The world of cinema perpetually lives under the tyranny of the box office. Every year, thousands of movies get released and only a few of them actually make any profit (it is said that 80 per cent of movies in the industry lose money). And sure enough, many, if not most, of those movies are terrible and were deservedly box office bombs. However, a few failed to make a splash at the box office but are in reality great movies to watch and even regarded as masterpieces in some cases.
The films on the list include Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) and Fight Club (1999). Both were great book-to-movie adaptations. Directed by two well-known filmmakers, they were released with readymade fan bases (of the books).
So why did they bomb? Why do good movies fail at the box office? There can be a variety of reasons. One is a lack of known faces in the cast. Great actors are not necessarily great movie stars. For instance, as good an actress as Anya Taylor-Joy is, she is simply not a box office draw right now. This is why Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has been such a disappointment for Warner Bros.
Similarly, Martin Scorsese, as legendary a filmmaker as he rightly is, has a distinctive, auteurist style of making movies that a typical moviegoer wanting to kill a couple of hours in a theatre might not appreciate.
Then, the economics of Hollywood can be stupefyingly complex. A typical big release needs to gross two-and-a-half times the budget just to break even. Also, the production budget does not include marketing and promotion costs, which can run into several million dollars for movies based on recognisable IP (intellectual property).
Even so, cinema is an art form and like all art, it is the act of making it that counts. The movies on this list prove that box office haul doesn’t always determine a film’s legacy or value. Cinematic excellence can transcend the lack of financial success.
Note: All box office figures are according to Box Office Mojo unless specified otherwise.
Great movies to watch that were box-office bombs
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IMDb rating: 9.3
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
Movie duration: 2 hours 22 minutes
Synopsis: In this adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, a man Andy Dufrene (Robbins) is convicted of a double murder for which he is innocent and finds himself at the Shawshank State Penitentiary. Ellis Redding or simply Red (Freeman), an inmate who can smuggle anything into the prison, becomes his friend. Despite all the hardships he suffers, he bears it all, and using his skills as a banker, he makes himself invaluable to the warden, Samuel Norton (Gunton). While he appears to be resigned to his fate, Andy is quietly plotting an elaborate escape. In his attempt to find his way out, he leaves behind a fateful note for Red, urging him to find his own way towards redemption.
Box office performance: The movie grossed only USD 28.7 million on a budget of USD 25 million in its initial theatrical run, but is now considered one of the best movies ever. It is also the top-rated movie on IMDb.
Why it is great: Amid all the doom and gloom in the world, we need movies like The Shawshank Redemption. Without glossing over the bleak reality of life in prison, it exhorts one to always hold onto a smidgen of hope, no matter how dire your circumstances. As Andy says in the movie, “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Fight Club (1999)
IMDb rating: 8.8
Directed by: David Fincher
Cast: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter
Movie duration: 2 hours 19 minutes
Synopsis: Based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name, this movie follows an unnamed man (Norton) who is an insomnia-afflicted white-collar worker looking to transform his life to find meaning. His path crosses with soap seller Tyler Durden (Pitt) and the two join forces to start an underground club, where men fight each other until they are bloodied and cannot take anymore.
Box office performance: This movie grossed just over USD 100 million on a budget of USD 63 million. But over the years, it has come to be regarded as one of the finest ever made.
Why it is great: Fight Club is a thinking person’s action movie. The action here is actually kind of unpleasant and the movie’s grungy feel doesn’t help. All this to say, this would have been Fincher’s masterpiece had he not directed Se7en (1995). It is also a movie that rewards repeated viewings.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
IMDb rating: 8
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas
Movie duration: 2 hours 44 minutes
Synopsis: Set about 30 years after the original Blade Runner (1982), the film is about a new LAPD Blade Runner (people who hunt and “retire” or kill wayward replicant androids) Officer K (Gosling). He has unearthed a long-buried secret that will eventually lead him to the former blade runner, Rick Deckard (Ford), who has been missing for 30 years.
