Movies which were expected to flop but ended up being big hits

[Dan Druff]

I've always been fascinated by "unexpected hits" -- from athletes to TV shows to movies to products to political candidates -- ones expected to go nowhere but become huge hits instead.

This thread is for listing movies which have defied expectations and become huge (or at least very successful) despite dire predictions.

I'll start out with a few...



STAR WARS (1977)

"Mark Hamill? Carrie Fisher? Harrison Ford? Who are these nobodies?"

That was the reaction of many when Star Wars was announced.

This was a fairly low-budget ($8 million) sci-fi film which was not at all expected to be a success.

Brian De Palma and other directors who saw an early cut of the film (without special effects) found it to be boring and disappointing.

The film ended up being the start of the most successful movie franchise ever.

[chinamaniac]

Speaking of Star wars did you go to see The Force Awakens eventually? Thoughts?

[Dan Druff]

TITANIC (1997)

This was the first-ever $200 million budget film, and people thought that was insane. Only a handful of films at that point had made $200 million, so how could that be the BUDGET of an unproven film?

Even worse, special effects caused production delays and infighting, forcing the planned summer release to be pushed back to November.

Most thought that Titanic would be one of the most infamous bombs of all time, and word of mouth prior to its release was very bad.

Instead, it ended up becoming the highest grossing film of all time, in what was one of the worst market estimation mistakes in entertainment history.

Totally ignored was the appeal of leading man Leonaro DiCaprio and the sappy love story surrounding him, which caught fire with teenage girls across the world.



Some teen girls saw the movie more than 20 times in the theater.

Titanic's success then spawned a rash of hastily made films aimed at teenagers, as studios seeked to continue to harvest that previously mostly ignored market.

[4Dragons]

Apocalypse Now, incredibly over budget and way past its due date, many critics panned it outright before it hit the screen. Only a near perfect film could have saved it from the hatchet job they did on it before it came out. The beginning of the end of the professional film critic era. Fuck you Rex Reed.

[Dan Druff]

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)

This film was plagued with problems, and was barely marketed at all.

Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly, but was dropped early in the filming process when his version of Marty was too serious and not funny.



Michael J. Fox was a much better Marty, but his commitments to "Family Ties" left him unavailable to promote the movie.

Studio executives were also concerned about the "inappropriate" plot regarding a mother falling in love with her future son who traveled back in time. One was especially disturbed by the line on a film poster, "Are you telling me my mom has the hots for me?"

Most studio executives thought the film would produce middling results, and decided not to spend much money promoting it, especially because of Fox's unavailability.

They were shocked when test audiences universally loved the film, but it was too late to invest in much promotion. Instead, they moved up the release date to early July and prayed that word of mouth would save it.

I stumbled upon Back to the Future on its opening day, as a 13-year-old. My friend and I went in to see it, knowing nothing about it besides it was something about time travel and featured Michael J. Fox. The theater was half empty.

We walked out saying how awesome it was, and wondering why we hadn't heard of it before.

Indeed, this was the typical experience around the country, and great word-of-mouth quickly spread. The second weekend was bigger than the first, which is very uncommon for a hit film, and Back to the Future ended up becomng wildly successful.

[Dan Druff]

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)

Wes Craven made this classic film for just $1.8 million -- which would still be only a little over $4 million today.

Even that money was tough to raise. Most investors had no faith in the film, and backed out, leaving Craven with a paltry $1.1 million. He got the final $700,000 from a Yugoslavian guy whose girlfriend wanted to be in films (not sure which role she ended up playing).

They also had a problem casting Freddy. None of the actors who auditioned were right for the part, and it was also impossible to get anyone famous, due to the film's low budget. Robert Englund did the best job auditioning, but still wasn't particularly thrilled with the role or the film. He took the job because it was the only project he could find with a schedule that would fit properly between his filming of "V: The Final Battle" and "V: The Series".

Nightmare on Elm Street opened to rave reviews and was very popular among horror fans. It paved the way for later low budget horror hits, such as Blair Witch Project.

Wes Craven was angry that the studio wanted to make a second film in the series, as he had envisioned it as a standalone film. Craven ended up dropping out after the first one.

Freddy Krueger was named after a boy who bullied Craven in school, named Fred Krueger.

[Dan Druff]

THE SHINING (1980)

It's hard to believe that one of the best-regarded horror films of all time was initially a failure at the box office and panned by many critics.

The Shining started off as rather unpopular with audiences, slowly gaining a following and eventually returning respectable (but not spectacular) box office numbers.

Jack Nicholson's performance was criticized for being "jumpy" and "over the top", and critics on the whole didn't care for the film.

Stephen King, who wrote the book on which the movie was based, was furious at Stanley Kubrick for deviating from a lot of material. He told people that he hated the movie, and in fact made his own (pretty bad) version as a TV movie in 1997. King said of Kubrick, "He thinks too much and feels too little."

