# Box Office failures that made big impacts on Pop Culture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826 "2013-07-29T16:58:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/41 "2013-07-29T23:20:01Z")
Blade Runner was a box office disappointment, if not a failure. I’ve known people who were into the soundtrack or who could quote it at length. I think it led to wider interest in P.K. Dick’s work, both the source book and others. If I remember right, the source novel was reprinted as a movie tie-in. I also think it influenced later science fiction films, particularly in terms of how cities look. I don’t know how Yojimbo did on first release, but I suspect that only a minority of Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis fans know that their guy was in a remake of it. Rocky Horror Picture Show is another one that did badly on release. Unlike Idiocracy and Office Space (both Mike Judge films, coincidentally), it didn’t find its audience on video but, of course, on midnight showings. Bringing Up Baby was a flop and got Hepburn a reputation for box office poison. It may have popularized the current meaning of “gay”. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/42 "2013-07-29T23:34:13Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Unlike Idiocracy and Office Space (both Mike Judge films, coincidentally), it didn’t find its audience on video but, of course, on midnight showings. _Idiocracy_ was a box office disaster. My wife and I saw it in the one theater it played in Chicago during it’s one week. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/43 "2013-07-29T23:43:04Z")
**John Carpenter’s [The Thing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/?ref_=sr_1)** was a box office disappointment, and is now a horror classic. \*\* [Sullivan’s Travels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan%27s_Travels)\*\* was a box office bomb, and is remembered by few today (though regarded as a classic by film historians). The fictional movie director in the film wanted to make a socially important movie, to be entitled “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” before he learned his lesson that what audiences really wanted was a good comedy. The Coen brothers took the message of the movie to heart and also stole the title of the fictional script within the movie and we got [O Brother Where Art Thou?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/?ref_=sr_1) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/44 "2013-07-29T23:47:49Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > _The Perfect Storm_ did boffo business, but use of the title term went far beyond those who saw the movie. The term was in use long before the movie came out, thanks to the best-selling book. How about “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/45 "2013-07-29T23:48:53Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > _Idiocracy_ was a box office disaster. My wife and I saw it in the one theater it played in Chicago during it’s one week. And I figured out why when I actually saw it. It’s just not very good. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/46 "2013-07-29T23:49:24Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > _Idiocracy_ was a box office disaster. My wife and I saw it in the one theater it played in Chicago during it’s one week. Yes, it was mentioned earlier. I meant to say that both it and Office Space found their audience on video, after stiffing in theaters. > [@Spoke](#): > > **John Carpenter’s [The Thing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/?ref_=sr_1)** was a box office disappointment, and is now a horror classic. The summer The Thing came out was a big one for science fiction. It, Blade Runner, and The Wrath of Khan competed for E.T.'s leftovers. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/47 "2013-07-29T23:50:42Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > The term was in use long before the movie came out, thanks to the best-selling book. > > How about “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”? 😃 Very astute. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/48 "2013-07-29T23:52:14Z")
I can’t believe nobody has yet mentioned “This Is Spinal Tap”. It was not in general release when it came out in 1984, but it did play in Des Moines, where I lived at the time, and by the time its theatrical run ended, senior citizens were coming to see it and saying, “We have got to find out if this movie really is as funny as everyone says it is!” My sibs worked there, so I got in free, and when I first saw the “choking on vomit” scene, I never heard a movie audience howl so loudly until I saw “About Schmidt” on opening weekend, and we didn’t know about the Kathy Bates nude scene :eek: either! ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/49 "2013-07-30T00:06:47Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > The term was in use long before the movie came out, thanks to the best-selling book. > > How about “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”? 😃 #40 and #41 ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/50 "2013-07-30T00:07:35Z")
IIRC, _Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery_ was a box office disappointment that came into its own on rental/dvd. Speaking of Myers, it’s not very frequent but I hear people quote _So I Married An Axe Murderer_ occasionally (Youtube has a buttload of parody poetry readings) and I don’t recall that doing well either. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/51 "2013-07-30T00:11:07Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > #40 and #41 I hadn’t read the entire thread before I mentioned it. Sorry. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/52 "2013-07-30T00:14:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I can’t believe nobody has yet mentioned “This Is Spinal Tap”. It was not in general release when it came out in 1984, but it did play in Des Moines, where I lived at the time, and by the time its theatrical run ended, senior citizens were coming to see it and saying, “We have got to find out if this movie really is as funny as everyone says it is!” Indeed. I don’t know if it really counts as a flop, but I bet a lot of people who use the BBC iPlayer do not know why the volume slider goes to eleven. (I am sure there are many who do know, too.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/53 "2013-07-30T00:16:18Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I hadn’t read the entire thread before I mentioned it. Sorry. :rolleyes: Control-F is your friend. ---
