10 Movie Flops That Will Become Cult Classics
Coming to a cult film festival near you.
Blockbusters sometimes appear to have been made for (and by) pod people: they all cost the same ridiculous amount, star the same people and carry on forever. The differences between characters and storylines are not great. Every so often, though, a movie will come along that ignores the cookie-cutter mentality in favour of doing things on its own terms. We call these cult classics.
They happen when an audience sees a movie they were warned away from, and realize for themselves that it’s not the mega-bomb they were told. In fact, it has several elements in its favour, be it good casting, a cool action scene or an attitude that sets it apart from the rest.
Failing that, there’s always the chance that future generations will look at the garish lighting, elaborate costumes and interplay between the leads and proclaim the movie a classic of the camp variety. Anyone who’s seen Batman & Robin knows what I’m talking about.
It doesn’t matter whether these films are good or bad, their box office returns are immaterial to the place they go on to hold in our hearts. All that matters is that they’re worth catching, and in some cases they’re more entertaining than that year’s biggest releases.
10. The Wicker Man
Destined for “so bad it’s good” status, Neil LaBute’s remake throws out everything that made the 1973 original work and brings in all the usual horror clichés: false scares, dream sequences and a cop hero who’s also a caricatured tortured soul.
To the delight of Bad Movies Fans, the role is played by Nicolas Cage, who conveys his character’s frustration by SHOUTING HIS LINES and saying everything 3 times. Should that fail, he also knows Kung Fu.
After dropping the F-bomb in front of small children and stealing a teacher’s bicycle at gunpoint, Nic steals the show by dressing up as a bear (long story) and punching out as many women as possible. Any hope that he’s reprising his character from Con Air literally goes up in smoke when he’s burned alive as a sacrifice.
The movie went up in flames too, making less than its $40 million budget at the worldwide box office.