# What movie you saw in the theater had the lowest box office total? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093 "2017-11-09T02:34:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/61 "2017-11-09T20:45:13Z")
Most probably a D- list actioner my husband used to drag me to. A good bet would be one of those god-awful Iron Eagle movies. Get the fuck out of Asia already, Louis Gosset, Jr.! ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/62 "2017-11-09T20:59:31Z")
I realized I posted all documentaries. For fiction, the ones I can remember seem to be mostly ones that did hardly anything domestic but better worldwide: **The Broken Circle Breakdown** only $175,058 Domestic, but $5,475,058 worldwide (Belgian/Flemmish movie) **Agora** only $619,423 domestic, but $38,422,082 (!!!) worldwide. This one is weird because it was English language, but a Spanish film, did most of it’s box office in Spain. (I didn’t know this until now). **April and the Extraordinary World** which only did $295,488 as the subtitled version in the US, but I can’t find what it did in France in it’s original language. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/63 "2017-11-09T21:25:28Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Since you went to film school, I assume you know this, but if a film _cost_ virtually nothing then a million dollars at the box office is great. But if it’s a big-time studio production with millions spent in production and millions more in marketing, a million dollars at the box office is a _bad_ thing. This is more **Great Debates.** From a **Café Society** perspective, I’m glad Heaven’s Gate, Waterworld, The Blair Witch Project and the complete _oeuvres_ of Agnès Varda or Jim Jarmusch exist regardless of what I’m told they “cost” or “made”. ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/64 "2017-11-09T21:44:12Z")
[Laser Blast (1978)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077834/) “Alien creatures kill a mutated alien creature in the California desert. Its remains, and the high-tech laser gun and power source accidentally left behind, are found by an ostracized teenager. However, the power source causes the teenager to mutate too, and he goes on a murderous rampage” Cheap, cheesy movie trying to catch some of the late 70s Sci-Fi popularity. They even blow up a Star Wars billboard! It has some bad stop-action alien creatures but the “stick your entire arm in the gun” gun is an image I have never forgotten. Oh, and it has Roddy McDowall ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/65 "2017-11-10T00:32:06Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I saw _Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead_ at a theater. IMDb says it grossed $739,104 in the U.S. (1990 dollars). I always associate Tim Roth and Gary Oldman because it was the first time I saw either of them, although I’m still not sure which was which. We saw that as well. The documentary “49 UP” only made $241,772 domestically, and we saw that. “Man Facing Southeast” made $750K in the US. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/66 "2017-11-10T01:02:30Z")
Anyone see Breaking Glass with Hazel O’Connor from 1980? I think I might have. It says it grossed $2,471 domestically. This has to be wrong. I was at a premier of Out of the Blue. Dennis Hopper was there and answered questions. (A fellow student, a girl I made a film with, went back to his hotel room with him, per her.) I can’t get a figure for the box office. But it can’t have been big. The theater I worked at played suspiria, last house on the left part 2, demonseed, the cassandra crossing etc. That was cheepnis. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/67 "2017-11-10T01:18:53Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > We saw that as well. > > The documentary “49 UP” only made $241,772 domestically, and we saw that. > > “Man Facing Southeast” made $750K in the US. I’d pay to see 49 Up. One long weekend I’d like to watch them all in a row. It’d be like Eastenders but for real. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/68 "2017-11-10T02:38:32Z")
I saw Q (1982) in the theater. Wiki has box office of 250k. Also saw Pi. I liked it, wife was totally freaked. She hadn’t seen movie like that before. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/69 "2017-11-10T02:56:52Z")
1962’s _Santa Claus Conquers The Martians_. No idea what the box office total was. The [Numbers.com](http://Numbers.com) lists it at $0. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/70 "2017-11-10T03:46:31Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I’d pay to see 49 Up. One long weekend I’d like to watch them all in a row. It’d be like Eastenders but for real. Have you seen “49 Up”? I have. It’s the worst one of the series - even worse than “14 Up”, which is extremely racist. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/71 "2017-11-10T04:10:13Z")
Not sure, but if I had to guess… probably The Thirteenth Warrior. I know that turned out to be a real bomb/stinker of a movie in the long run…and yet, I’m one of the rare ones who saw it in the theaters when it first came out. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/72 "2017-11-10T04:29:57Z")
> [@diggerwam](#): > > I saw Q (1982) in the theater. Wiki has box office of 250k. Speaking of Larry Cohen, I saw \*The Stuff \*(1985) in the theatre. I can’t find any box office totals in any of the usual locations, but I remember my girlfriend and I were the only 2 in the theatre, and it played for only one week. I saw a lot of dogs at dollar night at the now-defunct Culver 3 during college. Most of them can’t be found on boxofficemojo ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/73 "2017-11-10T05:45:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The Grand Cinema, by any chance? Nice little place. Absoutely! Are you from the Tacoma area? ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/74 "2017-11-10T13:07:08Z")
