Top 10 Great Movies that Failed

Guest

these are the best movies ever made, none of them failed. You clearly was too lazy to do your research.

hornacek

Apparently someone doesn’t know how to read the title of the article!

Nayera Ahmad

these are the best movies ever made, none of them failed. You clearly were too lazy to do your research.

mjr

The article isn’t saying the movies are bad. It’s saying they had trouble finding an audience when they were released. Many have gone on to be classics. The wrong visual for Ed Wood is unforgivable though.
Kevin

You are an idiot Nayera. Every one of these films failed at the box office. You are clearly the one too lazy to do even basic research. Serious, if you are too dumb to use the internet, maybe you should find a new hobby.
- TR6guy
  
  “Waterworld” broke even, bright eyes. Did not “fail.” Got to IMDb or Boxofficemojo, on the Internet, to see the error of your rant.
  - pisher
    
    This has been an internet meme for years, but it’s wrong. Waterworld flopped. A movie is a flop or a hit in relation to reasonable expectations from the industry as to how it should perform compared to how it actually did perform.
    
    Was it the biggest flop of all time? Not even close in dollar terms, but in pop cultural terms, it’s way way up there. And nobody is ever going to change that. It’s a FLOP.
    - TR6guy
      
      Budget, $175 (estimated, a high estimate based on overages, etc). Box office take, $264 million. In 1995, no movie that took in $265 million PRE video was a flop. People hated Costner and beat him up over the film. But nobody lost money, and he was given another blank check to make “The Postman” afterwards. Which WAS a flop. Scoffing at Internet memes is no substitute for looking up the numbers. Sport.
    - seanspec
      
      Nicely stated. I love it when facts get in the way or peoples perceptions and ability to not accept they may be incorrect.
    - avnrulz
      
      However, the Postman, according to IMDB, made 89.9 million over six weeks, on a budget of 80 million, so any receipts after that were profit. Was it spectacularly received, etc? No, obviously not, but it wasn’t a complete loss, in the long run. Still a favorite of mine, for having read the book.
    - Kevin
      
      You seem to have conveniently forgotten that half of cinema receipts go to the cinemas. Which means the studio took a bath on The Postman.
    - Kevin
      
      You might want to learn a bit about the movie business, and then go back to math class. First, budget does not include marketing costs. Second, half of box office receipts go to the cinemas. Third, cinemas allocate screen space based on projections. Waterworld cost the studio enormously and it hurt cinema owners because it underperformed and left them empty seats. Nice try though.
    - TR6guy
      
      Sorry, pal, but as I averred in my note, the “budget” for it was just Hollywood journalism’s spitball guess– $175, high, almost certainly a $30-50 million exaggeration. Having covered the business for more than a few years, on both exhibition and distributor sides, I know the math breakdown money split perfectly well. It broke even, or came very close to it, at the box office. Despite poisonous press coverage at the time. It went in the black, and Costner’s blank check approval endured for at least one more film — “The Postman.” Sorry this half-assed listicle has eaten up so much of everybody’s time, and that it is bringing out “experts” who are no such thing.
    - Kevin
      
      Well then, I’m sure with your expertise you also know that when a studio’s tentpole film- which is consuming a significant portion of its production and marketing budget for an entire year – comes “close to breaking even, ” that is considered a massive failure. I like Water World. I own a post apocalypse production company, helped build many of the props for the theme attraction at Universal Studios, and that is one of my top 10 PA films of all time. But it was a massive box office failure. You can blame the media or studio marketing or the storm in Hawaii that destroyed the sets, or whatever you want. But if you were the expert you claim to be you would already know that, and wouldn’t have initially cited gross box office receipts as a reason it was a success.
    - ACMECorporations
      
      Not all of the box office take goes to distributors of a film. Half goes to the theaters featuring the film. So to really make money for the producers and distributors, a film has to more than double its production costs. Waterworld didn’t do that in distribution. Maybe it has become profitable with video rentals and sales.
hornacek

Apparently someone doesn’t know how to read the title of the article.

rseitz101

Ed wood has a picture of Edward Scissorhands… yay for fluff content…

pisher

They crank these things out one after the other, and do almost no research.
- Reed Reedly
  
