How do cinema flops become classics

Don't forget 'It's A Wonderful Life'.

Totally bombed at the box-office (not a shock considering the themes of suicide and poverty at xmas) - fortunately, a junior executive messed up the copyright of the film. That meant that all the TV stations could broadcast the film for free - which they did in their droves year on year, until it became a christmas staple.
 
I would guess that over 50% of the movies most people consider 'classics' were flops at the box office. It's not that surprising though really - box office takings are about marketing, log-lines, number of screens etc. and have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the film.
 
It depenRAB on circumstances-'The Blues Brothers' is a great example of this: it flopped massively in America, despite the popularity of Saturday Night Live, and benefitted long-term on video from John Belushi's death and the 'Ghostbusters' phenomenon.

Some films just seem to catch on, catch on through fan word-of-mouth and certain sections of the media going nuts about them, and eventually find a fanbase . 'Shawshank' is another one-it originally made just $28m in the US, barely breaking even-but now it's rightfully seen as a modern classic.
 
Could not get into Blade Runner at all when I watched it :sleep: Really wanted to, but didn't do anything for me at all. Shawshank on the other hand is one of my favorite films of all time. Really well told story, doesn't try to be good.

I think some of these "classic" films are too subtle to do very well in cinemas, you simply can't promote the emotions a film evokes, and most classics really don't have many obvious mass market selling points, you just have to experience them!

W.
 
'Donnie Darko' was a bit of an arthouse movie that seemed to break into the mainstream through word of mouth - I remember buying the Region 1 DVD and then telling people that they had to go and watch it when it came out :)

I think that all the films have a thread in common here. In terms of theme and structure they are all really downbeat: Donnie Darko, Bladerunner, A Wonderful Life and Shawshank all contain murders, deaths and suicides for instance. When most audiences go to the cinema on a Friday night, they want to be made happy and forget their troubles - probably why Arnie and Sly have done so well at the box-office...

Dunno why Austin Powers Flopped at the box-office? I went to see it the opening weekend and laughed my a$$ off. Perhaps the death of Princess Di had something to do with it...
 
Donnie Darko wasnt really advertised. The director and publiciants used the word-of-mouth effect theory waiting for people to tell other people about it.. it was ok. and recently became even bigger because of the song which reached no 1 in charts

East is East is another example.
 
I'm with Damndirtyape here-Austin Powers 1, if I remember rightly, was supposed to come out in the UK on the weekend of Di's funeral in September 1997 but was understandably delayed by a week.

In the US, Austin didn't set the world on fire cos at that point Mike Myers hadn't made a film in three and a half years.
 
eww! Let's hope not - first one good, third one baaaaaaaaad. East is East was actually HIGHLY advertised in the UK. I studied the marketing campaign a few years back, and it was one of the most expensive ad campaigns in UK history! Still, word of mouth did help it enormously too.

Fight Club is another of the films that bombed at the box-office, yet regularly frequents 'top 10 films of all time' lists. Neglected thanks to the 'Daily Mail' types who couldn't get past the 10 minutes of violence and enjoy the dark, vitriolic remainder of the film.
 
austin powers is good. first two were the best but i still had a laugh at the third.

East is East i was told by my media lecturer that it wasnt advertised much... unless it was advertised when it went into mainstream cinemas. and wasnt while it was in independent cinemas...

Fight club is a good film. keep meaning to watch it again..
Would have watched it when it was on tv the other day. but it more than likely was cut..

what about american history x?
 
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