Description: Every once in awhile, a movie comes along that slips under the radar, only to become massively popular with fans months (or even years) later. Some are critically acclaimed and others fall into the “so bad they’re good” category, but there’s one thing they all have in common: they bombed at the box office. Here is a look back at some movies everyone thought were flops before they achieved cult classic status. Check Back as I have been finding more to include!
Update: effective 08/25/20.
Creator: RoboPhone
Posted: 5 years ago
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Movie:
The Shawshank Redemption
( 1994 )
A banker convicted of uxoricide forms a friendship over a quarter century with a hardened convict, while maintaining his innocence and trying to remain hopeful through simple compassion.
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Movie:
Highlander
( 1986 )
An immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponents, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled "Prize".
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Movie:
The Boondock Saints
( 2000 )
Two Irish Catholic brothers become vigilantes in order to try to wipe out Boston's criminal underworld in the name of God.
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Movie:
Heathers
( 1989 )
At Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.
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Movie:
Event Horizon
( 1997 )
A rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.
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Movie:
The Big Lebowski
( 1998 )
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
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Movie:
The Thing
( 1982 )
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
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Movie:
Office Space
( 1999 )
Three company workers who hate their jobs decide to rebel against their greedy boss.
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Movie:
Dredd
( 2012 )
In a violent, futuristic metropolis, a law enforcement and his rookie trainee become caught up in a high-stakes drug war.
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Movie:
Fight Club
( 1999 )
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
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Movie:
Donnie Darko
( 2001 )
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
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Movie:
The Chronicles of Riddick
( 2004 )
The wanted criminal Richard Bruno Riddick arrives on a planet called Helion Prime and finds himself up against an invading empire called the Necromongers, an army that plans to convert or kill all humans in the universe.
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Movie:
Idiocracy
( 2007 )
Corporal Joe Bauers, a decidedly average American, is selected for a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.
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Movie:
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
( 2010 )
A young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes, who are willing to do anything to prevent her happiness with someone else.
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Movie:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
( 1975 )
A newly-engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter.
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Movie:
The Wizard of Oz
( 1939 )
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
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Movie:
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
( 1971 )
A poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.
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Movie:
Blade Runner
( 1982 )
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
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Movie:
Clue
( 1985 )
Six guests are anonymously invited to a strange mansion for dinner, but after their host is killed, they must cooperate with the staff to identify the murderer as the bodies pile up.
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Movie:
Empire Records
( 1995 )
Twenty-four hours in the lives of the young employees at Empire Records when they all grow up and become young adults thanks to each other and the manager. They all face the store joining a chain store with strict rules.
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Movie:
Wet Hot American Summer
( 2001 )
Set on the last day of camp, in the hot summer of 1981, a group of counselors try to complete their unfinished business before the day ends.
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Movie:
The Iron Giant
( 1999 )
A young boy befriends a giant robot from outer space that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.
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Movie:
Dazed and Confused
( 1993 )
The adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976.
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Movie:
Showgirls
( 1995 )
A mysterious young drifter who calls herself Nomi Malone hitches a ride to Las Vegas, where she finds work as a stripper and sets about clawing her way to the top of the Vegas showgirls.
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Movie:
Mulholland Drive
( 2001 )
After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
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Movie:
Brazil
( 1985 )
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
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Movie:
The Shining
( 1980 )
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter, where a sinister presence influences the father into violence. At the same time, his psychic son sees horrifying forebodings from both the past and the future.
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Movie:
It's a Wonderful Life
( 1947 )
An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
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Movie:
Tron
( 1982 )
A computer hacker is abducted into a digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
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Movie:
Starship Troopers
( 1997 )
Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
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Movie:
Hocus Pocus
( 1993 )
A teenage boy named Max and his little sister move to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century.
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Movie:
Children of Men
( 2007 )
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
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Movie:
Treasure Planet
( 2002 )
Jim Hawkins is a teenager who finds the map of a great treasure hidden by a space pirate. Together with some friends, he sets off in a large spaceship, shaped like a caravel, on his quest.
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Movie:
The Quick and the Dead
( 1995 )
A female gunfighter returns to a frontier town where a dueling tournament is being held, which she enters in an effort to avenge her father's death.
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Movie:
Big Trouble in Little China
( 1986 )
A rough-and-tumble trucker and his sidekick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown.
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Movie:
Citizen Kane
( 1941 )
Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'
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Movie:
Barbarella
( 1968 )
In the 41st century, an astronaut seeks to stop an evil scientist who threatens to unleash a powerful weapon upon the galaxy.
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Movie:
Ender's Game
( 2013 )
Young Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against the Formics, an insectoid alien race who had previously tried to invade Earth and had inflicted heavy losses on humankind.
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Movie:
Dune
( 1984 )
A Duke's son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father's evil nemesis to free their desert world from the emperor's rule.
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Movie:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
( 1998 )
An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades.
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Movie:
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
( 1965 )
Three thrill-seeking go-go dancers kidnap a young girl and attempt to swindle an old rancher and his two sons out of their small fortune, but their scheme does not play out as they intended.
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Movie:
Pumpkinhead
( 1989 )
After a tragic accident, a man conjures up a towering, vengeful demon called Pumpkinhead to destroy a group of unsuspecting teenagers.
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Movie:
Sid and Nancy
( 1986 )
The relationship between Sid Vicious, bassist for British punk group Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen is portrayed.
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Movie:
Harold and Maude
( 1971 )
Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.
