Box Office Bombs That Became Cult Classics

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Some movies bomb badly at the box office and become an example of how not to make a movie, others become campy or cheesy movies to the point where you can love them, and still, others achieve that rare status of having an army of loyal fans. These movies might not have been appreciated at the time of their release, but they’ve become much better cult classics!

But it can be pretty fun to see which ones of your favorite movies were box office bombs before they became the cult classics we see them as! Here is a list of some of the biggest box office bombs that attained cult classic status!

The Wizard Of Oz

This one is a shocker to almost everyone who hears of it! Because it is hard to imagine this classic tale as anything but an amazing movie. While it didn’t bomb terribly and made $3 million against the $2.7 million dollar budget, it was not seen as a success in 1939. However, rereleases that were updated for the current technology and tv broadcasts got audiences following Dorothy down the yellow brick road!

Fight Club

Alright, the rule is not to talk about fight club, but that was apparently a rule when the movie came out too. It made only $37 million domestically, and also received mixed reviews from critics. Even Rosie O’Donnell hated the film so much she ruined the twist ending on live TV!

However, whenever the film was released on DVD, the film took off by selling 6 million copies. The storyline and the attention to detail hooked audiences and now the film is a cult classic.

The Thing 

Kurt Russell’s ‘The Thing’ was a 1982 horror classic that only got 19.6 million at home against a 15 million dollar budget, and the movie was considered terrible with negative reviews. Additionally, the fact that it was released alongside other films of the year didn’t help its chances.

However, home video and television reruns helped the film find a new audience, and it has been reappraised as one of the best horror films ever made and has had a noticeable impact on the horror genre as a whole.

Clue

The real mystery around Clue is how it was a massive bomb in 1985. The campy and slapstick comedy didn’t win over viewers or critics, but eventually, the film with three endings became a mystery that stuck around in most people’s hearts.

Especially because of the all-star cast composed of Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, Martin Mull, and Michael McKean.

Blade Runner

Sometimes the only thing that causes a film to underperform at the box office is when it is shown. Blade Runner premiered the week after E.T, which was an extremely popular movie and would become the highest-grossing movie of the year. Even though it got $32.9 million in theaters against the budget of $28 million, it still didn’t do as well.

However, different versions of the film helped it thrive, and now there is a sequel and an entire universe set around the Blade Runner world.

Enjoy The Cult Classics

Countless movies have been looked back on as brilliant or memorable in the past, and the movies that we have now will go through the same treatment. While it is nice to look at an A-list movie with A-list stars most of the time, sometimes the best movie nights are whenever you throw on a cult classic film and just get lost in what the filmmakers and actors tried to do.