10 Critically Acclaimed Films You Never Realised Bombed At The Box Office
7. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 94%
Budget: $3.2 Million
Box Office: $3.3 Million
Before TV networks in the 1980s insisted on cramming in as many showings as they possibly could over the festive period, It’s A Wonderful Life was far from the Christmas classic we recognise it as today. Based on the similarly under-acknowledged short story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern, Frank Capra’s film struggled with high production costs and competition from other pictures, with one film in particular proving to be a real thorn in its side.
The film was actually pushed forward so that it could be considered by the Academy in 1946, though the move backfired when WWII drama The Best Years of Our Lives cleaned up, winning four of the five awards that It’s A Wonderful Life was nominated for. Had it waited until the following awards season, the stiffest competition would have come from Miracle On 34th Street.
With all extra production/advertising costs considered, It’s A Wonderful Life needed to make $6.3 million to break even, a figure that it never came close to reaching. The film’s failure was a blow for Capra, whose reputation became one of a man who was no longer capable of making the must-see, money-making movies that he once specialised in.
The director was backed by critics at the time, however, with Time praising his inventiveness, humour and affection, and Variety writing that Capra still displayed his delicate devotion to detail and a sure-footed feeling for true dramatic impact.