Plenty of all-time greatmoviesdidn’t get the love they deserved at the box office, proving that financial failure doesn’t always imply a failure in filmmaker. Thehighest-grossing movies of all timemostly have some level of critical praise on top of mass appeal to wider audiences, but the reverse isn’t always true.
In fact, the box office can often be a very poor metric to judge a film’s quality by. Some of thebest movies of all timehave fallen by the wayside when it comes to their theatrical releases, taking away final earnings that pale in comparison to the success of their stories, visuals, and themes.
Fight Clubis one of the fewfilms considered better than its inspirational bookby most viewers, with even author Chuck Palahniuk admitting that the movie is superior to his original story. The compelling dissection of modern living and the unreliable narrator’s struggle with his new bizarre companion is a historically impressive triumph in narrative.
Fight Clubwasn’t an abject failure in theaters, but its modest return of 37.8 million dollars was a massive disappointment considering the star power on display. Even ifFight Clubwould become a titanic tentpole film of Generation X pop culture, ironically, its own capital failures are quite shocking in retrospect.
A bleak, dystopian tale, Alfonso Cuarón’sChildren of Menis one of the most fantastic, if bleak, alternate future films ever conceived. In a world in which infertility has resulted in a slow, gradual distinction of the human race, a lone bureaucrat is given charge of the only living pregnant woman in the world.
Children of Men’s haunting cautionary tale apparently didn’t resonate with general audiences, earning only 70 million dollars against a budget of 76 million. It’s a pity that this intense dystopian drama couldn’t be recognized for its stellar storytelling by contemporaneous movie-goers.
Perhaps the singlemost underrated Disney film,Treasure Planetis a genius recitation of the classic novelTreasure Islandin a unique setting that mixes equal parts science fiction and 18th-century naval voyages. The young Jim Hawkens finds a map to an old pirate king’s massive treasure hoard.
Treasure Planethas brilliant visuals, amazing characters, and breathtaking, cinematic sequences that outdo many other movies in Disney’s catalog. Sadly, the company may as well have sent the movie out to die in hopes of moving on from 2-D animation, competing with the secondHarry Pottermovie to the tune of a 30 million dollar loss.
Many hardcore horror fans will list John Carpenter’sThe Thingamong the most formative films in the genre, turning a forgettable ’50s sci-fi B-movie into one of the most ghoulishly creative creature features ever. An Antarctic research base is terrorized by the discovery of a shapeshifting alien organism that can disguise itself as a human.
Pioneering with its fantastic practical effects that still hold up today as well as its airtight story of survival,it’s a wonderThe Thingbarely scraped upwards of its 15 million dollar budget. Perhaps releasing the same year as another beloved movie with a much brighter take on aliens,E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,hurt its performance.
The Shawshank Redemptionisn’t just one of thebest Stephen King movie adaptations, but one of the greatest prison movies ever made, bar none. When a man is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, he’s forced to endure the horrors of institutionalization while plotting a daring escape that takes his prison by surprise.
Not only was the film completely snuffed at the 1994 Oscars (an admittedly competitive year), but its box office take paled in comparison to its quality. Barely squeaking to an adequate profit with 73 million dollars worldwide,The Shawshank Redemptiondeserved far better than it got.
It’s rare that a legacy sequel actually improves on the original, butDenis Villeneuve’s resuscitation of theBlade Runnerfranchise is one of the most philosophically daring and thoughtfully constructed blockbusters of the 21st century. Between its sci-fi setting and star-studded cast, the budget crept up to a budget of around 150 million dollars.
Sadly, it would hardly recoup this cost in theaters, estimated to have lost around 80 million of it. Considering thatBlade Runner 2049is widely considered to be one of the most visionary science fiction films ever made, let alone in recent years, it’s a shock that audiences didn’t respond well to the return of the I.P.
Even a film as lofty asCitizen Kane, often regarded as the single greatest film of all time, can struggle with making its money back in theaters. Orson Welles' revolutionary drama seesthe mystery behind “Rosebud”, the last words of a famous media magnate, examined postmortem by a journalist that archives his entire life.
Despite all the relevance it holds today,Citizen Kanemay have been too visionary for past audiences to comprehend, losing around 160,000 dollars in 1941. That would add up to about 3.5 million dollars today, showcasing how even the most formative and critically lauded films can struggle to make money.
Mike Judge might be known for his animated series likeKing of the HillorBeevis and Butthead, but the live-action 2006 filmIdiocracyis arguably his magnum opus. When an unremarkable soldier is flung into the far future, he makes the terrifying realization that he’s now the smartest man in a broken, stupid world.
Audiences in 2006 didn’t getIdiocracy, gifting it a pitiful 500,000 dollar box office haul. Perhaps if they knew just how prophetic the film would be,predicting the slow decline of modern civilization with the over-reliance of technology and dumbed-down commercialization of culture, they would have paid the film the respects it deserves.
Today,Scott Pilgrim vs. The Worldis thought of as one ofEdgar Wright’s finest films, a concise adaptation of a comic embodying Millennial culture. The movie tells the story of Scott, a musician who falls in love with an edgy, alternative girl and learns he’ll have to face her seven evil exes to have a shot with her.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The Worldhas continued to leave a lasting impact on cinema, from its inspired visuals to its wacky fight sequences to the trust it places in its audiences to “get it”. Sadly, many viewers seemingly didn’t, and the film made only half of its budget back in the U.S. and still under that worldwide.
Many movies that could be considered masterpieces are perhaps only thought of as such by more critical viewers more willing to engage with the story, andUnder the Skinis easily one of them. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson as a bizarre, alien creature that seduces men disguised as a beautiful woman only to lure them to their deaths.
From its use of actual non-actors in candid footage to its stunning visual direction,Under the Skinis a masterpiece in the true sense of the word. Unfortunately, themoviestruggled to appeal to casual viewers, barely earning back a little over half of its paltry 13-million-dollar budget.
