Tuesday, October 08, 2024
British impresario Malcolm McLaren’s headstone reads, “Better a spectacular failure, than a benign success.” So it goes in life and, sometimes, at the movies.
Films fail at the box office for many reasons—a poor release date, a bad trailer, a disconnection from the zeitgeist, a global pandemic—and not always because they’re bad. Some infamous money-losers rank with my favorite movies, and probably yours, too.
What follows are 55 movies that didn’t connect with audience in theaters, which is a nice way of saying they flopped, earning less in ticket sales than they cost to make and market. But while they were initially viewed as disappointments, many are now considered cult classics; too off-kilter or challenging to initially connect with mainstream audiences, they found their fans on video or streaming. Or maybe I just think they’re good. (It’s my list, after all.)
(Please note: I have not included The Shawshank Redemption—perhaps the flop-worth-watching ne plus ultra—because it needs no help from me. It was the internet’s favorite movie for more than a decade, after all. Consider it mentioned.)
Megalopolis (2024)
This one opened in theaters two weeks ago as of this writing, and has thus far tallied a bit over $6 million at the box office. This would be a poor performance for basically any modern studio film, but given this one cost director Francis Ford Coppola around $140 million of his own money, it's disastrous. I was one of those rare paying customers, and I can honestly say the film's flop status is justified (it's pretty bad!), but that doesn't mean I don't think it's worth watching (but maybe only while high or otherwise inebriated).
Self-funding his decades-in-the-making sci-fi passion project, Coppola's bizarre "fable" about the efforts of a master architect (Adam Driver) to reshape the decadent city of "New Rome" into a utopia with the help of the magical substance he's created (megalon, which sounds like but is not a Decepticon), it's one wile swing after another, with a plot that's both straightforward and incredibly incoherent; puzzling supporting performances from the likes of Giancarlo Esposito, Shia LeBeouf (in and out of drag for no apparent reason), and Aubrey Plaza (who is unscrupulous media personality Wow Platinum); and garish CGI right out of one of the Star Wars prequels. It's the best bad movie since Cats.
Where to stream: Digital purchase (release date TBA)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
This prequel to 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road was my most-anticipated movie of 2024, but it seems like wider audiences were not so enthused about the latest chapter in George Miller's long-running post-apocalyptic sci-fi saga, which barely managed to outgross its $168 million budget worldwide, losing an estimated $70 million. There's plenty of blame to go around here: The first trailers were undercooked, leading picky audiences members to complain about the "bad" (read: super stylized) CGI; the fact that it is a prequel meant recasting Charlize Theron, who originated the character in Fury Road; panicking studios' tendency to throw movies onto streaming after a scant few weeks has permanently altered the "gotta see it on the big screen" urgency. Which is all a shame. The movie kinda rules, even if it's a different model of muscle car than Fury Road, and its failure will only convince Hollywood not to bet on eccentric weirdoes with grand visions.
Where to stream: Max
Beau Is Afraid (2023)
I don't know what compelled A24 to give Ari Aster $35 million to make this unsettling, off-putting comedic grotesquerie about an agoraphobe's increasingly unhinged voyage to visit his sick mother. Despite the presence of a bankable lead in Joaquin Phoenix, this fever dream take on The Odyssey (if Odysseus was massively neurotic momma's boy) seems to have been specifically designed to repel general audiences. But if you can get on its wavelength, I'd argue there are few films as effective at bridging the gap between character and audience, bringing you firmly into Beau's fractured emotional state. Sure, said emotional state is omnipresent anxiety. But what a picture!
Where to stream: Paramount+ With Showtime
The Creator (2023)
As a seasoned consumer of sci-fi novels and films, let me preface this by saying that no, nothing in The Creator is the least bit original—the story of a disillusioned soldier (John David Washington, admittedly a charisma void, but not fatally so here) attempting to safeguard the life of the first AI child in a bleak future in which humans are losing a war against the machines is like a papier-mâché robot sculpture made out of pages from 100 different sci-fi books. But cliché as it is, it's fairly smart in how it's assembled, and director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) has also managed to make it look absolutely real, eschewing the recent trend of 100% CGI sets to favor shooting on location and adding the spaceship bits later. The result is the best-looking blockbuster in years—but even its relatively reasonable $80 million budget proved too much to recoup in theaters; it made only $40 million in the U.S. and lost money worldwide after figuring in marketing.
