10 Movies With INSANE Casts You've Never Heard Of

Stacked casts, forgotten movies.

10 Years
Anchor Bay

Even though the power of the solo movie star has been fading for years in Hollywood, an easy way for any film to get potential viewers' attention is with a fully loaded cast of famous faces and acting veterans.

A trailer that can rattle through a laundry list of beloved actors will have a much easier time getting eyes on it than a sans-stars indie film, no matter their respective quality. And yet, stardom isn't everything, because even if a filmmaker ropes in literally dozens of name actors for their project, it still might end up flying way below the radar for most.

That's evidently what happened with the following ten movies, each of which boasts absolutely stacked casts, many of them comprised of an enviable number of Oscar winners and nominees. All the same, each came and went in the blink of an eye, being quietly sloughed into cinemas on a wave of indifference from general audiences before dying a quiet death on home video.

While it feels like some of these films are just a viral tweet away from enjoying a second life, others are clearly confined to the trashcan of history forever more...

10. Paper Man

10 Years
MPI Media Group

Believe it or not, there's a Ryan Reynolds-starring superhero movie you've almost certainly never heard of. 

Quietly dumped in cinemas in 2010 where it grossed a grand total of $13,514 domestically, Paper Man stars Jeff Daniels as Richard Dunn, a failed writer who still speaks to his childhood imaginary friend, a superhero by the name of Captain Excellent (Reynolds).

Elsewhere, Richard's wife is played by Lisa Kudrow, and top it all off, a post-Superbad, pre-Oscar Emma Stone is also in the mix as rebellious teenager Abby, while Kieran Culkin portrays Abby's own imaginary friend, Christopher - because why the hell not?

Even accepting that Reynolds, Stone, and Culkin blew up considerably in the years following Paper Man's release, it still touted some mighty star wattage for its time. And yet, the YouTube comments for its trailer are filled with nothing but "Is this a real movie?" and "Did the studio forget to release it?"

Granted, the few critics who bothered to review it weren't terribly enthusiastic, but even so, the eclectic cast alone should've prevented this one from tumbling into the pop-culture abyss.

 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.