10 Awesome Movies Audiences Weren't Ready For

4. Blade Runner

1982 was an absolutely stacked year for sci-fi films, with Ridley Scott's Blade Runner having to contend with the decidedly broader likes of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, E.T., The Thing and Tron.

It didn't really stand much of a chance on original release, then, tanking at the box office amid wildly polarised reviews, with critics and audiences alike dismayed by its slow pace, ambiguous storytelling and dishonest marketing as a more conventional action-adventure flick.

Not helping matters was the mess of a theatrical cut sent out to cinemas complete with a garish Harrison Ford voiceover, which was only corrected with the release of Ridley Scott's superior director's cut in 1992.

Nevertheless, the film's meditative approach to sci-fi wasn't what audiences were used to seeing in 1982, and only years later on home video did it finally find a home befitting its scope and ambition.

With the 2007 release of Scott's exceptional Final Cut, Blade Runner's legacy as a genre landmark was fully cemented.

Almost four decades since its original release, Blade Runner continues to be held up as one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made, but as is often the case, audiences took their sweet time figuring this out.