Box office performance: The movie grossed USD 277 million on a budget of about USD 150 million. If you believe that’s not bad, remember that movies have to earn approximately 2.5 times their budget just to break even. The budget does not include marketing and promotion costs.
Why it is great: Shot in dazzlingly bright hues by Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049 is a sci-fi neo-noir movie that is thoughtful and contemplative. Villeneuve, now better known for directing Dune movies, builds an immersive experience with a well-realised dystopian world.
Read more: 15 sci-fi movies like Dune you must watch: Interstellar, Arrival and more
IMDb rating: 7.6
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro
Movie duration: 3 hours 26 minutes
Synopsis: In 1920s Oklahoma, members of the Osage Nation tribe live in great wealth and prosperity due to the discovery of oil on their reservation in the late 1900s. But this boon proves to be a curse, as the members of their tribe begin to get killed one by one in the 1920s. Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), a World War I veteran, arrives to live on the ranch near the reservation owned by his uncle William Hale (De Niro). Hale persuades Burkhart to seduce and marry Molly Burkhart (Gladstone), an Osage woman with oil headrights that would pass on to her husband if she died.
Box office performance: This movie collected USD 157 million worldwide on an estimated budget of over USD 200 million.
Why it is great: It is quite unfortunate that easily the greatest living filmmaker (many, like, me would call Scorsese the greatest ever) directing a movie about an important and criminally overlooked dark chapter of American history was not successful at the box office. Killers of the Flower Moon, based on David Grann’s book of the same name, is an impeccably made and stunningly shot piece of cinema powered by brilliant performances by DiCaprio, Gladstone and De Niro. The runtime might seem intimidating but really just flashes past.
Read more: All 27 Martin Scorsese movies ranked according to IMDb
The Fabelmans (2022)
IMDb rating: 7.5
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Michelle Williams, Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano
Movie duration: 2 hours 31 minutes
Synopsis: Based on Spielberg’s own childhood and experiences, the film is set in the 1950s United States. It follows Sammy Fabelman (LaBelle), a teenage Jewish son of Burt Fableman (Dano) and Mitzi Fableman (Williams) in a small town in Arizona, who dreams of becoming a filmmaker in Hollywood. The film is mostly about the ups and downs of his life. He pursues his dream and faces both triumphs and setbacks.
Box office performance: The movie grossed USD 45 million on a budget of USD 40 million (the latter figure is according to Forbes).
Why it is great: Spielberg has been making movies since the 1970s, dabbling in various genres and excelling pretty much everywhere. The Fablemans is his first autobiographical movie, and while it is introspective, it is also full of joy and so much heart. It is also nostalgia done right, for it is not mired in the past, merely basking in it.
The Last Duel (2021)
IMDb rating: 7.4
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck
Movie duration: 2 hours 32 minutes
Synopsis: Loosely based on a true story, this historical movie is set in 14th-century France. As the title suggests, it is about the final legal duel in the European country’s history between Jean de Carrouges (Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Driver) after Carrouges’ wife accuses Marguerite de Carrouges of sexual assault and rape.
Box office performance: The movie grossed USD 30 million on an estimated budget of USD 100 million.
Why it is great: I did not actually expect Scott to handle an issue like sexual violence with such sensitivity, but he did so with a surprising nuance and depth. He is Scott, after all, filmmaker extraordinaire. Damon, Driver and Comer are outstanding. Affleck is also impressive in a guest role.
The Suicide Squad (2021)
IMDb rating: 7.2
Directed by: James Gunn
Cast: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Viola Davis
Movie duration: 2 hours 12 minutes
Synopsis: Infamous DC supervillains and inmates of Belle Reve prison, including Harley Quinn (Robbie), Bloodsport (Elba) and Peacemaker (Cena), are forced to go on a mission to the enemy country of Corto Maltese as part of Task Force X by Amanda Waller (Davis). If they do not cooperate, Waller and her minions have a tiny explosive device embedded in their heads that will explode at the press of a button.