Where to stream: Hulu
The Northman (2022)
As with Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid, it's kinda hard to see why a studio gave a cult filmmaker like Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse) as much as $90 million to make a grimy, violent, artsy Norse epic. But one did, and we're all the better for it: Filled with intense action sequences, imaginative sets and costumes, and over-the-top performances from a bunch of stars (Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy) who definitely know exactly what kind of movie they're in, it's a wonder to behold. It got lost in the shuffle in theaters, grossing less than $70 million worldwide. Happily for the money guys, it did eventually turn a profit in its digital release, but it's the kind of movie that demands an epic canvas.
Where to stream: Starz
Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)
Maybe it's overkill to include another George Miller flick so near the top of this list, but this 2022 box office misfire—a $20 million gross on a $60 million budget—deserved much better. Adapted from a short story by A.S. Byatt, it tells the tale of a mousey college professor (Tilda Swinton) who happens upon a magic lamp and awakens an immortal genie (Idris Elba) who proceeds to share with her the story of his many lives and masters, which unfold in whimsical, richly imagined storybook detail. Miller cashed in his blank check from winning all those Fury Road Oscars to make it, but it turned out to be more of a Babe: Pig in the City than a Babe when it came to selling tickets. A bummer—it's a bedtime story that will invade your dreams, well worth experiencing.
Where to stream: MGM+, Prime Video
Babylon (2022)
Hollywood loves to make movies about itself, but audiences aren't always interested. That was certainly the case for director Damien Chazelle's epic love letter to cinema's Golden Age, an unhinged three-hour dive into the glitz, glamor, and excesses of the movie business circa the switchover from silents to talkies—its budget was around $100 million, and it made just $15 million in the U.S. and $63 million worldwide. It's loud, garish, and buzzing with cocaine-fueled energy, but for every misstep (an opening sequences featuring a mountain of elephant excrement sprayed directly into the camera) there are two bravura sequences (my favorite being a tortured depiction of what it's like to film a movie scene under intense pressure that could be a short film all on its own), and the cast is full of movie stars (Brad Pitt and a pre-Barbie Margot Robbie being the standouts) the way they used to make 'em—bigger than life, and best viewed up there on the big screen.
Where to stream: MGM+, Prime Video
The Last Duel (2021)
Ridley Scott is in his mid-80s and hasn't slowed down a tick, even if he can't quite seem to figure out how to make an epic historical movie that will connect with audiences the way Gladiator did. But where Napoleon and Gods of Egypt may have deserved their middling takes, the failure of 2021's The Last Duel was a crying shame. A medieval twist on Rashomon, it tells three versions of what happened the night a noble knight's (Matt Damon) wife (Jodie Comer) was sexually assaulted by a squire (Adam Driver). Filled with great performances, crackling dialogue, and real narrative complexity and ambiguity, it was one of 2021's best films, but got totally lost in the pandemic shuffle, and got more traction out of memes making fun of co-star Ben Affleck's funny wig than it managed to sell tickets.
Where to stream: Digital rental
In the Heights (2021)
Lin-Manuel Miranda's pre-Hamilton Broadway smash is admittedly no Hamilton, despite the fact that it won its own shelf of Tonys. But I still can't quite figure out why so few people came out to movie theaters to see this uplifting story of an immigrant community in New York City coming together in song and dance, especially given that trailer, which never fails to make me tear up. (Yes, it was released smack in the middle of a pandemic, but plenty of other movies were still making bank, and this one deserved to have folks in the aisles, dancing along.) At the very least it proved a decent test run for director John M. Chu's stage-to-screen chops; hopefully his two-part adaptation of Wicked doesn't turn out to be such a bust.
Where to stream: Max, Prime Video
West Side Story (2021)
Another 2021 musical no one wanted to see in theaters. Granted, it's worth asking why Steven Spielberg felt the need to iterate on one of the best movie musicals of all time. But then you see it, and you understand exactly why he wanted to make it: The dude can film a song and dance number with the same verve and flair he brings to a T-Rex attack or an Indiana Jones tank chase. It failed to recoup its $100 million budget, but if you watch it at home, you'll be kicking yourself for not making it out to the theater.
Where to stream: Disney+
Birds of Prey, and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020)
It is well-established that superhero movies are in a rough spot these days—witness 2023's string of comic book flops—but the relative failure of this pre-pandemic spinoff of Suicide Squad was something of a warning klaxon. Despite the presence of Margot Robbie in the lead (everyone having agreed that she was the only thing worth praising in David Ayer's undercooked anti-hero story), a colorful cast of supporting bad girls (including Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett), an even more colorful comic book look (credit director Cathy Yan and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Matthew Libatique), and a snarky, self-referential tone, it seemed unable to shake off the taint that eventually led to a complete overhaul of the DC Extended Universe. A shame, because it's one of about three post-Avengers: Endgame comic book movies that actually justifies its existence. Because it's fun to watch.