**Author:** ![LaurenIpsum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LaurenIpsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenIpsum)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/54 "2013-07-30T00:19:04Z")
My first thought on seeing the OP was “Pay it Forward,” with Haley Joel Osment. I never saw the movie and I don’t think it did really well, but since that time I’ve heard the phrase quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/55 "2013-07-30T00:27:12Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Um, yeah, let’s go with that. Interstellar. I just grabbed that from the wikipedia page, although I knew that Forbidden Planet had some general innovative stuff. **Forbidden Planet** was the first movie, AFAIK, that had humans using Faster-Than-Light drive for interstellar travel. other movies tried to show people going deep into space, although they didn’t necessarily say how far ( **Things to Come** , for instance, or the Flash Gordon serials, which were kinda vague about where Mongo was supposed to be). But virtually all human space travel in movies before then – including **destination Moon** and **Rocketship X-M** 9which was rushed into production to beat Destination Moon to market) kept it inside the solar system. Forbidden planet also gave us: Human beings traveling in a “flying saucer”, non-cigar-shaped vehicle for the first time. A robot that obeyed Asimov’s Laws of Robotics (although those aren’t named), and even uses this to emphasize a key plot point. A robot with an Emergency Override “Stasis fields” to counteract the inertia that would tear people apart when the accelerated or decelerated Electronic scoring for the first time in a major film The film probably would have done better if it had been properly marketed and releadsed as a Summer Blockbuster or a Christmas Blockbuster, but this was well before they started doing those things. There was no buildup, no major marketing of toys 9although there were a LOT of cheap knock-off Robbie toys), and they simply hadn’t learned the lessons they would from the 1960s about marketing and tie-ins, and which were really knocked home with the juggernaut that was _Star Wars_. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/56 "2013-07-30T00:46:49Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Yes, it was mentioned earlier. I meant to say that both it and Office Space found their audience on video, after stiffing in theaters. It didn’t “stiff in theaters”, it got the contractual minimum release. It had no advertising, and was crushed by the studio for whatever reason. There’s a difference between dying and being killed. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/57 "2013-07-30T00:47:15Z")
Oh, yeah, just to add – Forbidden Planet was arguably the first big SF movies to introduce what had been common sweeping SF themes to the general public (FTL travel, Robots that obeyed reasonable laws, non-cigar ships, abandoned alien civilization, etc). even if the public didn’t see it, the aftereffects lingered. The sets and props showed up endlessly in _The Twilight Zone_, as did the attitude towards SF. Gene Roddenbery undoubtedly strip-mined FP for his series Star Trek – saucer-like FTL ship, military structire, the triumvirate of Captain, Second in Command, and Ship’s Doctor going offf from the ship to represent their organization. even the Captain getting the girl. And, of course, the reverence for good SF that lead Roddenbery to get a bunch of SF writers to do his scripts (Robert Bloch, Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, Norman Spinrad, Jerome Bixby, one story credited (although he had nothing directly do to with the script) to Fredric Brown, and the up-and-coming David Gerrold). And Star Trek, of course, had immense influence outside the small community of SF aficionados. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/58 "2013-07-30T00:57:49Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > IIRC, _Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery_ was a box office disappointment that came into its own on rental/dvd. In 1997, Austin Powers made [fifty million](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekly&id=austinpowers.htm) domestic in its first eight weeks, on a total budget of sixteen million. Is that bad? ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/59 "2013-07-30T01:12:14Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > It didn’t “stiff in theaters”, it got the contractual minimum release. It had no advertising, and was crushed by the studio for whatever reason. > > There’s a difference between dying and being killed. True, and an important distinction for scholars of the film. I was just talking about how it eventually found an audience. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826/60 "2013-07-30T01:15:54Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Sidelight on “The Bucket List” as a phrase: last summer, a beach-resort city commissioned a commercial that seemed to play on an endless loop throughout the state it’s situated in. The seductive-female voiceover asked, “What’s on _your_ summer bucket list?” and then recommended coming to this beach city. > > Apparently no one thought it odd to be telling viewers that they were going to die that summer. (And so, of course, they should high-tail it to the beach before the end arrived.) That’s not odd. They just believed that the world was going to end last December more than most of us did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/box-office-failures-that-made-big-impacts-on-pop-culture/664826.md?page=4)