Summary
- Movies should not be judged based on preconceived notions, as some great films are wrongly discarded as flops.
- Financial success doesn’t equate to quality – some box office bombs have earned passionate cult followings.
- Many movies have a huge gulf between their critical reputation and their fan base.
Some movies don’t always get the respect they deserve, but rewatching them reveals that their bad reputations may be unearned. There are plenty of great movies that were discarded too soon, either by fans who were expecting something different or critics who didn’t resonate with a movie’s general appeal. Often, these movies see their reputations being rehabilitated a few years later.
People tend to view movies within broader contexts, either based on the careers of the directors and actors involved, or based on how a movie fits into a franchise. However, it’s often better to approach a movie with as few preconceived notions as possible. Movies shouldn’t be judged based on how they conform to what is expected of them. When this does happen, some good movies get wrongly discarded as flops.
Related 10 Box Office Flops That Eventually Became Cult Classics
A movie’s financial success isn’t always an indicator of its quality, and some box office bombs have been still found passionate cult followings.
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10 The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)
Bill Murray’s Charming Performance Lifts A Stylish Adventure
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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Where to Watch
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Director Wes Anderson Release Date December 25, 2004 Cast Bill Murray , Owen Wilson , Cate Blanchett , Anjelica Huston , Willem Dafoe , Jeff Goldblum
Wes Anderson has a devoted following, but The Life Aquatic is one of his rare movies that doesn’t enjoy such broad acclaim. It rarely comes up in the conversation of the best Wes Anderson movies, either among his fans or critics. The Life Aquatic isn’t as universally popular as The Grand Budapest Hotel or Rushmore, but it deserves more love. It has just a 57% Rotten Tomatoes score.
The Life Aquatic
isn’t as universally popular as
The Grand Budapest Hotel
or
Rushmore
, but it deserves more love.
Buoyed by a likable performance from Bill Murray, The Life Aquatic is a playful adventure about a marine biologist styled after Jacques Cousteau who embarks on a journey to find a rare leopard shark. It marked a turning point in Anderson’s evolution as a filmmaker, as he leans further into his idiosyncratic style, but there is real substance beneath the layers of stop-motion creatures and retro kitsch.
9 Vanilla Sky (2001)
The Psychological Thriller Was Underappreciated
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Vanilla Sky
Director Cameron Crowe Release Date December 14, 2001 Cast Tom Cruise , Penelope Cruz , Kurt Russell , Jason Lee , Noah Taylor , Cameron Diaz
Vanilla Sky is an ambitious psychological thriller about the nature of reality and perception. Such a confident and experimental story was always going to split opinions, but its 43% Rotten Tomatoes score is surprisingly harsh. The 72% audience score suggests that critics may have been unkind to Vanilla Sky when it was first released. The Tom Cruise movie has amassed a cult following over the years.
With the benefit of hindsight, more fans have realized that
Vanilla Sky
has plenty of original thoughts to offer.
Vanilla Sky questions the line between dreams and reality. This was a more popular concept in movies when it first came out, so it’s possible that Vanilla Sky looked like it was following trends. With the benefit of hindsight, more fans have realized that Vanilla Sky has plenty of original thoughts to offer. It’s an intriguing puzzle box of a movie that didn’t deserve its negative reaction.
8 Batman Forever (1995)
Batman Fans Didn’t Take Kindly To Joel Schumacher’s Changes
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Batman Forever Where to Watch
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Director Joel Schumacher Release Date June 9, 1995 Cast Jim Carrey , Nicole Kidman , Tommy Lee Jones , Drew Barrymore , Chris O’Donnell , Val Kilmer , Pat Hingle , Michael Gough , Debi Mazar
After Tim Burton and Michael Keaton both declined to return to the Batman franchise, Joel Schumacher and Val Kilmer took over. Batman Forever is more colorful and a lot louder than the two movies which came before it, and this jarring change upset many critics and fans. However, Batman Forever has a lot of positives when it isn’t being directly compared to Tim Burton’s movies.
Batman Forever
is more colorful and a lot louder than the two movies which came before it, and this jarring change upset many critics and fans.