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Movie:
The Man Who Fell to Earth
( 1976 )
An alien must pose as a human to save his dying planet, but a woman and greed of other men create complications.
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Movie:
Plan 9 from Outer Space
( 1959 )
Evil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.
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Movie:
Hugo
( 2011 )
In Paris in 1931, an orphan named Hugo Cabret, who lives in the walls of a train station, is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
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Movie:
Mallrats
( 1995 )
Both dumped by their girlfriends, two best friends seek refuge in the local mall.
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Movie:
Slither
( 2006 )
A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.
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Movie:
Dark Star
( 1975 )
In the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.
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Movie:
Death to Smoochy
( 2002 )
A kids' show host, Rainbow Randolph, is fired in disgrace while his replacement, Sheldon Mopes, A.K.A. Smoochy the Rhino, finds himself a rising star. Unfortunately for Sheldon, the business of kids' television isn't all child's play.
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Movie:
Near Dark
( 1988 )
A small-town farmer's son reluctantly joins a traveling group of vampires after he is bitten by a beautiful drifter.
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Movie:
Dead Alive
( 1993 )
A young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.
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Movie:
The Room
( 2003 )
In San Francisco, an amiable banker's seemingly perfect life is turned upside down when his deceitful bride-to-be embarks on a passionate affair with his best friend.
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Movie:
Return to Oz
( 1985 )
Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.
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Movie:
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
( 2001 )
A gender-queer punk-rock singer from East Berlin tours the U.S. with her band as she tells her life story and follows the former lover/band-mate who stole her songs.
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Movie:
Bottle Rocket
( 1996 )
Three friends plan to pull off a simple robbery and go on the run.
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Movie:
True Romance
( 1993 )
In Detroit, a pop-culture enthusiast steals cocaine from his new wife's pimp and tries to sell it in Hollywood, prompting the mobsters who own the drugs to pursue the couple.
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Movie:
Eraserhead
( 1978 )
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newborn mutant child.
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Movie:
The Princess Bride
( 1987 )
A bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.
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Movie:
Reservoir Dogs
( 1992 )
When a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.
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Movie:
Mad Max
( 1980 )
In a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.
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Movie:
Vertigo
( 1958 )
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
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Movie:
Blade Runner 2049
( 2017 )
A young blade runner's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.
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Movie:
Manhunter
( 1986 )
Former FBI profiler Will Graham returns to service to pursue a deranged serial killer dubbed "the Tooth Fairy" by the media.
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Movie:
Cry-Baby
( 1990 )
In 1950s Baltimore, a bad boy with a heart of gold wins the love of a good girl, whose boyfriend sets out for revenge.
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Movie:
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
( 1989 )
An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences across late 18th-century Europe with his band of misfits.
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Movie:
Blackhat
( 2015 )
A furloughed convict and his American and Chinese partners hunt a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta.
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Movie:
Clockers
( 1995 )
Young drug pushers in the projects of Brooklyn live hard dangerous lives, trapped between their drug bosses and the detectives out to stop them.
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Movie:
Deepwater Horizon
( 2016 )
A dramatization of the disaster in April 2010, when the offshore drilling rig called the Deepwater Horizon exploded, resulting in the worst oil spill in American history.
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Movie:
The Good Dinosaur
( 2015 )
In a world where dinosaurs and humans live side-by-side, an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend.
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Movie:
Hard Rain
( 1998 )
The partner and nephew of an armored-truck driver tries to prevent three million dollars from being taken by a gang during a catastrophic flooding caused by a severe storm.
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Movie:
Heaven's Gate
( 1981 )
During the Johnson County War in 1890 Wyoming, a sheriff born into wealth does his best to protect immigrant farmers from rich cattle interests.
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Movie:
The Insider
( 1999 )
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.
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Movie:
Ishtar
( 1987 )
Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the C.I.A., the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime.
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Movie:
The King of Comedy
( 1982 )
Rupert is an aspiring stand-up comedian, who is willing to go the extra mile in his attempt to appear in the late night show hosted by his idol.
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Movie:
The Lone Ranger
( 2013 )
Native American warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice.
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Movie:
Man on the Moon
( 1999 )
The life and career of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman.
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Movie:
Mother!
( 2017 )
A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
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Movie:
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
( 2016 )
When it becomes clear that his solo album is a failure, a former boy band member does everything in his power to maintain his celebrity status.
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Movie:
Shoot 'Em Up
( 2007 )
A man named Mr. Smith delivers a woman's baby during a shootout, and is then called upon to protect the newborn from the army of gunmen.
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Movie:
A Simple Plan
( 1999 )
Two brothers and a friend, all blue-collar workers, come across millions of dollars in lost cash and make a plan to keep their find from the authorities, but it isn't long before complications and mistrust weave their way into the plan.
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Movie:
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
( 2017 )
A dark force threatens Alpha, a vast metropolis and home to species from a thousand planets. Special operatives Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.
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Movie:
They Live
( 1988 )
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
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Movie:
Dark City
( 1998 )
A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.
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Movie:
Cool World
( 1992 )
When Jack Deebs was behind bars he found escape by creating Cool World, a cartoon series featuring a vixen named Holli Would. However, the flesh proves weaker than ink as Holli takes human form in Las Vegas.
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Movie:
Earth Girls Are Easy
( 1989 )
A young Southern California woman, who has just caught her fiancé cheating on her, befriends three humanoid aliens after their spaceship lands in her swimming pool.
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hadam10rose : So, Aquaman? Ancient water people make themselves known to people on land