10 classic films that totally flopped at the box office

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Harry Fletcher28 March 2018

Whatever the accountants in Hollywood would have you believe, box office performance isn’t always the best indicator when it comes to analysing the value of a film.

Avatar, for instance, is the highest grossing film of all time – clearly, money made isn’t always the best sign of a movie’s quality.

In fact, some of the most critically-lauded films of all time were abject failures during their initial run in cinemas, with many barely covering production costs and some even racking up enormous losses.

Plenty of the greatest movies in Hollywood history have won admirers over extended time frames, with initial failure giving way to long-term acclaim.

From Blade Runner to the Wizard of Oz, these are 10 classic movies that flopped at the box office.

Blade Runner

It’s a cult favourite amongst film fans and it received a high-profile sequel last year, but Blade Runner was a flop at the box office back in 1982. Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking visuals and Harrison Ford’s star power wasn’t enough to attract cinema-goers and the film took a measly $27.5m off the back of a $28m budget in the US at the time. Unfortunately, sequel Blade Runner 2049 proved something of a replicant of the original when it flopped at the box office itself last year. Should they have seen it coming?

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Was Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory too strange for audiences at the time? Was the sinister Arthur Slugworth just too creepy? Whichever way you analyse it, Will Wonka & The Chocolate Factory was a box office failure in 1971, taking just $4m in its initial run and not even making it into the top 15 most popular films that year. It was only after the re-release of the film in 1996 that the film captured the imagination of a world-wide audience and cemented its status as a kids' classic.

The Shawshank Redemption

It’s strange to think that Shawshank Redemption was anything but a box office smash, but one of the best-loved films of all time actually made a huge loss when it came out in 1994. The Frank Darabont film had a budget of $25m but only recouped $16m. The film, which has topped countless ‘Best Films’ lists over the years, has since worked its way into the zeitgeist and is widely regarded as an all-time classic.

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane’s status as one of greatest films ever made certainly wasn’t matched by its box office performance. Orson Welles' film managed a modest return of $1.5m off the back of a budget of $840,000 in 1941. It might not sound disastrous, but it was a huge underachievement considering the top grossing film that year Sergeant York took $16m domestically. It’s certainly surprising that one of the finest films of all time wasn’t more successful upon release.

Fight Club

20th Century Fox

It’s perhaps fitting that Fight Club – a film featuring some of the strongest anti-capitalist messages in any Hollywood film – totally bombed at the box office in 1999. Fight Club failed to land a knockout blow when it made just $37m in US cinemas from a production budget in the region of $63m. The film has since become one of the most acclaimed alternative movies of the last two decades, more than making its money back in DVD sales and TV rights.

The Wizard of Oz

Even closing your eyes and clicking your heels together three times won’t change the fact that The Wizard of Oz was a box office bomb back in 1939. The movie barely made its money back at the US box office during its initial run in the US, with the movie taking just $3m with a budget of $2.7m. The film would go on to spawn many spin-offs and celebrated theatre productions, but it’s initial reaction from movie fans was indifferent at best.

It’s a Wonderful Life

Christmas classic: It's A Wonderful Life is among those films being screened as part of the Herne Hill Free Film Festival

It’s a Wonderful Life is thought of as one of the most life-affirming movies of all time, and is a regular fixture in countless households come Christmas time. The James Stewart classic didn’t prove a hit with its post-war audience in 1946 though, scraping together just enough to cover its $3.3m budget. What’s especially surprising about the commercial performance is that the film was critically lauded at the time and claimed a total of five Oscar nominations.

Donnie Darko

The timing of Donnie Darko’s release can be partly blamed for the film’s poor performance, which saw the film make a loss of around $3m at the US box office. The movie was released barely a month after the 9/11 terror attacks and the trailer’s inclusion of a plane crash meant advertising was drastically cut for the film. Despite this, Donnie Darko is widely regarded as one of the great alternative films of the 00s and went on to achieve cult status among fans.

Raging Bull

Martin Scorsese hasn’t always had the best experiences at the box office. For every Wolf of Wall Street success there’s a Hugo (which made $73.8m off a budget of around $170m) or a Raging Bull. Many site the boxing drama as the highlight of both and Scorsese and Robert DeNiro’s careers, but the 1980 epic made a very modest $23m gross off the back of a $18m budget in its initial US run.

Once Upon a Time in America

Perhaps it's DeNiro? Sergio Leone’s sprawling gangster classic Once Upon a Time in America had all the pedigree of epics like The Godfather that came before it, but managed a fraction of their return at the box office. The 1984 film’s performance certainly wasn’t helped by a series of cuts in the lead up to production which saw the running time slashed from nearly four hours in length to just over two. The confused nature of the final release alienated audiences and saw it return just $5.3m on a $30m budget.

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