Over time, the film gained more and more fans, especially during the then-blossoming VCR era of the early-mid 1980s. It eventually elevated to become considered a classic, and many of its scenes are now considered iconic.

[Dan Druff]

Speaking of Star wars did you go to see The Force Awakens eventually? Thoughts?

I still haven't seen it, but will very soon.

[4Dragons]

Blade Runner - A box office dud that had a huge budget and a hot star coming off of his Star Wars fame, had the highest expectations. The invention of home video saved this film and turned it into a hit.

[gut]

[Daly]

I don't remember titanic as being touted as a flop pre release?

[hongkonger]

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)

This film was plagued with problems, and was barely marketed at all.

Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly, but was dropped early in the filming process when his version of Marty was too serious and not funny.



Michael J. Fox was a much better Marty, but his commitments to "Family Ties" left him unavailable to promote the movie.

Studio executives were also concerned about the "inappropriate" plot regarding a mother falling in love with her future son who traveled back in time. One was especially disturbed by the line on a film poster, "Are you telling me my mom has the hots for me?"

Most studio executives thought the film would produce middling results, and decided not to spend much money promoting it, especially because of Fox's unavailability.

They were shocked when test audiences universally loved the film, but it was too late to invest in much promotion. Instead, they moved up the release date to early July and prayed that word of mouth would save it.

I stumbled upon Back to the Future on its opening day, as a 13-year-old. My friend and I went in to see it, knowing nothing about it besides it was something about time travel and featured Michael J. Fox. The theater was half empty.

We walked out saying how awesome it was, and wondering why we hadn't heard of it before.

Indeed, this was the typical experience around the country, and great word-of-mouth quickly spread. The second weekend was bigger than the first, which is very uncommon for a hit film, and Back to the Future ended up becomng wildly successful.

I attended a test screening of BTTF. Still my favorite movie of all time.

[4Dragons]

Blade Runner - A box office dud that had a huge budget and a hot star coming off of his Star Wars fame, had the highest expectations. The invention of home video saved this film and turned it into a hit.

Comments

MumblesBadly: Definitely! I saw this a day after opening night, and the next day took a date to see it!

I didn't get to see it first run. I did see the Directors Cut re-release on the big screen though. No voiceover kinda sucked, since by that time I had all the words memorized and the lack of the monologue felt empty.

[Hockey Guy]

First Blood got savaged in reviews but was saved by the video release, even though it did decent at the box office, & eventually spawned the Rambo franchise.

[OSA]

Suprised that it took this long but obv Rounders

[drufdajewgod]

all time world wide classic

[Corrigan]

THE SHINING (1980)

It's hard to believe that one of the best-regarded horror films of all time was initially a failure at the box office and panned by many critics.

Jack Nicholson's performance was criticized for being "jumpy" and "over the top", and critics on the whole didn't care for the film.

Stanley Kubrick won worst director at the Razzies for this movie.

[Drexel]

I saw Titanic during winter break from college. Obviously back before the internet era, you really only had trailers and word of mouth. I guess I saw Titanic a month or so after it came out. It was the craze. I never knew it had done terrible pre-screening. I only knew, from what others told me that the set design and cinematography were amazing. I didn't know about the love story or even the ending when I saw it. The only actors I knew of were Leo and Kathy Bates. Honest to god I have never seen that movie again other than in small, and I mean really small spurts while channel surfing.

I saw Back to the Future 2 when I was 15 in the theaters. I don't remember seeing the first one but I know I did. My interest in it was because I was a Michael J Fox fan. Watched Famiky Ties every week. I don't think I even knew much of the premise when I saw it.

A few of my favorite movies that are mainstream that for some reason get so much hate:

1) Fight Club- I realize I made the mistake of taking a girlfriend on her birthday to see this film but it is really brilliant on so many levels. It's strange now all these years later to hear it referred to as a cult classic.

2) Swordfish- Something about Hugh Jackman getting blown by a hot blown while having a gun to his head while having to hack the CIA or whatever data base was a turn on for me. Halle Berry tit shots. John Travolta before he took any paycheck. Cool premise about slush fund to seriously fuck up terrorists.

3) True Romance- At one time, my favorite movie ever. I can't think of another movie with so many future stars that hadn't blown up yet with a cast of well known A Listers at the time. I mean, you had Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as the stars. You had a stoner Brad Pitt who had only broke out in Thelma and Loiuse. A way way Pre-Soprano James Gandolfini. Christopher Walken before he was a household name. Samuel Jackson pre pulp fiction before anyone knew who he was. Gary Oldman as well you know Drexel. Michael Rappaport. Dennis Hopper. Val Kilmer. Tom Sizemore before he was beating up hookers. And that Bronson Pinchot talking getting blown while snorting coke in a Ferrari.

[BeerAndPoker]

Not sure these were expected to flop but they did at the box office and have made a bunch of money ever since:



This classic only made only $4 million at the box office on a $3 million budget and still plays regularly on television.

Dazed and Confused is another classic that only made few million profit at the box office:

[GrenadaRoger]

Rounders




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