10 Movies Nobody Saw In Cinemas (But Everyone Watches On TV)

9. The Wizard Of Oz

The Shawshank Redemption
Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer

One of the first truly iconic cinematic examples of the fabled Good vs. Evil trope, 1939's The Wizard of Oz is a film that the vast majority of cineastes have seen and adored.

When the picture was released to theaters, though, it, quite frankly, tanked. Costing $3 million to make, The Wizard of Oz actually lost $1.1 million for MGM, and was initially viewed as a calamitous failure.

Several big-screen re-releases of the film still didn't see The Wizard of Oz get anywhere close to the adoration it would later receive, and it wasn't until the 1950s that the movie started to slowly get the recognition it so rightly deserved. And why was that? Well, it was because The Wizard of Oz became an annual TV tradition.

The true success of The Wizard of Oz came when it began to air annually on CBS in the United States, with many becoming instantly enamoured upon a first watch of Victor Fleming's movie.

From the '50s onwards, this is a film that's hard not to watch each and every time you realise one of the numerous TV channels are showing it.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.