Movie Flops That Became Culture Classics

There are a lot of movies out there that have flopped on release, and even though these movies still raked in hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not millions in the box office, they still acquired that box-office bust status. But however unsuccessful they were at the time, these films are now considered by many as being cult classics.

Whether a movie flops because of poor marketing or bad timing, judging by the popularity of the following films, they must have made up the numbers that were lost in numerous TV screenings, video and DVD sales.

Donnie Darko

Starring a young Jake Gyllenhaal in one of his first roles, the storyline shows how he must save the world through a series of bizarre events whilst being followed by a giant, disturbing looking rabbit called Frank.

The $514,000 it made in box office sales hardly even chipped away at its $4.5 million budget in the mere five months the movie ran for in the US. However, after its DVD release, the momentum started to pick up with theatres in New York hosting midnight showings of the film for 28 months straight!

Fight Club

Another in the psychological sub-genre, this violent and mindlessly macho movie stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton who join forces and form an underground fight club which of course quickly goes awry, brain-washing its members and becoming a destructive force in society.

The film itself made £37 million against its budget of $63 million, which is a surprising result seeing as though everybody now knows the rules of Fight Club – but we won’t talk about that.

The Wizard of Oz

Known all over the world, this bright and multicoloured musical tells the story of Dorothy Gale, played by America sweetheart, Judy Garland, who gets swept away in a twister and dropped in the middle of Oz.

However, even with singing munchkins, good witches, bad witches, flying monkeys and fraudulent wizards, it still wasn’t enough to entice movie-goers inside the cinemas. The budget for the film was gargantuan at the time of production, costing a whopping $2.7 million that was spent on sets, costumes, special effects and more.

Rocky Horror Picture Show

This musical/horror/sci-fi sort of comedy mash up begins with a couple of goody-goody newlyweds breaking down in the rain. Unfortunately, the house they stumble upon is owned by a sweet transvestite from Transylvania, his alien cronies and followers. This unravels a story of murder, deceit and at one point, cannibalism, which may have been all too much for audiences at the time of its release, making a measly $22,000.

Now, however, it’s constantly appearing in theatres and movie-screens for various musical and sing-along renditions which have considerably boosted its profits.

Some of these movies may rank in your personal favourites, and you might even still have them on video from when their sales really started to soar! At Video2DVD we specialise in bringing the movies that have you and your families playing starring roles, transferring your treasured home videos into an updated format for your viewing pleasure. Whatever the format of your film, we can transfer betamax to DVD, as well as VHS, Digital 8 and more. For information about the services we offer, feel free to contact us at 0800 592 433 or visit our Twitter page for updates.