10 Flop Movies You Thought Were Huge Hits

And finally, here's one that'll really bake your noodle - It's A Wonderful Life, one of the most iconic Christmas films of all time, was actually a box office flop.

Frank Capra's James Stewart-starring fantasy drama grossed a disappointing $3.3 million, only barely surpassing its $3.18 million budget, even prompting many to consider whether Capra had lost his knack for producing crowd-pleasing human dramas.

It seems baffling in retrospect considering the film's mass global appeal as well as the fact that it received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, while also being a card-carrying Christmas Film - perhaps the easiest of all genres to market.

But believe it or not, It's A Wonderful Life received mixed reviews upon original release, while general audiences of the post-War period seemingly had little interest in a Christmas movie with suicide as a central theme. 

Interest in subsequent decades was ultimately meagre enough that its U.S. copyright wasn't even renewed in 1974.

This effectively caused the film to enter the public domain, allowing it to be broadcast without licensing fees or royalty payments, in turn causing its popularity to skyrocket as a seasonal classic.

This baffling admin decision turned out to be the best thing that could've happened to the movie, then, artistically speaking.