1. Million Dollar Treasure Hunt - Million Dollar Mystery (1987)
A group of travellers are eating in an isolated restaurant when a man drops dead of a heart attack. Before the man dies, the group learn he is wanted for the theft of several million dollars. He tells he group he's hidden the money in four separate locations and gives them clues to where they are (no, I'm not sure why he didn't just tell them either). A rat race ensues as each of the travellers tries to find the money first. The film had a rather impressive $10,000,000 budget but spectacularly dive bombed when it was released in cinemas and grossed just $989,033 dollars. Given its spectacular demise, the company's promotional stunt seems all the more embarrassing and hilarious. Glad Bags and DeLaurentiis Entertainment co-sponsored a real-life million-dollar "treasure hunt" to coincide with this film's release. At the end of the movie, the cash is still missing, and movie-goers were invited to find the location of the hidden stash, using clues provided in the film. Ticket buyers were even given game cards shaped like American currency - with a big photo of Dino DeLaurentiis where the President should be. In the end, it was a big disaster for the studio. The film was one of the major flops of the 1980s, barely grossing a million dollars at the box office, which the studio wound up forking over to the contest winner, a woman in Bakersfield, California. Incidentally, for the more curious amongst you... the money was hidden in the bridge of the Statue of Liberty's nose.
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