  Unfortunately, pages like these are what the internet is turning into. A sad assortment of list sites intended to artificially produce page hits so they can charge high ad rates. Why corporations haven’t figured this out yet is the real mystery.
  - Mitch Hansch
    
    you realize that you clicked on this sad list site as well?!
    - Reed Reedly
      
      The irony is not lost on me. Sometimes you to risk hypocrisy to make your point. It was meant as a dig to this shitty site which required me clicking on the link to do so. Also, I honestly thought it was a legitimate list when I clicked on it from another site. When I did and realized what shite was on display and the motives intended, I just couldn’t resist. Thank you for your concern for my internet posting integrity.
- mplo
  
  Unfortunately, that’s all too often the case with movies, especially nowadays. Hollywood has run out of creative ideas, so more and more mass-produced junk like this, plus awful re-makes and sequels of already-existing movies are becoming all too common for just that reason.
kevjudge

I noticed that.
Either the editor thought we were ignorant or they were
http://www.macpappy.com/ Macpappy

It could have been a play on the line of it being a movie of Ed Wood, a bad director, featuring Depp, with a photo of a badly directed, Depp movie, i.e. Edward Scissorhands.
drdarke

Yeesh, so they do, @getitrightschwan:disqus!
slappymagoo

Everyone makes mistakes. What’s mind boggling to me is that your comment is 24 days old as I write mine. Which means they’ve had nearly a month to correct the mistake. Yet they haven’t. I guess this site has decided any attention is good attention and left the mistake hoping we’d assume they’re idiots and keep coming back to see what else they screwed up. I, for one, will do my best not to fall into that trap.
- rangerider
  
  May be you are living in the past:-) Forward with hope
hexrei

Ed Wood Scissorhands?

realitychk69

The postman??? basically waterworld on land. garbage

avnrulz

The Postman was an over-long movie from a relatively short book, but still one I like to watch; much better than ‘Waterworld.’
Jerry Chaney

Waterworld was not a flop! It cost $175 million to produce and made $265 million worldwide. The Postman cost $80 million to make and only made back $17 million. The two are nothing even close to the same thing
- bigdawgman
  
  They have to split up to half the gross. DVD and other sales barely brought it to the break even mark. For the most expensive movie of all time, that is considered a flop.
  - rogerrramjet
    
    Actually. No they don’t have to split the gross. The studios have long worked out a deal that what will be considered “A” movies the studio get most if not all the ticket sales. Why do you think a nickels’ worth of popcorn goes for 5 bucks?
    
    But what they do then is give them the so called lesser movies for a bargain that sometimes can be quite lucrative. A classic example was “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”.
    
    It was considered by the studios as a loss leader and in return for no ticket sales to go to the theater for either Spiderman, Lord Of The Rings they gave them MBFGW for practically nothing. The movie turned into a huge hit and was a double goldmine for the theaters. Popcorn sales AND full ticket money.
    
    In a great many other cases, the studio gets all the money for the first two weeks with the split coming down in later weeks and it is rarely 50/50. The studios always take the lions share on “A” movies.

MatthewIler

Why do you use the word “its” wrong? Its means belonging to it, the word you’re using, “it’s,” means it is. Fix it. It drives me crazy.

Erik E Erik

There are tons of grammar and factual errors here. However, we’ve clicked, so they’ve won.
- Barbara Craker
  
  grammatical and factual….LOL…(mom’s the english teacher…I don’t really give a crap…) and english should be capitalized I know that too…
- Ranger Dan Parsons
  
  Your welcome!
http://www.runawaydaily.com/ Floyd Earl Smith

“Its” is so often rendered as “it’s” in this article that I think that must be the actual point of the article, rather than anything about movies.
Carl

why do u use the word “wrong” wrongly? You finger pointing, blame someone else, find something wrong with someone people drive me crazy.
- DLH
  
  Why do you use the word “wrong” wrongly? Your are finger pointing; blaming someone else; finding something wrong with someone. People drive me crazy.
  - slappymagoo
    
    “YOU ARE finger pointing.” Not “Your are finger pointing.”
    - DLH
      
      slappymagoo, you are right! I was quoting and forgot to correct the “your.” I always try to remember to proof read but sometimes I slip up. Interesting comments on your page, by the way. I’ll have a look sometime. Thank you.
Wile E. Coyote (Supergenius)

oh, thank you! There is someone else in the world who understands the difference. I mean, once, o.k., writer in a hurry. But two freaking times?
Ranger Dan Parsons

Wrong is wrong, you should have used incorrectly.
nonclassical

…too kool, young man…have you seen the metaphorical white house + “house negro”; “Django, Unchained”? Sounds like you are also a candidate for non-sensationalism=”ZERO-An Investigation Into 911″, youtube….

