Beloved Movies that Flopped at the Box Office

Sometimes, great movies just slip through the cracks. Even if the actors gave it their all, the script worked wonderfully, and every aspect of the movie came together… the audience just didn’t show up to the theater. That’s what happened to these ten movies, each of which was awesome but failed to make a splash at the box office.

Citizen Kane

You might be surprised to hear that the beloved “best movie ever” candidate Citizen Kane struggled during its initial theatrical release. The reason for it is much more interesting than just audiences being uninterested, though. Kane is a scathing takedown of a character who is a clear stand-in for newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, and the millionaire forbade any of his papers from mentioning the picture. He even allegedly bribed some theater chains to not show it at all!

The Thing

One of the greatest sins of the American moviegoing public during the 1980s is that they let The Thing make only $19.6 million against its $15 million budget. That’s not a loss, but it’s frustrating that this taut, masterful horror picture wasn’t a huge hit. It’s John Carpenter’s best movie and one of the most essential pieces of horror filmmaking to ever touch the sci-fi genre.

The Shawshank Redemption

Here’s a weird one: The Shawshank Redemption didn’t make a ton of money at the box office. The movie didn’t even get an Oscar in 1994—it was up against Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump, so, good luck. It made a ho-hum $28 million and didn’t even break into its current prestige until it was available on home video and aired on TV years after its release.

The Big Lebowski

Cult classic comedy The Big Lebowski is one of the most quotable films of the 90s. However, it initially struggled to find its audience, picking up only $18 million in its theatrical run. It’s turned into a midnight movie favorite over the years though, with 2000s-era reevaluations hailing the film as a masterpiece.

Office Space

You might think of Office Space as an iconic piece of American filmmaking, but it actually took several years to achieve its current cult status. It made only around $12.2 million against its $10 million budget and didn’t have its moment in the spotlight until it became a favorite late-night movie on Comedy Central.

Sunshine

Excellent space thriller Sunshine inverts the usual horror formula by making light the villain instead of darkness. This doomed expedition to an dying sun is a taut watch, but it didn’t find its fans when it hit theaters in 2007. It took in a disappointing $3 million in the US, becoming a pretty disappointing flop for Searchlight. It’s still one of the best movies of its kind, though.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

There are many injustices in the world. One of them is that Scott Pilgrim made only $30 million domestically against its $60 million budget. If you were alive in 2010 and didn’t go see this movie in theaters, you missed a good one. It’s the best comic book movie ever made, it’s eminently quotable, and it’s the clearest cinematic picture of the Millennial generation ever released to theaters.

Dredd

Karl Urban’s steely scowl made Dredd a standout in 2012. It’s a grimy, gritty take on the classic 2000 AD character and makes for one of the most impressive dystopian cyberpunk movies ever made. It also, famously, bombed horribly. It earned only $13 million against a $50 million budget, stinging Lionsgate’s wallet.

Blade Runner 2049

The first Blade Runner didn’t make a ton of money, but Columbia Pictures took a gamble on a big-budget sequel in 2017. The excellent 2049 cost them a fortune, though, as even its impressive $259 million haul didn’t make them any profits. It’s a real shame that it didn’t make more money, though, as it’s one of the best movies ever made.

Doctor Sleep

This sequel to both Stephen King’s novel and Stanley Kubrick’s movie The Shining threads the needle between these two opposing forces. It stars an excellent Ewan McGregor proving again that he has stellar chops as a leading man. This eerie horror flick packs in plenty of scares but, for whatever reason, just didn’t bring in the audience when it hit theaters.