Where to stream: Max
Cats (2019)
Cats is the last film I saw in theaters before the pandemic. I’m not ashamed of it. It’s just something I have to live with. But while I can’t quite argue that this horrifically misaligned adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical about...cats doesn’t deserve its 19% Rotten Tomatoes score, it’s too mesmerizingly confounding to avoid entirely; indeed, you might find yourself drawn into its strange cult and start attending jubilant midnight sing-along screenings (you know, eventually). Even if you don’t, I can’t imagine witnessing a CGI feline version of Judi Dench sing-talking about the difference between cats and dogs won’t leave you forever changed.
Where to stream: Netflix
Annihilation (2018)
Based on the novel by capital-W Weird writer Jeff VanderMeer, this 2018 sci-fi thriller film wanders away from the plot of the book but tells a similarly unsettling story of a group of women scientists who venture within a strange unnatural phenomenon known as “the Shimmer,” from which no one has emerged (with their sanity intact, anyway) since it suddenly appeared in the wilds of the southeastern U.S.
Director Alex Garland’s followup to the critically lauded Ex-Machina, it was to be one of Paramount’s tentpole releases—until the studio got cold feet and sold off the foreign rights to Netflix, and put the least amount of effort possible into a cursory domestic release. Still, critical support was there early on, and genre fans seem to have embraced it as a heady ecological horror fable.
Where to stream: Paramount+ With Showtime
A Cure for Wellness (2017)
Director Gore Verbinski took a step back from popcorn epics like The Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lone Ranger for this twisted, small-scale homage to Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. A young businessman (Dane DeHaan) is sent to retrieve his boss from a “wellness retreat” in the Swiss Alps and encounters a strange, insular community lorded over by a sinister doctor (Jason Isaacs), and soon finds himself subject to disturbing experiments. The deeply weird plot, involving blood-thirsty leeches and a quest for immortality, alienated theatrical audiences, but like all of Verbinski’s movies, this one is too visually inventive to miss—and it plays pretty well when streamed late at night (possibly after you’ve partaken of your own “cure” for what’s ailing you).
Where to stream: Digital rental
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
I was so excited for this sci-fi spectacle—a lifelong passion project for director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Lucy)—that I almost saw it in a theater in Paris while on vacation, dubbed into French. Perhaps that would have been a better bet, because the occasionally atrocious dialogue and the miscast leads are basically my only problems with this overclocked live-action cartoon.
Appealing elsewhere, Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne display an aloof hipster anti-chemistry as Valerian and Laureline, two government agents of humanity’s space-faring future who get pulled into a colorful conspiracy on the titular space station, but everything around them—from the eye-popping production design (ripped from the pages of the original French comics), to the supporting cast (including Rhianna as a sexy blob alien), to the propulsive episodic plotting—is impossible to resist. Switch language tracks, pop on the subtitles (or don’t bother), and enjoy.
Where to stream: Prime Video
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Given how often The Lonely Island’s Saturday Night Live parody songs would become viral sensations, I can’t quite figure out why this story of the rise and fall of a loud-mouthed musician didn’t take off—it’s basically a feature-length adaptation of “I’m on a Boat.” Yet just five years later, and despite making less than $10 million in the U.S., it is already often spoken of alongside the best lowbrow comedies of the last decade, which isn’t nothing. If you’ve any affection for its sister box office disappoint-turned-cult smash Walk Hard ($20 million against a $35 million budget), put it on your weekend playlist.
Where to stream: Pluto TV
Crimson Peak (2015)
Sandwiched in-between Guillermo del Toro’s summer blockbuster Pacific Rim and his Best Picture-winning The Shape of Water is this painterly ode to gothic horror—a lurid, oversexed haunted house potboiler in which a budding novelist (Mia Wasikowska) marries a wealthy aristocrat (Tom Hiddleston) and travels to his family’s remote, crumbling mansion, where she runs afoul of the convoluted relationship between her new groom and his sister (Jessica Chastain), with whom he shares a terrible secret. The film is a visual marvel—the decrepit estate, haunted by bloody specters, is a wonder of production design—more than making up for its somewhat overcooked Grand Guignol plotting.
(Much of the above also applies to del Toro's massive money loser Nightmare Alley, released in 2021, but I gave Crimson Peak the spotlight because it didn't get a Best Picture nod.)
Where to stream: Digital rental
Blackhat (2015)
Michael Mann is so revered as a filmmaker’s filmmaker, it’s easy to forget how many of his movies have fared poorly in theaters (1999's The Insider lost $30 million, but got seven Oscar nominations). One of his most infamous in that regard is this techno-thriller starring a mid-Thor Chris Hemsworth, which cost $70 million and made $8 million in the U.S. And it’s great!