Box office performance: The movie grossed USD 168.7 million on a budget of USD 185 million. Part of the reason was that Warner Bros decided to release it simultaneously in theatres and on their streaming service, HBO Max (now called Max), to boost the subscriber base. And The Suicide Squad was not the only victim of this decision.
Why it is great: Gunn, who has also directed Guardians of the Galaxy movie trilogy (2013, 2014 and 2017) for MCU, has a knack for developing interesting interpersonal relationships between a team of weirdo, misfit characters. With the Guardians movies, he was given a sandbox to do as he wished, as those characters were not popular even among comic-book readers. But it was only with The Suicide Squad that he was allowed to truly let loose in all its R-rated goodness. The movie is a foul-mouthed blast from start to finish and is both action-packed and emotional. Oh, and it also comes with an awesome soundtrack.
West Side Story (2021)
IMDb rating: 7.1
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez
Movie duration: 2 hours 36 minutes
Synopsis: An adaptation of the 1957 stage musical and its original 1961 adaptation of the same name, West Side Story follows the rivalry between two street gangs, the Jets (white youngsters) and the Sharks (Puerto Rican youngsters). Tony (Elgort), a former Jets member falls in love with Maria (Zegler), sister of Sharks’ leader (David Alvarez), creating further tension between the gangs.
Box office performance: The movie grossed only USD 76 million on a budget of USD 100 million.
Why it is great: Trust Spielberg to breathe new life into a familiar story. The movie has some mind-bogglingly good cinematography, electrifying musical numbers and strong performances.
IMDb rating: 6.7
Directed by: George Miller
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba, Erdil Yasaroglu
Movie duration: 1 hour and 48 minutes
Synopsis: Based on a short story by A.S. Byatt, this fantasy romance movie is about a lonely British woman Alithea Binnie (Swinton), who finds an antique bottle and what do you know, it has a djinn, called simply Djinn (Elba), inside it. He offers Alithea three wishes, but she cannot wish for immortality, cannot ask for more wishes and cannot demand an end to sin or suffering. Instead of Alithea asking for wishes, however, she and Djinn trade stories from the past.
Box office performance: This movie grossed only USD 20 million on a budget of USD 50 million.
Why it is great: Visually fascinating and characterised by Miller’s signature storytelling style, Three Thousand Years of Longing is an absolute delight. Both Swinton and Elba give powerhouse performances.
Ad Astra (2019)
IMDb rating: 6.5
Directed by: James Gray
Cast: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga
Movie duration: 2 hours 3 minutes
Synopsis: In the near future astronaut Roy McBride (Pitt) is informed that a space station led by his father Clifford McBride (Jones), who went missing 29 years ago, is causing power surges that may end humanity on Earth. Roy decides to take an interstellar journey across the solar system to Neptune in search of his father.
Box office performance: This movie earned USD 127 million on a budget of USD 90 million.
Why it is great: Most sci-fi movies set in outer space tend to be action-packed, but Ad Astra dares to take a different approach. It is a deeply reflective story that is almost entirely character-driven (rather than plot-driven) and explores isolation and the human condition.
(Hero image: Courtesy of IMDb; Featured image: Courtesy of © 1994 Castle Rock Entertainment)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
-What is the biggest flop in movie history?
John Carter (2012) is regarded as the biggest box office bomb in movie history. According to Box Office Mojo, it could only gross USD 284.1 million. It was made on a budget of USD 250 million, though according to other estimates, the budget ballooned to over USD 250 million.
-What is the lowest-grossing movie ever?
The Worst Movie Ever! (2011) is the lowest-grossing movie ever made. It earned only USD 11. Notably, it had a budget of USD 25,000.
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Kshitij is a journalism graduate who did not initially intend to become a film critic, but such are the vagaries of destiny. Now, Kshitij is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and a member of the Film Critics Guild, bringing expertise and experience in evaluating entertainment content with him. Additionally, he serves as a jury member on the Critics' Choice Awards in India. When he's not busy wielding words, catch him nose-deep in books or joyfully lost in the realms of gaming and photography.
