There’s something oddly satisfying about seeing a big-budget movie flop. Whenever we hear about these ambitious, special effects-laden extravaganzas going down in flames we get an odd feeling of schadenfreude.
But why is this? Does it stem from the fact that we feel manipulated, almost exploited, by the movie industry? Perhaps. After all, movie studios make a lot of coin from tweaking our emotions, be it through adrenaline-filled action films or mawkishly tear-jerking weepies.
Perhaps the best reason for our guilty pleasure at seeing a big-budget movie flop is the fact that we feel like we won a battle. We caught Hollywood trying to pull a fast one by releasing a bad movie and trying to hype it anyway—and we weren’t fooled. Gotcha. Better luck next time.
That’s all well and good, but there have been many excellent movies throughout the years that, for whatever reason, failed to make it big at the box office. Hey, just because a movie didn’t make a lot of money on its release doesn’t make it bad—after all, Citizen Kane barely made enough to cover the cost of a wooden sled on its original release. It wasn’t until its re-release and television syndication that it became perhaps the most critically acclaimed movie of all time.
So, here’s a look at two movies that didn’t live up to expectations on their release, but later went on to disprove the critics:
Fight Club
Despite eventually becoming an enormous cult hit, Fight Club performed poorly on its release. With a budget of $63 million it took just $37 million at the US box office. On its release the movie drew mixed critical reactions, partly due to its violent nature. One high profile critic described it as “a film without a single redeeming quality, which may have to find its audience in Hell”, and the flop cost the Entertainment Chief of 20th Century Fox his job.
Despite a tepid reception, Fight Club went on to turn a small profit at the global box office before exploding in popularity in the DVD market, becoming one of the best-loved films of the 90s. Today you’d be hard pressed to find a young man’s DVD collection that didn’t boast a Fight Club DVD.
Shawshank Redemption
One of the most well known box office flops of recent years, The Shawshank Redemption, based on a Steven King novella, came up against the might of Forrest Gump at the box office. Audiences preferred Hanks’ feel good vehicle over this depressing prison drama and, although Shawshank garnered 7 Oscar nominations, the box office take was pathetic.
This all changed once the movie was released on video. Bolstered by the Oscar endorsements Shawshank became the most rented video of 1995, going on to become our 2nd favorite movie of all time according to an Internet Movie Database poll.
The moral of the story, it seems, is that you should probably think twice before dismissing a movie based on its box office success. Movies are always at their most enjoyable when seen on the big screen, so you shouldn’t miss out on the chance to see them as they were meant to be seen simply because the audiences can’t tell a Hollywood gem from fools gold. After all, these are the same people who made Ernest Goes to Jail the number one movie in its opening week. Would you trust them?
Watch the video related to Box office
EntertainmentExtra’Dark Knight’ Shatters Box Office Record’Dark Knight’ Shatters Box Office RecordThe Associated Press’The Dark Knight’ continues to rule. Warner Brothers says it grossed more than 300-million dollars in just 10 days – shattering another box office record. (July 28)’The Dark Knight’ continues to obliterate box office records. The Batman saga took in 75-point-6 million dollars in it’s second weekend in theaters. Warner Brothers says that brings it’s total to more than 314 …
Help answer the question about Box office
How did Twilight place in the box office?
I want to know how it did in the box office counting just this years movies and movies over all. Only counting opening weekend sales.
Personally I thought it was great but they could have gone for three hours and Kristen wasn't the best Bella. But everyone else killed!
NUMBER 1 THIS WEEKEND!!! 70.6 million is what I heard. I think it's the biggest film, money wise this year since Dark Knight. Although I could be wrong.
b4 hand
Hm…that you did, that you did.
I always find myself speechless every time I see your work. I always rate it 5 stars. You’re quite talented. Keep up the beautiful job. ^_^V
awesome work I wish i could draw like you but i already chose Anime as my drawing method im not good with realistic.
what if it really was a real photo? and he just reversed the effects? like instead of creating it, he de-creates it, and plays it backwards? lol
Only US box office figures are counted as domestic in the US. Canadian box figure numbers are released on their own, however the Canadian media tends to print North American numbers which are the combined US and Canada (sorry, Mexico), since they are larger.
The number one movie last week in Canada was "The Day the Earth Stood Still" which grossed $1.81 Million. If you want to see the rest of the list, it's at
http://www.tribute.ca/movies/boxoffice.asp
Many beginning actors work box office because they want to be working "in" the theatre and that is all they can get. However volunteering is another story. As a box office volunteer ( or even employee) you will not be near or on the stage. But depending on the size of the theatre and the company, you possibly will have interactions with the people that are. However this is far from a guarantee. Some theatre box offices are pretty far away from the backstage area, the stage and the green room and in most larger theatres you may never even have contact with the director or anyone else directly involved with the production. You will however get to know the house manager and you never know what connections they may have.
If this is a smaller theatre then this may be a good opportunity to make connections and get your face recognized as well as showing your dedication to the company. If this is a large theatre you most likely will be wasting your time.
grease 2… they ruined it.
No, not at all. I said “what if” =D
No, it's safe to say it flopped. The movie opened with less than half the money the other spoof movies made.
Hopefully this will ring the death knell for these annoying spoofs.
Sigh…same here.
I think it's going to do very well, probably almost as good as LOTR/Harry/Narnia. With so many obsessed fans, the movie would have to be completely awful to not do well.
beautiful! May I ask what screen capture program you used? It’s so smooth and you don’t ever zoom in or navigate around? I just really like how the video doesn’t jump all over the place like some speedpaint videos do.
lol then i have no complaint the art is awsome
Is it really that hard to beleive someone has tallent?
The Box Office means money – how much the movie has made selling tickets in US movie theaters. Foreign, PPV, DVD rentals and sales are technically not part of a film's box office, though they do contibute to a film's profits.
The profits of the movie typically go to the producers, or the production company, who hired the director. Some directors, like Spielberg, have their own production companies, like "Dreamworks" and "Amblin' " Some actors have their own production companies, too, like Clint Eastwood (OK, he started out as an actor) whose company is Malpaso Films or John Wayne (?) who had Batjac Productions.
Titanic's total: 1.8 billion dollars
Dark Knight: Little over 1 billion.