Mariano Paniello

Don’t paid writers have to know the most basic rudiments of English grammar? I guess not, these days. The difference between it’s and its is something they taught us in the third grade, back in my day.

imanamcan

I have a hard time giving any credibility to a “writer” who doesn’t know basic grammar. Of course most writing for sites like this is done on what’s known as a content farm, where stringing words together for obscenely low pay hardly draws skilled wordsmiths.

Hendronicus

Blade Runner turned SciFi into a serious art form? Really? Ever heard of a film named “2001″? How about “Silent Running”? I’m not saying BR wasn’t influential. I’m saying your statement is hipster hype.

pisher

That really was a nonsensical statement–the movie is a visual treat, no doubt–but it’s also far less intelligent and original than the Philip K. Dick novel that inspired it. I don’t think Dick himself would have thought much of the movie. Very influential on other filmmakers in the way it used visual effects, but in terms of storytelling and characterization, it’s pretty weak. And its ideas are nothing new.
- NNccWW
  
  Dick liked the film. The Wikipedia entry gets it right:
  Although Dick died shortly before the film’s release, he was pleased with the rewritten script, and with a twenty-minute special effects test reel that was screened for him when he was invited to the studio. Despite his well known skepticism of Hollywood in principle, Dick enthused to Ridley Scott that the world created for the film looked exactly as he had imagined it.[34] He said, “I saw a segment of Douglas Trumbull’s special effects for Blade Runner on the KNBC-TV news. I recognized it immediately. It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly.” He also approved of the film’s script, saying, “After I finished reading the screenplay, I got the novel out and looked through it. The two reinforce each other, so that someone who started with the novel would enjoy the movie and someone who started with the movie would enjoy the novel.”[51]
- bankerdanny
  
  There is very little of the story in the movie other than character names. When I finally read the story a few years ago I was surprised at how different they are. Blade Runner is more inspired by Electric Sheep than based on it.
Professor Umnik

Silent Running was great.
jeffbizzare

While I agree, They are not saying that those films weren’t. They’re saying this flop movie has influenced films to come.. which it has. My favorite movie The Fifth Element cites Blade Runner.

TR6guy

“Waterworld” broke even, and kind of works. Not a flop. A misconception that people who don’t do their homework repeat. “Postman” was the same movie, with a moronically messianic bent. LONG long. “Jesse James” good, not great. OverLONG. And only a fanboy boob thinks “Serenity” is either “great” or deserving of any audience more than it earned.
The many errors other have posted before me don’t help your limited credibility, either.

pisher

A movie that expensive with that big a star (at the time) that gets that heavily promoted and just breaks even is a flop. Period. But I agree about pretty much everything else you said.

pisher

The Postman was a bloated self-indulgent mess. Waterworld, ditto. Costner got way too much power after Dancing With Wolves, and he abused it.

Serenity was ridiculously overrated, and still is, but most people had the good sense to see it as the rather mediocre conventional derivative piece of space cowboy crap that it was. Joss Whedon is a talented guy, but he’s not a great writer OR director, and you can’t make him one by saying it over and over on the internet.

seanspec

You are retarded. Serenity was a great movie. I didn’t even know it was out until I saw it on HBO and really was amazed at how great a movie it was. I can tell you are the type that thinks fun, funny, great character interaction and interesting movies aren’t artistic enough for you and your “the Piano” crowd. Go watch Casablanca and cry because you obviously are clueless when it comes to cool flicks.
- PAllen
  
  I’m afraid I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t tear-up at Casablanca…
  - Jerry Chaney
    
    Its a good movie, but not one that’s worth crying over. It simply doesnt tug at the heart strings enough for that unless you’re a woman and that’s only because women cry about romantic movies. If you want to see an emotional movie, then go watch The Fault in our Stars. Its an amazing movie that will absolutely tug at the heart strings. However I have to admit that the book is way more emotional than the movie, but then that’s the case with almost every movie made from a book.
Jerry Chaney

You’re mentally ill or something! Joss Whedon is responsible for movies like The Avengers which he both wrote and directed. He has made several very popular and commercially successful TV shows, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and many other very successful movies!

