8 All-Time Classic Movies You Didn't Know Flopped At The Box Office

It wouldn't be hyperbole to call Blade Runner the most influential sci-fi movie of the 80s, despite the fact this decade produced classics like The Terminator, The Thing, Aliens, and The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, the movie is that amazing.

And perhaps more than any other movie on this list, Blade Runner was distinctly a "cult classic" according to the average movie critic until more recently, when those critics realized not all sci-fi movies were also required to be action movies. Basically, Blade Runner was never meant to be Star Wars or Aliens, but too many people - including the executives in charge of its advertising campaign - were treating it that way.

Perhaps the biggest reason for its failure at the box office, though, was its incredibly stiff competition. Even though Harrison Ford was one of the hottest stars in Hollywood at the time, his name simply couldn't compete with the likes E.T., Poltergeist, and Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, all of which were released in the same month as Blade Runner.

Ten years later, the studio was wise enough to release Ridley Scott's Director's Cut, which removed the lame happy ending that had been tacked on for the theatrical release, making the film an outright classic in the process.