Movies that should have been bigger hits

krudler

Anyone got any favourite lesser known/flop movies that either didnt connect with an audience or were just plainly overlooked? Have a couple of choices:

1. Last Action Hero

AKA That Arnie movie that happened to be released around the same time in 1993 as some movie made by a guy called Stephen with some dinosaurs in it was taking over the planet. Seen as one of the biggest flops in Hollywood history, an at the time astronomical budget of €85 million opened to a paltry €15 million take, eventually making just over 50 million back in its run.

Audiences didnt get what it was meant to be, an action movie, a comedy, a parody, truth is its all three and then some. Written by Shane Black (him of Lethal Weapon fame and one of the best scriptwriters in history) its full of glorious nods to other action movies and self parody from almost everyone involved, most of all Arnie who knowling plays up to the typecast action role he became so famous for.

Its not without its flaws, yeah the magic ticket plot device is a bit...iffy, but how else would they have gotten then kid into the movie version of reality? once he gets there it never lets up, with some great cameos (the T-1000 and Sharon Stone outside the cop station) pisstakes (Stallone as the star of T2 on the poster and Arnie declaring it as his best work ever) and sly winks to other movies (the cop who gets blown up only to declare "two days to retirement" while the Lethal Weapon theme plays in the background). Not to mention a great villain in Charles Dance, with some acerbic lines and comeback quips throughout. Once the plot moves to the real world it kicks up a gear as movie Arnie realises he cant punch through windows without hurting himself, bullets dont make cars blow up if you shoot the gas tank and getting shot really, really hurts. knocking down cliche after cliche. Why audiences didnt connect with it at the time I dont really know as it did the postmodern parody thing for action movies years before Scream did with the horror genre

2. The Rocketeer

A moderate hit back in 1991 but doesnt get the recognition it deserves imo, a great concept, great villain in Timothy Dalton as an Errol Flynn-eque Hollywood actor cum Nazi sympathiser, an always gorgeous Jennifer Connelly as the heroine, a 30s setting, the mafia, Hollywood, movie references, a Nazi blimp, henchman, a Howard Hughes built rocketpack and James Horners fantastic score make this a load of fun to watch, I showed it to my nephew recently and he absolutely loved it, some ropey effects work aside it still holds up brilliantly today

MagicMarker

The Fall.

I agree with the last action hero, didn't realise it flopped so much!!

longshanks

bubba ho-tep

this should've been massive. it had everything, action, adventure, elvis, a mummy, even a sexy nurse. it troubles my sleep that this wasn't bigger

Karl Hungus

The Good, The Bad and The Weird:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjrhkJYLnl4

10 times better than any big budget American summer movie I've seen this year, if there was any justice it should've been huge.

actuallylike

Near Dark, class Vampire film from the 80's but unfortunately was released at the same time as The Lost Boys which had a bigger cast so was sadly overlooked.

chopperbyrne

Definitely agree on Last Action Hero. Arnie was making a few turds around that time, but that wasn't one of them.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of my favourite films of this decade, but most people I know thought it was terrible. I think they just didn't get it. No idea how well it did commercially though.

candy-gal1

Last action hero i definitly agree with, classic!

also Moulin Rouge! Cant understand how not many girlslove this movie

Shortbus

Reality bites

krudler

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Definitely agree on Last Action Hero. Arnie was making a few turds around that time, but that wasn't one of them.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of my favourite films of this decade, but most people I know thought it was terrible. I think they just didn't get it. No idea how well it did commercially though.

Shane Black again:) KKBB is fantastic, in fact, I'm gonna watch it later now you've put it in my head:D

Cadiz

Donnie Darko

Shryke

KKBB is excellent. I thought Last Action Hero was great when I was younger. I also had The Rockateer on video and I loved it as a kid.
I will add Mr. Brooks. I still haven't gotten a single person I know to watch it. They all start interested and then ask, Who's in it? To which I reply Kevin Costner. And that's the end of that.

krudler

Karl Hungus wrote: »

The Good, The Bad and The Weird:


10 times better than any big budget American summer movie I've seen this year, if there was any justice it should've been huge.