I love the fact that you list water world as a Costner flop. It cost $175 million to make and earned $265 million world wide. It may be a lot of things, but it’s not a flop. The Postman is Costners worst effort financially, but its still a fun movie to watch and it was never released beyond the US market. If it had been, then I dont doubt that it would have made back more than its production cost.
roguemodel .

And yes, comments from a nobody….
gray_man

Serenity was a good movie.
Your comment about Joss Whedon is nonsense.

MarylandBill

Serenity was a good movie, but its failure should have been expected in retrospect. After all, it was essentially the last episode of the Television series. Unless you were a fan of the series, you had no reason to watch it.

https://marvel.com/universe/Moon_Knight Moon Knight

I adore Twin Peaks, but that is another movie that no one should have bet money on. X-Files had the same problem.
bankerdanny

Serenity is more of a roll up of the whole series with an actual ending. You don’t need to have watched the TV show to watch the movie.
ffnogoodnik

I have met a lot of people that saw Serentiy first then watched the TV series.
Bob Hollister

Speaking as a ‘Firefly’ fan, ‘Serenity’ was crap. Did nothing but make me angry. Changed the pace of the storytelling, ALL of the design work of the ‘verse, and made the Reavers into so much LESS than they could have been, and then capped it all off with turning River into Buffy, and adding a couple of unreasonable and pointless main character deaths.

ihavetopickastupidname

You have a picture of EDWARD Scissorhands in for ED Wood. Haha…

skeeterville

The reason Citizen Kane did poorly at the box office was NOT “it’s [sic] revolutionary use of new techniques.” At a time when people got most of their information from newspapers, Hurst Newspapers across the country would not run a single ad to promote it.

Dan Meyers

Waterworld: “but the movie itself really isn’ that bad.” Really? It is truly bad and very difficult to watch. It is an endless series of cliches, reworked mad-max scenes and implausible events that demand you suspend belief for the entire movie. Super bad, laughably bad.

RobertNorwood

Negative, I liked it and it’s worth watching. Well above a lot of the crap that comes out. Jeanne Tripplehorn herself is worth the watch. Sure there are holes in the story, issues of being plausible but it’s still a good film.

The Postman – again, a really good film. You won’t get bored.

No one ever went broke doubting the American public’s taste in film. Very good films often require some imagination, an interest, a well rounded education and set of personal tastes and culture. Finally, we’re a diverse group. Most black Americans will flock to any movie by or about African Americans and give it 4 stars for example. Gangster movies are always popular but inevitably draw some heat from Italian Americans as stereotyping them. It’s always going to be a mixed bag. Zombies are dull, over done, and boring and yet zombie movies do good – go figure.
iamciril .

It as a 110% Mad Max rip off.

Still entertaining.

But how did nobody get scurvy and how did the Smokers refine all that oil?

kevin72132003

I tried to watch Waterworld. It is genuinely awful and patently ridiculous. .

gray_man

The only good thing about waterworld is the trimaran.

ImJustAGuy

Waterworld is a great movie! I’ve seen it several times on TV and if it were on, I’d watch it again.

Crystal Currier

I loved The Postman and Waterworld. I don’t care what critics say…

http://cendax.wordpress.com/ Norbrook

The problem with the Postman was that it was loosely based on a great science fiction novel, and skipped over the best parts of the novel.
- Jhary Kenshura
  
  And made up bad parts that weren’t in it.
  - Kendon Smith
    
    I enjoyed The Postman up until the last 20 minutes or so. All that mushy patriot porn at the end was enough to start me projectile vomiting…
    - Malatrope
      
      Interesting. That part was the good part, the part with hope. Obviously a film that can appeal to two such opposite points of view has more than a little going for it.
    - Kendon Smith
      
      I don’t mind the flag waving so much, as long as it’s well done. It just had that ham and cheese piled on thick
    - Malatrope
      
      Well, the entire movie had that problem! It swam in cheese! I was numb to that part by then.
- Crystal Currier
  
  I should find the book then and see what the real story was.
- rogerrramjet
  
  Actually it was a very short story to begin with.

