We all have movies we would class as being our favorites. Some of them are certainly guilty pleasure films, others are movies we have watched since childhood, and they have become ingrained in our psyche. Now, when you are younger, you don’t tend to give much thought to how well a movie performs, or how successful it is. But, as you get older, this matter more, because you want the things you love to get recognition.
It’s had to predict what movies are going to be viewed as classics, and which will fade away into obscurity. Now, one thing you will notice as you get older is that there is no correlation between box office success and critical acclaim. Keeping that in mind, so you don’t have a hernia, here are some truly awesome ‘90s movies that flopped at the box office.
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Richard Linklater’s stoner classic is one of the most iconic movies to come out of the ‘90s, and it’s got an awesome soundtrack to boot. Matthew McConaughey oozes cool in this ode to 1970s Americana. But, it might surprise you to know, given how cool the movie is, that it did not perform well at the box office. To be fair, Richard Linklater is not the sort of director who makes blockbuster flicks – quite the opposite in fact. Still, a gross of less than $8 million? Come on, guys!
Fight Club (1999)
Fight Club is often viewed as one of those Marmite movies – people either hate it, or they’re obsessed with it. Well, we think it’s a healthy obsession, and the movie is as clever as it is entertaining. It seems inconceivable nowadays to imagine that we live in a world where Fight Club is considered a box office flop, but that is the world we live in. This cult movie is a thrilling and exhilarating a watch now as it was when first released almost 20 years ago, box office be damned!
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Frank Darabont’s masterpiece is one of the greatest films ever made, and one of the most quotable too! The movie won Oscars, launched careers, and reduced grown men to tears, and all that after it limped to a box office gross of less than $60 million. The unfamiliarity of the source material, the clumsy name, and the unpopularity of prison movies all played a role. Luckily the film found an audience on home video and was eventually rightly recognized as the masterpiece it is.
Last Action Hero (1993)
We can never understand why this movie is so maligned; looking back now, it’s actually aged really well. The film works on a number of levels, and is a hilarious satire of ridiculous action movies, with Arnie perfectly cast in the lead. With this one, it’s less that it did poorly at the BO, it’s more that the figures were underwhelming, which in Hollywood is basically the same thing. Still, Last Action Hero remains a cult favorite, and we’ll always love it.
These are just a few of the awesome movies from the ‘90s that crept into theaters and limped out again almost as quickly. But, just because they were box office flops, it doesn’t mean they aren’t great movies. In fact, we love to revisit these ‘90s classics again and again – they never get dull.