Val Kilmer is both a fun Batman and an interesting Bruce Wayne. His character highlights the movie’s changing approach, which is inspired by comic books and classic cartoons. To help sell this tone, Jim Carrey is given carte blanche to indulge his wacky impulses. His delightfully hammy performance is a joy to watch, and it works well alongside Tommy Lee Jones’ Two Face.
7 Hail, Caesar! (2016)
The Coen Brothers Comedy Is A Misunderstood Gem
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Hail, Caesar! Where to Watch
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Director Ethan Coen , Joel Coen Release Date February 5, 2016 Cast Josh Brolin , Channing Tatum , Tilda Swinton , George Clooney , Scarlett Johansson , Frances McDormand , Jonah Hill , Ralph Fiennes
The Coen brothers have been able to marry critical acclaim with audience appeal throughout their careers, but Hail, Caesar failed to win many people over. Hail, Caesar doesn’t have a story as compelling as some of the best Coen brothers movies, but its haphazard style is perfectly designed to reflect the nature of Eddie Mannix’s work as a Hollywood fixer, and the hectic pace of the movie industry.
The Coen brothers have been able to marry critical acclaim with audience appeal throughout their careers, but
Hail, Caesar
failed to win many people over.
What Hail, Caesar lacks in story, it makes up for with its cast of absurd characters. There are plenty of memorable scenes strung together, such as Hubie, the tough-talking Western star being thrust onto the set of a Merchant-Ivory-style drama. Hail, Caesar also gets a lot of Channing Tatum’s communist agent, George Clooney’s pampered, ignorant movie star, and Tilda Swinton’s set of journalist twins.
6 Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)
The Most Controversial Star Wars Movie Upset Plenty Of Hardcore Fans
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Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi
Director Rian Johnson Release Date December 15, 2017 Cast Daisy Ridley , Oscar Isaac , Mark Hamill , Carrie Fisher , John Boyega , Adam Driver , Andy Serkis , Lupita Nyong’o , Anthony Daniels , Gwendoline Christie , Kelly Marie Tran , Laura Dern
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens ends with the exciting tease of Luke Skywalker’s return to the franchise. The way that The Last Jedi handled his character is still hugely controversial. There are several legitimate criticisms of The Last Jedi, but a lot of the negative commentary about the movie has focused on how it fits into the franchise and how it meets the expectations of hardcore fans. Critics and more casual fans have been far kinder to The Last Jedi.
The Last Jedi
also boasts some of the sequel trilogy’s best action scenes, and some interesting visual choices from director Rian Johnson.
The Last Jedi has a lot going for it. The movie’s ethos is best summarized by a brief scene toward the end when a force-sensitive child is shown looking up to the stars. This suggests that anyone can be special, which is more interesting than times when Star Wars has doubled down on the idea that powers are inherited. The Last Jedi also boasts some of the sequel trilogy’s best action scenes, and some interesting visual choices from director Rian Johnson, such as the Holdo maneuver, although this is also divisive among fans.
5 Big Daddy (1999)
Critics Never Got On Board With Adam Sandler’s Style Of Humor
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Big Daddy Where to Watch
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Director Dennis Dugan Release Date June 25, 1999 Cast Adam Sandler , Cole Sprouse , Dylan Sprouse , Rob Schneider , Joey Lauren Adams , Jon Stewart , Allen Covert
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Adam Sandler established a consistent pattern. Every couple of years, he would release a massively popular comedy that made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, and critics would trash the movie. This worked for all parties involved, as critics got to reinforce a narrow view of comedy movies, but there are some cases where they were plain wrong. Big Daddy is a comedy masterpiece with just 39% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sonny is one of Adam Sandler’s funniest characters, but he also shows a lot of heart in his unexpected relationship with Julian.
Adam Sandler’s brand of humor has often been accepted with the caveat that it’s a “guilty pleasure” or that it’s “dumb comedy”. If comedy makes people laugh, it isn’t dumb, and it shouldn’t make anyone feel guilty. Big Daddy showcases Sandler at his best. It confronts his manchild archetype with the reality of raising an actual child. Sonny is one of Adam Sandler’s funniest characters, but he also shows a lot of heart in his unexpected relationship with Julian.
