9 Films That Actually Benefited From Bad Reviews

It has been said that a movie can live or die based on how it is reviewed by the critics. If you're going to listen to anyone's point of view, who better than someone who earns a living by watching films and rating them for the world to see.

Many critics are held in such esteem that they can inspire droves of people to head to the picture-house or straight up kill a film's credibility before it has even been released.

Marketing has become an ever-adaptable beast and can transform these damning comments into a badge of honour. Lest we forget that millions of dollars tend to be at stake whenever a film is released to a wider audience and with most fans having access to the likes of Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb, it has never been easier to destroy a film within a few sentences.

It does bear mentioning that not all studios are forced into thinking on their feet when the reviews hit the skids. Sometimes, all that bad press can influence an audience's desire to know what the fuss is about - causing a snowball effect...

Hugh Jackman playing a charismatic Ringmaster, singing and dancing around with Zac Efron and Zendeya for an hour and a half? Take our money.

That they did, but not before the film's buzz was almost completely stifled before it even had a chance to string two weekend box office returns together.

Lambasted for its 'white washing', Vulture even going as far as to brand it as 'a whole other level of disingenuousness', the plot managed to gloss over the real life back-story of PT Barnum (Jackman) and his questionable practises in purchasing 'freaks' in order to present them as attractions for profit.

It looked as if the 'shrill blast of nothing' - as Rolling Stones put it - was set to be a big-time misstep for all involved (earning under $9 million in it's opening weekend in the U.S.), before something unpredictable happened.

The film started to gain traction as audiences slowly began to wonder why the film was constantly being smeared across their TV screens, provoking them to head out to see what all the uproar was about. Good songs became good business as, before 20th Century Fox knew what had happened, the whole world was dancing along to their musical.

With a worldwide taking of $435 million, those bad reviews proved to be the spark that inspired a 31 week raid of the box office.