Hemsworth displays real charisma (and range) as an ex-con hacker tasked with saving the world from cyberterrorists, and the intricate plot spools out masterfully—at least since Mann tinkered with the editing to produce his director’s cut, which is the one to watch if you can find it (it’s currently not streaming anywhere).
Where to stream: Netflix
The Man From UNCLE (2015)
It’s hard to say why Guy Ritchie’s protege Matthew Vaughn found success (and a franchise) with the 2014 spy action comedy Kingsmen: The Secret Service while Ritchie himself had no luck the next year with this clever reboot of the cult 1960s TV series The Man From UNCLE. Starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer (problematic!), it similarly walks the line between serious action and genre spoof, moving at a mile a minute between elaborate effects sequences and clever gags as its titular secret agent gets involved in international spy hijinks. (Spy-jinks?) I’d love a sequel, but the poor box office returns ($45 million U.S. on a budget of over $100 million) probably means I’ll have to be content with what I have.
Where to stream: Netflix
Inherent Vice (2014)
Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s box office success often pales in comparison to his critical cred, but he never swung bigger and missed so badly ($8 million gross on a $20 million budget) than with this, the first ever cinematic adaptation of a Thomas Pynchon novel.
In retrospect, it’s no surprise a confounding, convoluted, drugged-out LA noir built on an alienating performance by Joaquin Phoenix didn’t exactly light the world on fire, but like all of PTA’s films, every frame is worth watching—no working director (save maybe Wes Anderson) is so tonally consistent—and maybe with enough re-viewings, the plot will start to make sense.
Where to stream: Max
John Carter (2012)
John Carter’s failure seems one of timing. Released a few years post-Avatar, it arrived just as audiences were growing weary of 3-D special effects extravaganzas, and the marketing never managed to justify its existence—admittedly a challenge when adapting source material (the Barsoom novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs) that established sci-fi/fantasy tropes long since passed into cliché.
Yet like two other would-be outer space blockbusters appearing elsewhere on this list (see if you can spot them), it’s far better than its damaged reputation. Taylor Kitsch is suitably heroic as a Civil War soldier mysteriously transported to the surface of Mars, the unusual environment granting him the superhuman abilities he needs to change the course of an alien war; in his first live-action film, director (and Pixar-mainstay) Andrew Stanton brings real dimension to a bunch of impressive CGI effects.
Where to stream: Disney+
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
That Edgar Wright managed to pull off the best comic book adaptation of all time, if for a comic with extremely niche appeal, and still see it fail to find an audience is all too appropriate: The slacker title character (Michael Cera), a part-time musician and full-time misanthrope living in early aughts Toronto, would scoff at becoming too popular. Though buzz for it lit up Comic-Con, no one came out to theaters (where it grossed about half of the $60 million it cost to make) to see Scott engage in video game duels with his girlfriend Ramona’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) “seven evil exes” to win her hand (no one except me), but its Geriatric Millennial nostalgia appeal (not to mention a cast of future stars like Aubrey Plaza and Brie Larson) has won it a legion of fans after the fact—enough to get it an anime adaptation on Netflix.
Where to stream: Max
Speed Racer (2008)/Cloud Atlas (2012)/Jupiter Ascending (2015)/The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
The Wachowskis have made a cottage industry out of directing ambitious genre films that utterly fail to connect with audiences, starting with their 2008 adaptation of the Japanese anime Speed Racer, a perfect live-action encapsulation of a cartoon’s manic energy that alienated critics upon initial release, leading to a $43 million U.S. gross on a $120 million budget (and here I must again point out I saw this one in the theater; it rules).
They fared a bit better with their sprawling take on David Mitchell’s “unfilmable” time-spanning cyclical novel Cloud Atlas in 2012, which made $130 million worldwide but still lost massive amounts of money, only to find themselves shuttled off to director jail after their fairy tale sci-fi epic Jupiter Ascending face-planted in 2015, resulting in a $100 million loss for Warner Bros.
After that flop, Lana Wachowski returned solo to resurrect the Matrix series. Even by pandemic standards, though, the fourth (but not final?) film in that uneven but always ambitious saga was a massive under-performer, grossing $160 million worldwide on a $190 million budget. More than that, the heavily meta plot and toned down action sequences divided fans—but so did the first two sequels.
Lumpy and misshapen and tonally inconsistent as they all are, these films feel like the rare big budget spectacles that are the product of a singular vision, and very much deserving of a second chance.