YES! so much fun and great action, I bought it after seeing the release date on play and watching the trailer, loved it

Photi

I watched The Prestige on DVD recently, solely on the recommendation of a friend. I'd never really heard of it before despite the big name director and cast but I was blown away. I really think it should have been a bigger hit, maybe it was due to the complicated plotline or because of it being made in the shadow of the Batman films.

krudler

Cadiz wrote: »

Donnie Darko

Not so much on its intitial release but it became a massive cult movie, emo teens is a big demographic these days:D

+1 for The Prestige, thought it was fantastic, and its one of those movies that the more you watch it the more stuff you pick up on, definitely not something you'll get everything on first viewing

Magic Eight Ball

Jackie Brown rarely gets the credit it deserves.
Tarantino's best movie by a country mile.

smurke

longshanks wrote: »

bubba ho-tep

this should've been massive. it had everything, action, adventure, elvis, a mummy, even a sexy nurse. it troubles my sleep that this wasn't bigger

this was made specifically for a b movie audience, and it was a hugely successful film for that specific market, it has become a cult movie . There is even talk of a sequel. It's not box office material, so it could never be a huge movie

Jack Sheehan

The Road to El Dorado, damn I loved that movie.

smurke

actuallylike wrote: »

Near Dark, class Vampire film from the 80's but unfortunately was released at the same time as The Lost Boys which had a bigger cast so was sadly overlooked.

again, this is a huge film in terms of being a cult movie.

mark renton

Sleepers - fantastic story, great cast - never got credit it deserves IMO

krudler

Some others:

Lake Placid
Slither
The Iron Giant
Monster House
Mr Holland's Opus (Dreyfuss in a career best role imo)

Karl Hungus

Shryke wrote: »

I will add Mr. Brooks. I still haven't gotten a single person I know to watch it. They all start interested and then ask, Who's in it? To which I reply Kevin Costner. And that's the end of that.

I'll never understand the hate for Costner. He's been in some rubbish alright, but he's also had his fair share of classics. Another recent enough film with Kevin Costner that I'd say should have been a much bigger hit was Open Range. It was absolutely terrific.

irish_bob

king kong 2007 , was expected to be the biggest hit of the year but was overshadowed by the runaway success of the chronicles of narnia

krudler

irish_bob wrote: »

king kong 2007 , was expected to be the biggest hit of the year but was overshadowed by the runaway success of the chronicles of narnia

Kong was 2005, I imagine the lenght of it put people off, although Narnia wasnt short either, and it was absolutely rubbish, so soulless.

m83

The man who wasn't there.


love that film.

chopperbyrne

krudler wrote: »

Kong was 2005, I imagine the lenght of it put people off, although Narnia wasnt short either, and it was absolutely rubbish, so soulless.

King Kong was one time I was glad The Savoy still use an intermission for long films. A large coke was needed to wake me up after that boring first half.

the whole year inn

The Cable Guy - I have seen this movie a good few times now and I think its very good,the reason I think it flopped was because it wasnt carey's usuall humor.There is some great jokes in it acutual laugh out loud moments.

kilkenny_kid

Heavens Gate was supposed to be a hit, but alas it wasn't to be, earning 3 million domestically from a budget of 40 million and contributing to the downfall of united artist.

the whole year inn

kilkenny_kid wrote: »

Heavens Gate was supposed to be a hit, but alas it wasn't to be, earning 3 million domestically from a budget of 40 million and contributing to the downfall of united artist.

Just checked that out on imdb ,love to see the original cut that he showed the UA!

blow69

I always felt Titanic wasn't as successful as it could have been.

the whole year inn

was thinking of posting that but then i realised it wasnt funny.

FoxT

... I loved that movie, still watch it the odd time. No ida why it flopped commercially.

Another Classic ( in my view) is Rumble Fish, adapted from a teenager novel about gangs , Coppola directed, Mickey Rourke, ( not anactor I generally fancy but he was good in this..) & great percussion soundtrack byStewart Copeland. Only problem with this movie is I can't find anybody to enjoy it with.....I guess we all have one of those!

OTOH, a 'great' movie that Icould never get my head around was 'The Big Lebowski' Had all the right ingredients but that cake never rose for me...

TheIrishGrover

Trevor Coulahan wrote: »

Jackie Brown rarely gets the credit it deserves.
Tarantino's best movie by a country mile.

I REALLY like JB. Thought it's a really under appreciated QT flick. I think the thing was that people weren't ready (And still aren't IMHO) ready for a low key QT flick. It had all the trademarks of a tiptop QT movie. Hip dialogue, great cast (Esp. Robert Foster. Brilliant!). Excellent editing and soundtrack. Just not as flashy at Pulp fiction. Don't get me wrong, I'm still wrangling as to whether PF or Dogs are my fave QT film but Jackie's definitely after them..... CLOSE too.


I actually like The Last Action Hero as a guilty pleasure too. A bit too smug and up its own arse at times but good fun. Also am a fan of The Long Kiss Goodnight. Dumb as a large pile of short planks but, y'know, fun.

fluke

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

I REALLY like JB. Thought it's a really under appreciated QT flick. I think the thing was that people weren't ready (And still aren't IMHO) ready for a low key QT flick. It had all the trademarks of a tiptop QT movie. Hip dialogue, great cast (Esp. Robert Foster. Brilliant!). Excellent editing and soundtrack. Just not as flashy at Pulp fiction. Don't get me wrong, I'm still wrangling as to whether PF or Dogs are my fave QT film but Jackie's definitely after them..... CLOSE too.