Makimaus

What about “Rocketeer” and “Phantom of the Paradise”? Either of them is worth eight Kevin Costner overkills.

James Phineas

Postman, after reading the book was a total POS.

ImJustAGuy

Yea, I get that Waterworld is not plausible argument. As much as we keep being told, the ocean levels just aren’t rising.

But I enjoyed Waterworld not because the oceans aren’t rising, it’s an entertaining movie.

Is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory plausible? Of course not! But it’s still a good movie!

Ixnay66

Waterworld and the Postman were universally panned but I enjoyed them both.

Michael Richards

Ed Wood Scissorhands?? Using high school Journalism class interns again?

JanetCastle

Someone is not paying attention to detail. The accompanying picture foe Ed Wood is actually a picture from the movie Edward Scissorhands.

Geoclac

“Waterworld” was a terrible movie. The initial conceit of the film makes no sense, all land masses are covered by water hundreds of feet deep. If that happened, the first hurricane that started would never stop. there is no way people could live in floating villages that would be swamped by the first big wave. Also, where are all the ships? Are you telling me not one supercarrier survived, not one submarine?

Jackie Jormpjomp

Settle down.

Sam Cro

All are better then the trash being out out today. Homosexuals and Feminists don’t play well with me and most people outside of Hollywood I suspect. This may be a wakeup call but, not everyone who watches TV and movies is Homosexual, black, or the short fat girl with the crew cut and overalls, or the clueless show reviewer.

Blightness

literally spat out my beer at number one. Won’t be reading the rest. Thanks for a crap list Movieseum.

http://yadsew.com Wes Day

FINALLY!! Someone recognizes the greatness of The Postman. Thank you.

Jackie Jormpjomp

Good movie. I over heard a guy talking at Suncoast video. The clerk said “oh, and Postman came out today too”. The customer responded “oh no way. That’s one of the worst movies ever.” The clerk said “oh, so you saw it?” The customer said “uh, no”. Everyone I’ve shown that movie to ended up liking it.
- http://yadsew.com Wes Day
  
  I know exactly what you mean. People judge it without watching it… I’ve bought this movie twice, seen it probably dozens of times. Hell, I might watch it again tonight…
  - Malatrope
    
    For some unfathomable reason, it seems much better in Bluray. I know there should be no real reason for that, but I posit that some of the textures that are visible in things add to the story (sweat on a forehead, for instance). Without going over it in a frame-by-frame comparison with the DVD, I would also swear there are a few seconds of new material here and there, adjusting the transitions.
    
    The music haunts you forever.

weirdpeter

Now I know you are pulling our legs! Two Kevin Costner bombs are what you consider great movies??HaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Jackie Jormpjomp

Good list but fix the Ed Wood picture. Second, Waterworld is a very god popcorn film, and deserves a bigger audience, but unfortunately this article is once again regurgitating the same incorrect information about how it did at the box office. Adjusting for inflation it made around $500 million worldwide. I’m sure with the hefty price tag the studio would have liked to have made more, but it was hardly a bomb. It was in the top 10 earners of that year.

Pat

‘A slow burning thriller’ about how Jesse James died? The title mentions Jesse is going to die and whodunnit! That movie described as a thriller…bwahahahaha

DLH

Practically everyone knows Jesse James died anyway. As they know the Titanic sank. Yeah, the movie was wrongly described as a thriller. It was more of a psychological and historical piece. It was well acted, photographed and scripted
Malatrope

I’m guessing you would be surprised by the end of a movie about a zeppelin, named “The Hindenberg”, right?

Pat

This was truly thrown together in 10 minutes by a guy who was out drinking till dawn to beat a deadline. The only thing the editor apparently cares about is which intern is going to service them on lunch break. Wrong pictures, misspelled celebrity names…and it’s not like you couldn’t go back and correct it at some point, they just plain don’t give a F..There’s no pride or embarrassment for pumping out garbage.