Where to stream: Digital rental (Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending, Cloud Atlas), Max and Netflix (The Matrix Resurrections)
Sunshine (2007)
Director Danny Boyle brings an arthouse flair to this sci-fi drama, which attempts to take a grounded approach to the story of a ragtag crew of astronauts’ desperate mission to reignite our dying sun (at least until the last 30 minutes, when it makes a hard turn into thriller territory). An odd sense of elegiac sadness hangs over the whole affair—Armageddon this ain’t, which might be why it made a mere $4 million in the U.S.—but more patient genre fans will find its arresting, sun-scorched imagery and strives for realism entirely rewarding.
Where to stream: Digital rental
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
I totally get why this somber, painterly western—a nearly three-hour loose biography of the title characters that favors long silences and artful visuals over plot momentum—didn’t exactly become a summer blockbuster, but still, you’d think a piece of awards-bait starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck would do better than $4 million in ticket sales. If you have any patience for the genre, though, its a must-see—coupled with career-best work from cinematographer Roger Deakins, the sober tone and measured pacing become almost hypnotic.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Children of Men (2006)
Perhaps it's expecting too much of audiences to ask them to turn out in droves for a dour sci-fi thriller set in a near-future world ravaged by violence and climate disaster. But this 2006 flop from celebrated director Alfonso Cuarón is some kind of feel-bad masterpiece. It stars Clive Owen as a depressed former activist who unwittingly becomes the shepherd of the last baby born in a world gripped by an infertility plague, and his efforts to struggle on despite inarguably hopeless odds might actually be...sorta inspiring? In a depressing way. Regardless, while it underperformed in theaters (especially weighed against the rapturous critical reception) it deserves to be seen for the filmmaking alone—a chase sequence seemingly shot in one unbroken take was instantly iconic, and still holds up nearly 20 years later.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was to be a comeback of sorts, both for a pre-Iron Man Robert Downey, Jr. and for writer/director Shane Black, years removed from penning ‘80s hits like Lethal Weapon. Yet despite an enthusiastic critical response, it managed just $4 million at the U.S. box office—though, like most of these movies, it wound up finding its crowd on DVD. It’s worth watching both for its glimpse of an actor on the brink of career-changing global superstardom and its funny, fast-moving plot—a tongue-in-cheek homage to hardboiled Hollywood noir.
Where to stream: Digital rental
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Vin Diesel cashed in his xXx and The Fast and the Furious cred to make this convoluted RPG campaign of a sequel to David Twohy’s spare sci-fi thriller Pitch Black (2000). If you’re asking yourself why, the answer is pretty simple: Vin Diesel is a huge nerd. Did the world need to learn that good-hearted criminal who could see in the dark was actually part of an ancient space-faring civilization known as “Furyans”? I would posit it did not (and in fact many people did not bother to learn it at all—it grossed just $57 million in the U.S. against a budget of over $100 million). But that doesn’t mean I, also a huge nerd, was not there for it opening weekend, and I declare it: Pretty good. I mean, Judy Dench, again.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Peter Pan (2003)
With the notable exception of the Disney animated version (but not the Disney+ live action version), Hollywood just can’t quite seem to make Peter Pan happen—though not for a lack of trying. And none of these box office misfires hurts worse than the abject failure of this faithful 2003 adaptation, which hews closely to the original novel and casts real, actual kids in the lead roles of Wendy (Rachel Hurd-Wood) and Peter (Jeremy Sumpter) against Jason Isaac’s fiendish Captain Hook. Director P.J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) perfectly captures the tension of the metaphor at the heart of this story about near-adolescents who never want to grow up.
Where to stream: Starz
Death to Smoochy (2002)
Iconic star of short stature Danny DeVito had weird side-career as a director, bouncing from the over-the-top divorce comedy of The War of the Roses, to the acid-tinged children’s film Matilda, to this outright misfire, a nasty noir of the preschool entertainment set in which a down-on-his-luck TV host (Robin Williams) concocts a vicious scheme to obliterate his upstart rival, a purple rhino-costumed Edward Norton. It’s crass and violent enough that I’m not shocked no one wanted to see it in theaters (where it made $8 million on a $50 million budget), nor am I surprised it found more amenable audiences on DVD.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Treasure Planet (2002)
Disney’s attempt to appeal to the non-princess crowd with a spacefaring adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island—long a passion project for co-directors Ron Clements and John Musker—tanked so badly (losing some $75 million) that it basically signaled the end of traditional 2-D animation at the Mouse House (in-development projects like Tangled and Frozen quickly pivoted to CGI). And yet despite a super made-in-the-year-2000 aesthetic (the lead’s floppy boy band hair; that “space surfing” sequence), it’s actually an entertaining, imaginative update of the original story, and one of the most handsome animated films ever made. (Kids who grew up with it seem to agree.)
