Great things that FLOPPED when they first came out?

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Don't you hate it when a movie or something else you like didn't do very well?

What are some great flops that have great worth?

Some examples I can think of are :

Van Gogh only sold one painting.
Moby Dick only sold about 500 copies during Melville's life.

Movies like The Thing, Wicker man and Peeping Tom

Albums like Pet Sounds, Paul's Boutique and Rodriguez's Cold Fact

Others?

[Kieran_Frost]

For films I know...
Bringing Up Baby (1938). It was a huge failure, and gave Katherine Hepburn the title of "box office poison" despite it becoming one the first (and later lauded) examples of screwball comedy.
Citizen Kane (1941). Considering it's now hailed as one of the greatest films ever made, it was a failure at the box-office.
the Shawshank Redemption (1995). Box-office failure making only $16 million back of it's $25 million budget, but when it started getting attention at awards it began picking up in the audience (and is now always in IMDB's Top Ten best rated films ever)

[Hybrid]

Blade Runner comes to mind. Despite being such a widely regarded and influential movie, especially in terms of cyberpunk, it just failed to attract an initial audience back in 1982. History would repeat, as the 2017 Blade Runner 2049 was in the same boat, where it was loved as a worthy follow-up but not successful even still.

[Kirby101]

Van Gogh was not the failure people think. He was getting recognition at the time of his untimely death at 37. His first show was 6 years later and he had a museum retrospective in 1904. So by the time he would have been in his 40s, he would have found success. This would have been similar to other great artist of the time like Monet and Cezanne.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Regarding Citizen Kane, there were extenuating circumstances as Orson Welles patterned the starring character after newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst who was said to have hated the portrayal and used his considerable clout to deep six the film and kill its chances at success.

[Kirby101]

It's a Wonderful Life, also flopped.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Wizard of Oz was also a box office bomb.

[The Darknight Detective]

Many of the films mentioned here (or in the future) were not just box office failures, but also, at best, mixed critically. Some things are just ahead of their time, I guess.

[The Darknight Detective]

One of the great movie failures ever was Cleopatra - despite it's claim as the most popular film of 1963, it still bombed due to its massive budget (in 2020 dollars, it would have been well over a half-a-billion dollars).

[PaulBullion]

The Apple Newton.

[Kirby101]

The Wizard of Oz was also a box office bomb.

Not really, depending on the source it was either the #1 or #2 movie of 1939 (with GWTW) But it's production costs were so high that it did not turn a profit for some years.

[Kirby101]

One of the great movie failures ever was Cleopatra - despite it's claim as the most popular film of 1963, it still bombed due to its massive budget (in 2020 dollars, it would have been well over a half-a-billion dollars).

A great failure, but far from a great film. Cleopatra is why the 20th Century Fox back lot is now Century City office complex in L.A. Home to Nakamuri Tower.

[PaulBullion]

Not a GREAT thing, but a yuge thing.

A failed Trump presidential campaign:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald...ntial_campaign

[The Darknight Detective]

A great failure, but far from a great film. Cleopatra is why the 20th Century Fox back lot is now Century City office complex in L.A. Home to Nakamuri Tower.

I agree. It was good, but not even the best Cleopatra film, IMO.

[Kieran_Frost]

The Wizard of Oz was also a box office bomb.

I did not know the Wizard of Oz was a box office bomb. NO WAY! Huh. That is some good trivia to have in my back pocket, thank-you.