10 Films You Didn't Realise Secretly Bombed
2. The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is the world's favourite movie. At least, it is according to the Internet Movie Database's rating system. Sitting pretty at a strong 9.2/10, it has topped IMDb's Top 250 for years, and with good reason: everyone loves this movie.
Unfortunately, nobody showed it any love while it was actually on in cinemas. Despite being nominated for seven Academy Awards, almost nobody wanted to buy a ticket to spend time in prison with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. It ended 1994 as one of the biggest box office disappointments of the year.
Why this was the case is unclear. It may be that the premise of the film sounded a lot more dark and depressing than it really was. It may be that the Stephen King work that inspired it was one of his lesser-known short stories. However, Morgan Freeman has his own theory: it's all in the name.
Freeman reckons that calling the movie The Shawshank Redemption was its downfall. He found the title clumsy to say and difficult to remember. He really believed that people would never recommend a film to their friends if they were too embarrassed to even attempt to say the name!