Where to stream: Disney+
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
It’s not exactly original to label Josie and the Pussycats a good movie in 2024, but you can’t call me a latecomer to the trend: I was one of the few who saw it in the theater in 2001 (final box office gross: $14.9 million), and I was an instant fan (I definitely liked it more than the only other people at my showing—a mom and her two young daughters, who seemed confused about why I was laughing so much).
Once dismissed as a formulaic post-Girl Power rags-to-rock riches story, the film has been reassessed as a smart satire with a great cast (which includes Rosario Dawson, Alan Cumming, Parker Posy, and Tara Reid) and an irresistible pop punk soundtrack.
Where to stream: Digital rental
The Iron Giant (1999)
It’s not every movie that can say it got its studio shut down, but, well, director Brad Bird’s E.T.-like period fable about a alien machine that crash lands in the Red Scare America of the 1950s and the young boy who befriends him tanked so badly ($23 million U.S. against a $5o million budget) that Warner Bros. Animation essentially abandoned its feature-length ambitions in the wake of its release.
But critics loved it from the start, and audiences soon found it on DVD—especially after the release of Pixar’s The Incredibles boosted Bird’s reputation. By 2018, the title character was well-known enough to receive a major cameo in Steven Spielberg’s shared IP extravaganza Ready Player One.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Muppets From Space (1999)
A bold choice, I know—Muppets From Space is no one’s favorite Muppet movie. But it’s also far better than its reputation as the nadir of the beloved felt creations’ storied career. As with any Muppet film, the plot—about blue Weirdo Gonzo’s hunt for his origins (the title deserves a spoiler alert)—is just a framework upon which to hang Muppet-y antics and recognizable human cameos (including a totally game Jeffrey Tambor as an eternally exasperated government agent). It fared so poorly in theaters (failing to earn back its $24 million budget) that it put the Jim Henson creations in mothballs for more than a decade.
Where to stream: Hulu, FXNow
Fight Club (1999)
Fight Club failed in theaters (grossing about half what it cost to make) but was already on its way to cult status by the time it arrived on DVD in an elaborate multi-disc set filled with breathlessly exhaustive special features examining every facet of its production. Judging by its lasting impact on film (its primary twist becoming something of a narrative shorthand) and culture in general (certain audiences’ misreadings of its message are...problematic), its legacy seems assured, which is to say, you’ve probably seen Edward Norton and Brad Pitt meet cute, fight cute, and then start an underground boxing club-turned-terrorist organization plenty of times already.
Where to stream: Hulu
Man on the Moon (1999)
The behind-the-camera talent for this bio-pic of 1980s outsider comic Andy Kauffman couldn’t be more impressive: An Oscar-winning director in Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), acclaimed screenwriters (Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who penned the bio-pics Ed Wood and The People vs. Larry Flynt), and the talents of producer/star (and Kauffman confidant) Danny DeVito. Yet it seems 1999 audiences just didn’t want to see Jim Carrey in serious mode; he totally nails his portrayal of the troubled comedy legend, but couldn’t appeal to the Oscars (though he did win a Golden Globe) or audiences (the movie limped to $47 million against an $82 million budget). It’s a suitably risk-taking, beguiling take on the life of an unknowable celebrity who remained a mystery even in death.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Gattaca (1997)
This low-key science fiction drama from director Andrew Niccol (writer of The Truman Show) feels eerily prescient despite getting basically nothing of the future right. In “the not-too-distant future,” wealthy elites genetically engineer perfect children in the womb (“valids”), making life doubly difficult for natural born “in-valids” like Vincent (Ethan Hawke), who attempts to pass himself off as a valid in order to participate in an historic space mission. The setup is the stuff of classic sci-fi, favoring intellectual fireworks and moral musing over flashy special effects, and it took a while to find an appreciative audience, earning only a third of its $36 million budget in ticket sales.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Waterworld (1995)
What if Mad Max, but on the ocean? proved to be an uncompelling question for audiences in 1995, when this mega-budget post-apocalyptic saga of a future world drowned by melting ice caps became something of a laughing stock among critics (who dubbed it "Fishtar"; see a later entry on this list). But watched today, it's more an endearing throwback (fishing pun not intended). Sure, Kevin Costner is kind of dour and humorless as the web-toed man who will lead humanity into the future, but the action sequences are still killer (and refreshingly devoid of CGI), and Dennis Hopper makes for a fabulously maniacal villain. And it's even better if you can catch the extended TV cut, which adds in 45 minutes of plot trimmed from the original release.
