Many films that are cherished today were not necessarily loved when they were released in the theater. They either slowly gained momentum or most people did not care or did not know about them.
Movies like the audience participation film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show became well-loved because of the buzz around the members of the audience re-enacting scenes of the movie. Or David Lynch's Eraserhead, which acquired its following and gained its "classic" status from midnight movie showings. These are the top 80s movies that flopped at the box office, but are now cult classics.
10 Dune (1984)
The planet Aarkis is the only source of the most valued substance in the universe - a spice called melange. When Duke Leto Atreides is awarded the planet Aarkis, his enemies violently seize it back. It is up to Atreides' son, played by Twin Peak's Kyle MacLachlan, to help the people of the planet gain back their control and the melange that was taken.
Based on the science fiction novel by Frank Herbert, Dune had high expectations but was a box office failure, losing about $10 million. Today, it is regarded as a science fiction classic.
9 Labyrinth (1986)
Rock star David Bowie starring as a goblin who has captured Sarah's (Jennifer Connelly) baby brother does not read like a movie that audiences would rush to a theater to see. That much was true. Although the film was produced by George Lucas and directed by The Muppet Show creator Jim Henson, the film lost about $22 million.
Other than Bowie and Connelly, most of the film's characters are played by puppets, which helped generate a cult following after its film release and it is now regarded as a fantasy classic.
8 Clue (1985)
A popular board game coming to the big screen? What an idea. An instant hit, right? Not exactly. The highly anticipated movie starring Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, and Back to the Future's Christopher Lloyd only grossed a little over $14 million with a budget of $15 million.
Like the board game, the movie begins at a dinner party, where the host is murdered. The guests try to figure out who killed him, but therein lies the dilemma. The film should have intrigued audiences because it had three possible endings, with different theaters receiving different endings. People came to love the idea and it became a classic when it was released on home video, featuring all three endings.
7 Brazil (1985)
Jonathan Pryce fantasizes about being a hero and saving the damsel in distress in the film, Brazil. As a meaningless bureaucrat, he investigates a case that leads to the wrongful arrest of an innocent man instead of capturing the terrorist portrayed by Robert DeNiro. He meets the woman that he fantasized about in his dreams, but he finds himself in a series of lies and deception.
A box office blunder, only generating $9.9 million of its $15 million budget, the British Film Institute voted it the 54th greatest British film of all time in 1999, helping cement it into cult film history.
6 Heathers (1989)
In the 80s, Winona Rider, Christian Slater, and Shannon Doherty were at the height of their careers and starred in Heathers, in which Ryder plays a very popular high school student and part of her high school's most favored clique of the same name. Ryder and her boyfriend (Slater) accidentally poison the group's leader, making appear to be a suicide. Her boyfriend intentionally kills students he does not like and looks to get rid of the new group leader, Duke (Doherty).
Instance success? Most thought it would be, but it did not hit the $1 million mark in its domestic run. Yet in 2015, it was ranked in the top five of the 50 Best High School Movies by Entertainment Weekly.
5 Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
In the summer of 1986, Big Trouble in Little China was released, a martial arts action-comedy movie. Starring Kurt Russell, it is about a truck driver in Chinatown who must rescue his friend's girlfriend from Lo Pan (James Wong), who uses her to break an ancient curse.
The film flopped in the theaters, only grossing a little over $11 million domestically. But once it arrived on home video, martial fans appreciated the film's action and quirkiness, making a favorite in the martial arts community.
4 Highlander (1986)
How can a film about an immortal cutting off the heads of other immortals and starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery not be an instant success at the box office? This was the fate of the action-adventure-fantasy-science-fiction film, Highlander.
The film, directed by Russel Mulcahy, grossed just under $6 million domestically and a total of $12 million worldwide, losing about $7 million. After its theatrical run, the movie became an instant hit, inspiring a television series that lasted six seasons and another movie in 2000.
3 The Thing (1982)
Kurt Russell stars as a helicopter pilot in John Carpenter's thriller about a group of American research scientists in seclusion in Antarctica, whose camp is invaded by an alien being - a being that imitates other beings and creates mass hysteria of mistrust among the crew.
When released in June 1982, The Thing was not well-received at the box office and by critics. It grossed a little over $19 million during its time in the theaters. Later, moviegoers' minds would change and the film is now appreciated for its special effects, gore and suspense, deeming it as a classic in the genre of horror.
2 Blade Runner (1982)
Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young, Blade Runner is a science fiction cult classic that was not well received when it was released in the summer of 1982. Set in the future of Los Angeles in 2019, Ford plays a futuristic bounty hunter who must eliminate four escaped Replicants, but falls in love with one of them.
Although visually stunning, it was not understood by the majority of audiences. The film did not break even nor did it obtain the expected gross of other science fiction movies during that time like Star Wars and E.T. Eventually, it gathered an elite following from sci-fi fans, hailing it to be one of the best science fiction films of all time.
1 A Christmas Story (1983)
Probably the most-watched movie on television during the Christmas holidays (other than It's A Wonderful Life) and adored by many generations, A Christmas Story was a disappointment at the box office, losing over $70 million. When it is stated that a film "is ahead of its time," A Christmas Story was indeed contemporary, to state the least.
Ralphie Parker played by the delightful Peter Billingsley dreams of getting a Red Ryder air rifle for Christmas. He is constantly bullied at school and has a peculiar relationship with his cantankerous father, but is adored by his loving mother and does not know if his Christmas wish will come true.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/31OMuFx
0 Comments