10 Failed Movies That Only Found Their Audience On TV
6. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
When Frank Darabonts adaptation of Stephen Kings novella opened in American cinemas on October 14, 1994, it had the misfortune of being up against Pulp Fiction, a film whose phenomenal hype allowed it to open at #1 with a $9 million gross. Despite playing in a thousand extra theatres, The Shawshank Redemption opened at #9 and disappeared from the top ten after its second week. The following February, the film received seven Oscar nominations, and even though the filmmakers went home empty-handed, it helped publicise the subsequent video release. Not only was Shawshank was one of 1995s most rented VHS titles, with its success attributed to positive word of mouth, it was also the first picture selected for Saturday Night New Classics on TNT, who then aired the film once every two months to record-breaking audience figures. Gradually, the film transformed from being a flop whose name viewers couldnt remember (star Tim Robbins recalls people asking, What was that Shinkshonk Reduction thing?) into a mainstay of All Time Best lists. In 2007, it was ranked #72 on AFIs 100 Years100 Movies list, 22 places ahead of Pulp Fiction, while a year later, Empire Magazine placed it #4 on their 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time survey.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