Where to stream: Starz—though if you want to see the longer version you'll have to spring for the (excellent) Blu-ray edition
Showgirls (1995)
This sexy thriller from sexy thriller master Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct) was unabashedly for adults only, released in theaters with the newly commissioned NC-17 rating that was intended to signal to audiences that what they'd be seeing was too intense for younger viewers. Those titivating promises did nothing to boost the box office of this behind-the-tassels story of an ambitious dancer (Elizabeth Berkley) who dreams of making it big of the Vegas strip (by stripping). Mainstream contemporary critics hated it, but it soon attracted a cult following (particularly among queer men) for its intentionally campy theatrics, intended to position it as a pointed satire and quasi-remake of the best-ever story of cutthroat showbiz survival, All About Eve. That might sound like unwarranted praise, but considering we're talking about the filmmaker behind sci-fi satires RoboCop and Starship Troopers, we can't exactly take Showgirls at face value either.
Where to stream: Tubi, Pluto TV
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
The Coen brothers’ drug-fueled bowling alley noir The Big Lebowski famously threw a gutter ball in theaters before stoners propelled it into a massive cult success on video, and I’d like to see the same sort of reassessment of this earlier flop, a blackly comic morality play about the inventor of the hula hoop (Tim Robbins) that’s like a dark reflection of the screwball comedies of the 1940s. The zany characters and over-the-top visuals might have you wondering what it’s all about, but you’ll honestly be too entertained to really care.
Where to stream: The Roku Channel
Cry-Baby (1990)
Crass cult film icon John Waters found mainstream success with 1988's Hairspray, a ‘50s period musical about an unflappable young woman’s obsession with appearing on a teen dance show, so his followup—a ‘50s period musical about an unflappable young woman’s obsession with a good-hearted hoodlum (played by Johnny Depp in peak teen pinup form)—seemed a good bet.
Nope: It made around $8 million on a $12 million budget and vanished into video store obscurity. But its tale of singing toughs and the girls who love them proved too irresistible, and it eventually attracted the cult audience it deserved—to the point it was even remade as a Tony-nominated (if quickly shuttered) Broadway musical, walking much the same path as Hairspray (which went from movie to stage and back again).
Where to stream: Digital rental
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
A sure thing that sure wasn’t, this adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s blockbuster novel, a long-winded saga of 1980s excess, became an infamous flop even before its 1990 release, despite the involvement of award-winning director Brian De Palma and a cast that includes big stars like Melanie Griffith, Tom Hanks, and Bruce Willis.
At the time it was regarded as a poor take on a zeitgeist-y book, and scraped out just a third of its $47 million budget in ticket sales, but it plays better at a remove—when’s the last time anyone actually read The Bonfire of the Vanities?—or as a companion piece to the dishy 1991 book The Devil’s Candy, journalist Julie Salamon’s no-holds-barred, fly-on-the-wall account of its troubled production.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
On paper, this one should’ve been a massive success: a romantic comedy pairing Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, written and directed by playwright John Patrick Shanley, who’d just won an Oscar for Moonstruck. And yet: Turns out 1990 audiences didn’t know what to make of a weird fable about a man with a fatal illness who ventures to the South Pacific to throw himself into a volcano. Its highly artificial screwball flair did eventually find its adherents, but not until it had already garnered a reputation as a poorly conceived box office disappointment.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Heathers (1989)
You mean to tell me audiences in 1989 couldn’t appreciate this black-as-night teen comedy satire about a pair of murderous high school students (Christian Slater and Winona Ryder) getting revenge against a same-named clique of awful rich girls? What was their damage? Luckily, this devilish romp from Daniel Waters (whose brother Mark would find success with the similarly sharp but more broadly appealing Mean Girls) hasn’t aged a day in the decades since it managed to earn just $1 million in theaters (well, except for the gay panic stuff... and the fact that it would never, ever be made today).
