10 Flop Movies That Somehow Got Sequels
6. Blade Runner
Blade Runner is unquestionably one of the most iconic sci-fi films of all time, enough that it's easy to ignore that it was actually a commercial dud upon initial release.
In 1982, Ridley Scott's indelible masterpiece netted just $41.6 million on a $30 million budget, seemingly ensuring that it'd be a one-off romp.
However, Blade Runner's esteem ballooned in the decades that followed, in large part due to Scott releasing vastly superior new cuts of the film in both 1992 and 2007, cementing its status as a genre classic and major home video commodity.
The movie's considerable fandom then emboldened Warner Bros. to greenlight a mega-budget $185 million sequel, Blade Runner 2049, which despite receiving rave reviews and arguably being even better than the original film, flopped in 2017 with a $267.7 million final cume.
It's fair to say that the studio vastly over-estimated general audience appeal in the property, nostalgia for the original film, and star Ryan Gosling's ability to rouse casual interest in a cult franchise that laid dormant for 35 years.
It's certainly a gift to the world that Blade Runner 2049 exists, but it's ridiculous that people paid to make decisions about vast sums of money thought that it was a sound investment.