I’m pretty confident that Pi was the lowest for me. I did see Elvira: Mistress of the Dark in a theatre as well (my high school girlfriend wanted to see it), which was 5.6 million. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/75 "2017-11-10T13:30:16Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Absoutely! Are you from the Tacoma area? I grew up near Steilacoom (Oakbrook, if you know the area). When I was back home looking after my mom, the last movie she ever saw was _The King’s Speech_ with me and a friend of hers at the Grand. Small, independent theaters like that seem to be a tough business. It sounds like they’re able to make a go of it. I’m glad. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/76 "2017-11-10T15:49:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Probably the French-German “psychological horror film” **Possession** 91981), the only name most people would likely know from this was Sam Neill, who hadn’t yet been in _Reilly: Ace of Spies_ (let alone _Jurassic Park_) and was pretty unknown in the US. For me, the draw was the special effects work by Carlo Rambaldi. The film seemed pretty damned incoherent, and the theater was empty when I saw it. Only half a million people saw it in France. It grossed only a million in the US, but has since developed a cult following. > > [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082933/business?ref\_=tt\_dt\_bus](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082933/business?ref_=tt_dt_bus) > > [Possession (1981 film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_(1981_film)) > I’ve seen many others listed in this thread, but after their general release, on video. But I saw Possession in the actual theater. Turner Classic Movies has shown this three times, in the middle of the night, that I know of. It is impossible to describe. You might think hearing a synopsis it’s a typical horror movie. It is a horror movie in spots, but not typical! That long screaming scene in the subway station still gives me nightmares, and that…that THING…WTF? Odd seeing Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani in such a strange thing. Moving on, I nominate the Super Mario Brothers movie from 1993. A notorious bomb. A neighbor took a group of kids to go see it on a hot summer afternoon, and he said other than his little group, the theater was empty! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/77 "2017-11-10T16:00:31Z")
My wife use to drag me to Art House films. Here are some I recall: \*\*Crumb \*\*1994: Gross: $3,174,695 (USA) \*\*I Shot Andy Warhol \*\*1996: Gross: $1,814,290 (USA) **The Basketball Diaries** (1995): Gross: $2,424,439 (USA) And the worst movie I have ever seen. **Shadow of the Wolf** (1992): Gross: $1,448,640 (USA) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/78 "2017-11-10T18:11:02Z")
I saw _Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead_ at an art-house theater. I saw [Light Sleeper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Sleeper) in a regular theater. I was the only person in the theater. The projectionist was trying to talk me into watching a different movie, when two more people showed up. So he showed the movie. According to Wiki, it cost $5 million, and made $1 million. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/79 "2017-11-10T19:11:22Z")
I never see anything that wasn’t seen by a lot of other people! Yay! I can’t help but think that if the lowest grossing film you ever saw is Pi, or Spanking the Monkey you got to get out more, and maybe the movie industry would be in a little better shape. Those are really famous movies notwithstanding the box office. And documentaries aren’t supposed to have big box office anyway. Crumb, basketball diaries, I shot andy warhol, Gimme Danger? These are famous movies too, written up everywhere and reviewed. I think maybe the term box office has a shifting meaning over time? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093/80 "2017-11-10T19:34:00Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I never see anything that wasn’t seen by a lot of other people! Yay! > > I can’t help but think that if the lowest grossing film you ever saw is Pi, or Spanking the Monkey you got to get out more, and maybe the movie industry would be in a little better shape. Those are really famous movies notwithstanding the box office. And documentaries aren’t supposed to have big box office anyway. > > Crumb, basketball diaries, I shot andy warhol, Gimme Danger? These are famous movies too, written up everywhere and reviewed. > > I think maybe the term box office has a shifting meaning over time? \*\*\*Crumb \*\*\*was a famous movie? Besides I did mention _ **Shadow of the Wolf** _ as the worst and the lowest earner.I know _ **Basketball Diaries** _ got positive reviews, I was surprised by how poorly it did. I really thought _ **I shot andy warhol** _ was obscure though too. It was a terrible movie despite the wonderful cast. \*\*\*Clerks \*\*\*was a fairly minor movie but I know it earned well. So I didn’t bother listing it. Far more beloved with video rentals. It only made Gross: $3,151,130 (USA) so actually worse than Crumb though far better as a video of course. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-you-saw-in-the-theater-had-the-lowest-box-office-total/801093.md?page=5)