4 Uncharted (2022)
A Fun Adventure That Has Little In Common With The Popular Video Games
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Uncharted Where to Watch
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Director Ruben Fleischer Release Date February 18, 2022 Cast Tom Holland , Mark Wahlberg , Antonio Banderas
Uncharted is a bad adaptation of the classic PlayStation games, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie by any means. Fans of the game were puzzled to see Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg cast as Nathan and Sully, since they are much younger than their video game counterparts. Although it looks like a sequel, Uncharted borrows some of the game’s most iconic images, like the plane fight from Uncharted 3.
Uncharted
is a bad adaptation of the classic PlayStation games, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie by any means.
Uncharted has a massive gulf between its critical success and its reputation with audiences. It has a 40% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, but a 90% audience score. Director Ruben Fleischer put up similar numbers with his Venom movies. There is a lot of excitement for a potential Uncharted 2. The games have a lot of untapped potential for a movie franchise if Holland Wahlberg decide to return.
3 Us (2019)
Jordan Peele’s Second Feature Is Still In Get Out’s Shadow
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Us Where to Watch
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Director Jordan Peele Release Date March 22, 2019 Cast Lupita Nyong’o , Winston Duke , Elisabeth Moss , Tim Heidecker , Shahadi Wright Joseph , Evan Alex , Yahya Abdul-Mateen II , Anna Diop
Jordan Peele made a remarkable directorial debut with Get Out, and the horror movie was always going to be a tough act to follow. Us, released two years later, was a moderate success, but it didn’t achieve Get Out‘s level of prestige. Us was marked down by many as a difficult second movie, little more than a project that Peele needed to get out the way. This isn’t a fair reflection on the movie’s quality.
Us
is the kind of movie that should be rewatched and chewed over, but there are still scenes with a gut-punch impact on first viewing.
Us is a little more mysterious than Get Out. The Tethered can be interpreted in many different ways. They could represent Black Americans, indigenous Americans, the working class, or a number of other disenfranchised groups. Us is the kind of movie that should be rewatched and chewed over, but there are still scenes with a gut-punch impact on first viewing, like the death of the Tyler family.
2 The Killer (2023)
Many People Expected A More Action-Heavy Movie
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The Killer Where to Watch
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Director David Fincher Release Date November 10, 2023 Cast Michael Fassbender , Tilda Swinton , Kerry O’Malley , Charles Parnell , Lacey Dover , Monique Ganderton , Sala Baker
The Killer is one of 2023’s most underrated movies. It was released on Netflix to mediocre reviews, and some of its stylistic choices drew a lot of criticism. In particular, the movie’s excessive narration has been divisive. Throughout David Fincher’s career, he has sought to explore the depths of criminal psychology. The Killer is a natural extension of the work he did in Seven, Zodiac and Mindhunter.
Some of
The Killer
‘s stylistic choices drew a lot of criticism. In particular, the movie’s excessive narration has been divisive.
The Killer is even better on a rewatch, as the movie reveals some of its hidden details and the subtleties of the protagonist’s actions become apparent. Michael Fassbender delivers a captivating performance as a contract killer whose personal world suddenly crashes into his professional life. His constant narration reveals a lot of what he’s thinking, but it’s also important to note what he’s not saying.
1 The Good Dinosaur
The Pixar Hit Factory Produced A Rare Flop
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The Good Dinosaur Where to Watch
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Director Peter Sohn Release Date November 25, 2015 Cast Bill Hader , Neil Patrick Harris , Lucas Neff , John Lithgow , Frances McDormand , Judy Greer
Children love Pixar movies and dinosaurs, so a Pixar movie about dinosaurs should have been a slam dunk. In reality, The Good Dinosaur was met with an underwhelming response, and an equally disappointing financial return. The Good Dinosaur wasn’t quite what audiences were hoping for, but it doesn’t deserve its status as Pixar’s most forgotten movie. It should be rewatched with fresh eyes.
With Pixar making more sequels than ever before, a follow-up for
The Good Dinosaur
would be a great way to double down on the movie’s good qualities.
With Pixar making more sequels than ever before, a follow-up for The Good Dinosaur would be a great way to double down on the movie’s good qualities. The Good Dinosaur tells a heartwarming story of friendship and family. It lacks a compelling villain to help drive the plot, but the atmospheric feeling suits the movie perfectly. The Good Dinosaur is also one of the most visually stunning animated movies of recent times, with some of its landscapes looking incredibly realistic.