- Not all classic movies are a box office success — some, in fact, are flops.
- "Fight Club" made $37 million off a $63 million budget, but it remains an infinitely quotable classic.
- "Donnie Darko" wasn't widely seen in theaters, but it found a following during its home release.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
You may think that classic films like "Fight Club," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "Blade Runner" were box office smashes — they remain part of pop culture and are widely referenced and emulated decades after their releases. But, in fact, they were either total failures or barely able to break even.
These films are all highly regarded, but took years, decades in some cases, to earn the love of fans and critics.
Keep scrolling to see 15 classic dramas that were box office flops.
"Citizen Kane" has been called the greatest movie ever made, but it didn't originally resonate with audiences in 1941.
"Citizen Kane," the story of the rise and fall of the newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane (based on William Randolph Hearst), is widely regarded as the best film ever made. However, according to History.com, the movie failed to make much of an impact at the time of its release. It took multiple re-releases for it to make its money back.
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" only made half of its budget back at the box office, but it now has a large fan following that organizes screenings.
Box Office Mojo reports that the Western epic only made $15 million worldwide against a $30 million budget. However, it received two Academy Award nominations and positive reviews from critics.
Though the film didn't have many fans when it was released in 2007, over the years, its fandom has grown. There's even a website dedicated to a "revival" of the film.
"The Insider" was unable to recoup its budget, though it was nominated for seven Academy Awards.
On paper, "The Insider" sounds like a sure bet. Its two stars were Hollywood icon Al Pacino and newcomer Russell Crowe (who would later be nominated for an Oscar for his role). However, the true story about a whistleblower inside the tobacco industry didn't connect with audiences. Box Office Mojo estimates a $60 million box office gross against a $90 million budget. Though it was a flop, it has an impressive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Oprah has called the failure of "Beloved" a low point in her career, though the movie was well-received by critics.
"Beloved," based on the Toni Morrison novel of the same name about a former slave, Sethe (played by Winfrey), her daughter Denver, and a mysterious woman named Beloved, was well-received by critics but a complete failure at the box office. It made $22.8 million worldwide against an $80 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo.
"I got a call from someone at the studio, and they said, 'It's over. You got beat by 'Chucky,'" Oprah told Vogue years later. "And I said, 'Who's Chucky?' What do you mean it's over? It's just Saturday morning!' I knew nothing about box office projections or weekend openings ... and so began my long plunge into food and depression and suppressing all my feelings."
"Heaven's Gate" is a notorious flop, but its quality has been re-evaluated in recent years.
According to the BBC, on the sixth day of filming "Heaven's Gate," a Western, production was already five days behind schedule. "Heaven's Gate" is one of the most famous flops of all time, as it lost the studio, United Artists, so much money UA had to be sold.
However, the film was re-edited and shown at the New York Film Forum in 2013, where it received rave reviews. Critics praised its beauty and commitment to authenticity — but that's exactly what caused the film's budget to balloon. According to Time, inflation-adjusted it lost $114,281,677.
"It's a Wonderful Life" is one of the all-time classic Christmas movies, but it wasn't a hit at first.
It opened in 1946 to weak box office sales and lukewarm reviews.
So how did it become such a holiday staple? After its underperformance, the owner of the film let the copyright lapse in 1974, meaning it could be shown on TV without broadcasters paying royalties. Playing the film on a loop during December was a no-brainer. That's how audiences, for decades, fell in love with the movie.
"Blade Runner" is now considered one of the all-time greatest sci-fi classics, but at the time it was not a smash hit.
Forbes called the original "Blade Runner" — a sci-fi noir thriller about a dystopian Los Angeles that's fully shrouded in rain and inhabited by "replicants" (androids) — an "R-rated cult movie that bombed back in 1982 and has been mostly kept alive via its influence on future filmmakers and a deep fandom among film critics and movie nerds."
And though it made money, it was certainly a flop by Harrison Ford standards — this man is both Han Solo and Indiana Jones, two of the most iconic action heroes of all time.
