10 Flop Movies You Thought Were Huge Hits
6. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is one of the most popular and celebrated films of all time, so it's simply assumed that it must've been a gonzo box office hit on original release in 1971, rather understandably so.
Yet even with an iconic Gene Wilder performance and Roald Dahl's beloved source material, the musical fantasy film was originally an epic flop, grossing just $4 million on a $3 million budget.
This result has largely been blamed on marketing which failed to cement the film's off-kilter tone, and a general lack of interest in a candy-centric movie produced by The Quaker Oats Company.
The performance was poor enough that Paramount decided not to renew the distribution rights in 1977, after which they were sold to Warner Bros.
After spending roughly a decade in obscurity, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory enjoyed an uptick in popularity throughout the '80s as it became a regular fixture on TV, cementing itself as a pop-culture mainstay.