I actually like The Last Action Hero as a guilty pleasure too. A bit too smug and up its own arse at times but good fun. Also am a fan of The Long Kiss Goodnight. Dumb as a large pile of short planks but, y'know, fun.

Cool thread!

Most of the films listed here are all pretty good, funny how KKBB and LAH didn't do too well and their both parody type movies (to a certain extent anyhow).

I always thought that Arlington Road and Thank You For Smoking, and Sunshine don't get enough love.

krudler

fluke wrote: »

Cool thread!

Most of the films listed here are all pretty good, funny how KKBB and LAH didn't do too well and their both parody type movies (to a certain extent anyhow).

I always thought that Arlington Road and Thank You For Smoking, and Sunshine don't get enough love.

Three great choices, Sunshine is a fantastic piece of sci-fi up until the cop out 3rd act, when it just turns into Event Horizon 2

NothingMan

Right i'm just gonna put this out there, I know it's widely hated but here we go.

Waterworld!

Great movie. Watched it about 10 times in my life and always enjoy it. Costner did not deserve to get tanked for this. And Mr. Brooks is really good too. Caught it on sky one sunday morning.

Open Range was really good too, but haven't seen that since the cinema.

So in summary, lay off Costner Hollywood!

krudler

I love Waterworld, and it wasnt as big a flop as people make it out to be, and Open Range is one of the best westerns in decades, the last gunfight is awesome

uncleoswald

+ 1 for the Iron Giant, and even though it is well regarded I don't think its well regarded enough. Hollywood critics were falling over themselves to hail Spirited Away after neglecting Ghibli's output for years and they had let this american gem mostly pass them by.

Also + 1 for Shortbus, basically a top notch romantic comedy with the sex parts not seemingly written by or for fifteen year old girls.

My own addition would be The Golden Compass which i think did a great job of adapting the book. Condemned by fans as not been hard enough on the church and condemned by Christians as been anti-religious the filmmakers were really on a hiding to nothing. My own opinion is although the film did soften its critisims of the church it did expand its target to organised religion in general and was about as subversive as any huge blockbuster Hollywood kid's movie could be.
And as an aside, as someone who generally hates CGI as it hardly ever gives the impression of mass or impact, I think the fight scenes are up there with Spiderman 2 as one of the only time that CGI has actually looked painful.

NothingMan

krudler wrote: »

I love Waterworld, and it wasnt as big a flop as people make it out to be, and Open Range is one of the best westerns in decades, the last gunfight is awesome

It was in America, us way smarter people who know a good film when we see it brought up the success globally.

the whole year inn

yea it was ment to be a huge flop lost loads of money,but on imdb it says that it made money so hurray for Costner

L31mr0d

Hmmm..... there are a few I think should be watched by a wider audience

Rushmore
Brick
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Un long dimanche de fiançailles
Shinobi: Heart under blade
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

But mostly:

Aside from the wildly popular anime and manga of the same name these two films can stand alone as brilliantly written and executed. If you liked the game theory involved in Dark Knight you'll absolutely love its use in these films.

"Desu nôto" and its sequel "Desu nôto: The last name"

HankScorpio

Have to agree with 'Last Action Hero'. Very under appreciated but a class film (the car chases/gun fights while AC/DC is pumping was brilliant).
I thought Sunshine was very very good although it lost its way the last 20 mins or so.
Backdraft was another good one that wasn't a huge hit.
Agree with Thank You For Smoking-went to the cinema to see some blockbuster but it was sold out so we went to this instead....really good film.
'The Hard Way' was a great film also in the buddy cop genre.
For the Costner fans I have to say that Bull Durham should have been a bigger hit.

tod1982

2 movies that are very underrated,

Smokin' Aces

and

Lucky Number Slevin - especially like the ending for this one

sbsquarepants

An early Doug Liman movie called "Go" is absolutely excellent, also Momento although thats a big cult hit i suppose, has to be one of the best movies ever made in my opinion. Also Hudson Hawk, huge flop at the time of release, mid 90's i think?, but was actually a very funny comedy, deserved to do much better.

Dibble

I always felt that Swimming with Sharks should have recieved more attention than it did.

krudler

The Last Boyscout, one of the best scripts ever, amazing one liners and Bruce Willis kicking arse throughout, yet most people have never heard of it

actuallylike

krudler wrote: »

The Last Boyscout, one of the best scripts ever, amazing one liners and Bruce Willis kicking arse throughout, yet most people have never heard of it

Possibly one of the worst films ever! Another 80's disaster where they just churned out big explosions with muscles and everyone lapped it up. Just watch this! (especially from 2:40 on) :eek:

Probably the funniest endings I have ever seen!!!