"Donnie Darko" has developed a cult following, but it barely made its money back at the box office.
"Donnie Darko" made just over $1 million domestically when it was released in 2001. Overall, it made $6.9 million against a $6 million budget — in other words, a flop. But the story of Donnie, a teenager who is plagued with visions of the world ending and a sinister bunny, struck a chord with teenagers and critics.
It's been named one of the best independent movies of the 21st century. In 2005, the Independent wrote, "There are now hundreds of websites devoted entirely to the phenomenon of 'Donnie Darko.' An undergraduate course in the film can be only round the corner. Four years after first release, the cult of Darko has never been stronger."
"Fight Club" divided critics and was considered a box office flop, but it's one of the most quoted films of all time.
The first rule of Fight Club, of course, is that we don't talk about it — maybe that's why it "only managed to gross $37 million domestically off a $63 million budget," according to Indie Wire. Though plenty of people have since watched the film, based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name, it wasn't the runaway hit that people may assume it was.
"The Wizard of Oz" didn't make the studio any money until it was re-released years later — today it's an all-time classic.
"The Wizard of Oz," one of the most beloved stories of all time, ended up costing MGM a whopping $1.1 million. Adjusted for inflation, that's more than $20 million. However, due to re-releases and successful home video releases, it's since earned its place in the pantheon of greatest films of all time.
"The Shawshank Redemption" is the highest-rated movie on IMDb, but it reportedly debuted to empty movie theaters.
On IMDb, "Shawshank" currently tops the leader board of most popular movies with a 9.2 star rating, above other classics like "The Godfather," "12 Angry Men," "Schindler's List," and "Pulp Fiction." But the 1994 drama about two men in prison who become best friends over the course of 20 years wasn't a hit when it first went into theaters.
As Vanity Fair reported, the film failed to crack $1 million during its first weekend, and eventually made $16 million overall — nowhere near enough to break even on its $25 million budget. The opening weekend was so bad that the director, Frank Darabont, and a producer, Liz Glotzer, went to a screening opening night and found no one in the theater.
"Vertigo" was originally considered unsuccessful by Alfred Hitchcock standards, but it has been re-evaluated.
Hitchock himself blamed the film's star, Jimmy Stewart, for the film's failure. He claimed that, at 50 years old, Stewart was too old to play a convincing love interest for his on-screen counterpart, 25-year-old Kim Novak. The Irish Times wrote that "the film was widely regarded as a failure," though decades after its initial release, "Vertigo" dethroned "Citizen Kane" as the greatest film of all time on the British Film Institute's list.
"Highlander" had enough of a following to spawn five sequels and a culturally enduring tagline, but it failed to make any money.
None of the "Highlander" sequels were financially or critically successful, but the original lingers on in public consciousness as a fun fantasy film. The film, which is about an immortal Scotsman who has to do battle with a fellow immortal being to ensure the world doesn't end, has earned its place in cult classic territory.
"Though [a flop] upon its theatrical release, the original 1986 'Highlander' attracted a sizable, loyal cult enamored with its fantastical mythology," according to Rotten Tomatoes.
"Empire Records" flopped, but it launched a number of successful careers and has become a cult hit.
According to Box Office Mojo, "Empire Records" made less than $300,000 total — and according to BuzzFeed, it had a budget of over $10 million. However, the teen dramedy jump-started the careers of Liv Tyler, Renée Zellweger, Ethan Embry, Anthony LaPaglia, and more. It also, for a certain generation, is one of the best comedies of all time.
"Children of Men" was nominated for three Academy Awards, but it couldn't break even at the box office.
"Children of Men" had a $76 million budget, but it only made $35 million domestically, and $70 million worldwide — an unequivocal bomb. But the film has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, multiple Oscar noms under its belt, and was named one of the best films of the 21st century by the BBC. Not too bad for a box office flop about a dystopian future in which no children have been born for 18 years.
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