Making movies is a business at heart even if fans at home can agree the industry would be better if there were no financial motivations behind cinema. Box office receipts show movie studios and executives what they should concentrate their efforts on. Singular stories are milked into franchises, and films that don’t make enough money are thrown aside never to be returned to by another mainstream director.
The truth is that the amount of money a film makes doesn’t equal always its quality. Sure, when word-of-mouth spreads that a picture is worthy of viewing, people flock to the theater in droves. Legendary films such as those in the The Lord of the Rings series or Star Wars were both financially strong and award-winning epics. But sometimes ticket sales elude incredible movies. These are the nine box office bombs that are actually good movies!
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption conjures instant memories of 1990s movie glory. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins form a fantastic duo as they traverse the mental toll of living in a prison in Maine. The story teaches audiences to always have hope for the future no matter how bleak the darkness appears and it maintains both a casual and diehard fandom today. The Shawshank Redemption was overshadowed at the box office by other hits like Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction, and it also got passed up for the Best Picture Academy Award that same year. Director Frank Darabont’s film is arguably the movie that has held up the best in the last three decades, though.
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Cloud Atlas possesses an enormity of star power both behind the camera and in front of it. Tom Hanks and Halle Berry team up as the co-leads in a massive set of stories that span different settings and characters. One minute the viewers are entranced in 1973 San Francisco, the next we see new people played by the same actors in 2144 Seoul. Because of the interconnected plots and vignettes, fans may have been confused about what exactly was happening. The Wachowskis are trusted directors in the science fiction genre, but Cloud Atlas only made about $130 million worldwide and struggled to break even on a budget that is estimated to be between $100 million and $146 million.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
One of the Coen brothers’ most famous crime comedies, The Big Lebowski didn’t exactly bring in a major financial haul. Bringing in less than $50 million, the film has increased tenfold in popularity in the 25-plus years since its release. Jeff Bridges plays the famous “Dude” who must find a special sort of spiritual awakening to get himself and others out of imminent danger after a kidnapping. Offbeat comedy and a cult following have brought this film to wider audiences that continue to rediscover its uniqueness.
The Tree of Life (2011)
The Tree of Life manages to be both existential and relatable as it follows the traumas and joys of the O’Brien family in Texas during the mid-20th century. Director Terrence Malick muses about the complexities of human existence with a sweeping narrative taking place at various points in Pitt’s character’s life. The movie technically made a profit by bringing in about $62 million against a $32 budget and it was nominated for Best Picture, but many expected a movie with Brad Pitt at the front of the billboard to be more successful.
