10 Classic Films That Were Shamefully Ignored At First

7. It's A Wonderful Life

It's A Wonderful Life, which stars Jimmy Stewart as a bumbling husband on the brink of suicide, is often thought to be the greatest of all Christmas movies, and is pretty much an undeniable classic. At least, that's how we consider it today. Back in 1946, though, nobody seemed all that interested in watching this monumental slice of feel-good awesomeness - it made a pathetic $3.1 million at the box office, and bankrupt its director, Frank Capra. The reason nobody went to see it? "Stiff competition," apparently, which presumably translates as: there were a lot of movies out at the time, and this one looked the least interesting. Ignored for over thirty years, then, it wasn't until the film fell into the public domain and began to air on television that the general public stood up (or sat down) and said to themselves: "Oh, this is actually a great film. What a truly horrific mistake we made." Duh.