Theboinkmaster

krudler wrote: »

Anyone got any favourite lesser known/flop movies that either didnt connect with an audience or were just plainly overlooked? Have a couple of choices:

1. Last Action Hero

AKA That Arnie movie that happened to be released around the same time in 1993 as some movie made by a guy called Stephen with some dinosaurs in it was taking over the planet. Seen as one of the biggest flops in Hollywood history, an at the time astronomical budget of €85 million opened to a paltry €15 million take, eventually making just over 50 million back in its run.

Audiences didnt get what it was meant to be, an action movie, a comedy, a parody, truth is its all three and then some. Written by Shane Black (him of Lethal Weapon fame and one of the best scriptwriters in history) its full of glorious nods to other action movies and self parody from almost everyone involved, most of all Arnie who knowling plays up to the typecast action role he became so famous for.

Its not without its flaws, yeah the magic ticket plot device is a bit...iffy, but how else would they have gotten then kid into the movie version of reality? once he gets there it never lets up, with some great cameos (the T-1000 and Sharon Stone outside the cop station) pisstakes (Stallone as the star of T2 on the poster and Arnie declaring it as his best work ever) and sly winks to other movies (the cop who gets blown up only to declare "two days to retirement" while the Lethal Weapon theme plays in the background). Not to mention a great villain in Charles Dance, with some acerbic lines and comeback quips throughout. Once the plot moves to the real world it kicks up a gear as movie Arnie realises he cant punch through windows without hurting himself, bullets dont make cars blow up if you shoot the gas tank and getting shot really, really hurts. knocking down cliche after cliche. Why audiences didnt connect with it at the time I dont really know as it did the postmodern parody thing for action movies years before Scream did with the horror genre

2. The Rocketeer

A moderate hit back in 1991 but doesnt get the recognition it deserves imo, a great concept, great villain in Timothy Dalton as an Errol Flynn-eque Hollywood actor cum Nazi sympathiser, an always gorgeous Jennifer Connelly as the heroine, a 30s setting, the mafia, Hollywood, movie references, a Nazi blimp, henchman, a Howard Hughes built rocketpack and James Horners fantastic score make this a load of fun to watch, I showed it to my nephew recently and he absolutely loved it, some ropey effects work aside it still holds up brilliantly today

Can't believe nobody's mentioned it yet but there is the obvious one:

Shawshank Redemption


Criminally overlooked at the box office (US gross of just $28m) and even more criminally overlooked at the oscars - was nominated for loads but as i recall just won 1 or 2 with Forest Gump winning them all.

Now regarded as a modern classic and deservedly so IMO.

There's also Fight Club - only $37m gross and not many oscars, if any? (memory not great)

krudler

actuallylike wrote: »

Possibly one of the worst films ever! Another 80's disaster where they just churned out big explosions with muscles and everyone lapped it up. Just watch this! (especially from 2:40 on) :eek:

Probably the funniest endings I have ever seen!!!

Erm, no it came out in the 90s and it wasnt a big hit so people didnt "lap it up" its also one of the best action movies ever, and criminally underrated, and that ending is MEANT to be funny, its so OTT,and Willis dancing a jig is a continuation of an earlier joke

the whole year inn

But the Shawshank was not a flop by no means so hardly should be mentioned.

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Can't believe nobody's mentioned it yet but there is the obvious one:

Shawshank Redemption


Criminally overlooked at the box office (US gross of just $28m) and even more criminally overlooked at the oscars - was nominated for loads but as i recall just won 1 or 2 with Forest Gump winning them all.

Now regarded as a modern classic and deservedly so IMO.

There's also Fight Club - only $37m gross and not many oscars, if any? (memory not great)

Theboinkmaster

gob_smacked wrote: »

But the Shawshank was not a flop by no means so hardly should be mentioned.

Incl in the criteria the OP cited were:

- flop
- overlooked by audience

Shawshank cost $25m to make and took in $28m in the US box office. This means in it's domestic theatrical run it made a loss (once marking costs deducted) and the audience did not flock to see it. By any standards this is a flop and obviously not many saw it in theatres.

Only once released on VHS/DVD it became popular and took it's rightful place in cinematic history so it qualifies easily

Necronomicon

While not an amazing film I think The Soloist deserved better than the way it was treated - if for nothing else, the performances of Foxx and Downey Jr. deserved better than to be seemingly shunted by studio politics and delayed from a more favourable November release to April.

irish_bob

krudler wrote: »

Kong was 2005, I imagine the lenght of it put people off, although Narnia wasnt short either, and it was absolutely rubbish, so soulless.

of course it was 2005 , i must remember to take my brain medicine in future