’t like:
The Good Dinosaur
The BFG
Hard Rain
Event Horizon
The Lone Ranger

Despite not being box office successes - Shawshank, Spinal Tap, it’s a wonderful life, Citizen Kane are obviously considered classics in their genres and beloved by many.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) - is fanastic movie that has been largely forgotten and never received the acclaim that i think it deserves.