Where to stream: Prime Video, The Criterion Channel, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi
Chameleon Street (1989)
This late-80s curio was the only movie director Wendell B. Harris Jr. ever got to make, and that's a damn shame. I don't want to say too much about it—it's one of those movies it is best to go into blind—but the opening titles tell you it's the true-ish story of a Catch Me If You Can-esque conman who built a life out of inhabiting a string of disparate identities. Despite earning acclaim at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, it was put on the shelf and earned only a cursory release a year later. But it's a brilliant film, if challenging and ambitious, and I'm pleased it is attracting a growing cult following. It's now easy to find on basically every free streaming service, and I highly recommend giving it a try.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Peacock, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
One weird, dour Terry Gilliam “children’s” movie was a hit—1981's Time Bandits—so why not this one? Unfortunately, this chronicle of the high-flying adventures of oddball aristocrat Baron Munchausen (John Neville) cost way too much ($46 million) and made way too little ($8 million). But its episodic plot, which takes you on an airship to the moon, on a voyage under the sea, and beyond, plays well on video—and it’s fun seeing future stars like Sarah Polley and Uma Thurman in early roles.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Ishtar (1987)
Writer/director Elaine May’s folly has long been synonymous with the hubris of Hollywood, the epitome of a flop: an outrageously expensive dry “comedy” starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as a pair of half-talented musicians unwittingly drawn into a foreign policy disaster in the fictional middle eastern nation of the title. It lost so much money (nearly $100 million in today’s dollars), it remains infamous decades later, despite the fact that almost no one has seen it (it lost so much money, you see).
Well, give it a rental and you’ll discover: It’s actually pretty good, particularly the first half, the kind of rambling, good-natured, star-filled romp they really don’t make anymore.
Where to stream: Digital rental
The Hunger (1983)
Warner Bros. recently announced plans to remake this stylish 1983 vampire flick, which seems ill-advised: Director Tony Scott brought the full weight of his music video aesthetic to his adaptation of the pulpy Whitley Strieber novel, basically defining the “glampire” goth aesthetic that would become a cliché by the time Buffy the Vampire Slayer appeared on TV, and it’s hard to imagine it any other way. But there’s also the matter of trying to improve on roles inhabited by the likes of Susan Sarandon (as a naive geneticist), Catharine Deneuve (as an immortal succubus), and, most of all, the late David Bowie (as an ageless killer suddenly grappling with his own mortality). Sure, the plot is nigh-incomprehensible nonsense—but the style.
Where to stream: Digital rental
The Thing (1982)
These days, this John Carpenter-directed update of the classic 1950s sci-fi film The Thing From Another World, based on a story be genre master John W. Campbell, is revered as one of the best and goriest horror films ever made. But back in 1982, when a kinder, cuddlier alien from ET was still charming audiences, ticket buyers and critics apparently weren't ready for a goopy, paranoia-filled story about a group of researchers at a remote polar lab fending off a parasitic, shape-shifting being that could look like any one of them. Sure, it's a downer—but what a downer it is.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Peacock, digital rental
One From the Heart (1982)
After directing both of The Godfather films to blockbuster grosses and critical acclaim—not to mention redefining the war film with Apocalypse Now—Francis Ford Coppola could seemingly do no wrong, which is probably how he managed to secure a $23 million budget for this stagey, highly artificial, contemporary Las Vegas-set ode to classic musicals.
After a troubled, pricey production, early screenings of the film went so poorly that many distributors elected not to show it, resulting in a disastrous sub-$1 million box office gross that nearly spelled the end of Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios. It’s hardly a movie for everyone, but you can clearly see its slice-of-city life influence in later Oscar sensation La La Land, and even a misfire from Coppola is worth seeing at least once.
Where to stream: Digital rental
Xanadu (1980)
The reception to this Olivia Newton-John/Gene Kelly-starring roller disco fantasy was so toxic, it inspired the creation of Hollywood's infamous Golden Raspberry Awards. And sure, it's incredibly stupid—Newton-John plays one of the Muses, embodied in human form, who travels to Earth to inspire a street artist (Michael Beck) to open a Greek-themed roller disco—but it's incredibly stupid in the most entertaining way. Let me put it this way: It doesn't have a cult following because it's "good."
Where to stream: Digital rental
Heaven's Gate (1980)
After an earlier version of this list left it out, I'm including Heaven's Gate by popular demand. I suppose it's only fitting, as it's one of the most epic of all box office flops, in every sense. Fresh off an Oscar win, writer/director Michael Cimino anted up all his credibility to make this nearly four-hour revisionist western that strived for realism in every aspect of the production as it told the story of a conflict between wealthy landowners and immagrant settlers in 1890s Wyoming. After the production budget ballooned to $44 million dollars, it was plagued by bad press and declared dead on arrival in theaters, where it made back less than 10 percent of its costs and earned brutal reviews. Its failure led to the sale of its studio and sounded the death knell for the director-driven cinema of the 1970s...but more than four decades later, plenty of contrarians will make a case for it as an ambitious, singular achievement. I can't really speak to that myself, since I tried to watch it an fell asleep before the first hour elapsed. Your mileage may vary.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, Pluto TV, Freevee, digital rental
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