Darrius

I give a pass to Serenity. I didn’t watch the movie or the series. But if the movie provided a satisfying ending to the series, that I count that as a win. Too often nowadays networks cut-off series 1 or 2 years in, but before the story is close to ending and leave the audience hanging.

It’s enough to make one hesitant to pick a new series. You never know whether the network will cut the series short and effectively make your 1-3 years of television watching time a total waste.

Both the Postman and Waterworld were good, with the Postman being better.

The real kicker for me, on that list in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. How that movie lost at the box office is beyond me.

Donna Cuellar

How on earth did “The Shawshank Redemption” NOT make this list???

NOLIKEO

One great movie!
iamciril .

The author only saw 12 films.

Lin

Citizen Kane didn’t fail because of “cut away” shots. It failed because William Randolph Hearst, who was a newspaper magnate, thought the movie was about him. he hated the movie and he hated Orson Welles. every paper WR Hearst owned, and he owned a ton, gave Citizen Kane a horrible review and people believed the reviews

Jerry Chaney

You’re 100% correct. These days, if a critic says the movie is terrible, then most of the time its a good movie and well worth the cost of admission. Though there are some movies that are absolutely horrible that they do get right. Also, if they say a movie is great and awesome, a lot of the times it dull, dry and boring as hell. That’s why I dont listen to critics about movies, I wait and see what the general public thinks about the movie because the public are way more honest about how good a movie is. A classic example of this, the critics original reviews of the movie Star Wars was mostly negative. Its was only after the public said that they loved it that the general tone from critics was reversed and they agreed with the public.

Another example, the original critic review of Jurrasic Park was that it was flat and somewhat boring. After the public went to see it and there were reports about people waiting in line for hours to see it that the critic reviews changed. After that it was one of the all time greatest movies ever made, etc etc etc
Texas 4 Ever

So far as I am concerned, Citizen Kane, failed and still fails because it is not a good movie, the book stinks as well by the way. No one, even Orson Welles can save material that bad, WR Hearst need not have bothered to blackball Citizen Kane. The movie is too long, the book itself is too plodding and stilted. So many people recommend both but I can find better things to do with my time than either.

John Germain

agree with every film on the list. I liked and/or loved them all with the exception of The Fountain. That was a painfully bad film with the exception of Clint Mansell’s beautiful score. My advice is to buy the score and skip the movie.

GPickles

Learn the difference between “it’s” and “its” if you’re going to keep on as a writer/blogger.

Sock ThePuppet

The Postman failed because it was a bloody mess of a movie that never should have been made…and the last time I checked, Johnny Depp’s character dressed in drag for his role in Ed Wood..not like Edward Scissorhands.

wayfarercb

Good article. Remember tho’: It’s = it is; its = belonging to IT

Wile E. Coyote (Supergenius)

godammit. “Its.” ITS”! Not “it’s.” “Its time,” not “It’s fucking time.” Jesus. You did it not once, but twice. (I edit here to point out that yes, “It’s time” could be correct if one were saying “it is time,” but not if one is saying something like “a movie ahead of its time.”

GPickles

Actually, he did it many many more times. Sad.

ngboy

Waterworld? Seriously? the movie that has men with vagina gills?

RobFromLoveland

To call most of these “great movies” is highly ridiculous. The two that are great are Citizen Kane and It’s a Wonderful Life. To call those “faiures” is even more ridiculous. This may have been written by a 7th grader as a class project.

IrishYank2

Interesting list, but Waterworld was deplorable. Any movie that completely ignores the basics of nature and physics drives me crazy.

Also, why is there a pic of Edward Scissorhands when they’re discussing Ed Wood?

BentoBird

It’s/its. Please figure it out before you publish again.

Sean Dysinger

I am not seeing a whole lot of evidence that a Proof Reader was employed either.

Tim Basham

Where is Heat in this discussion. The ’95 version with Pacino, and DeNiro? It was a great movie that all but flopped on release, but ten years later became a cult classic.

urgaylol

Who is the moron who penned this tripe? That is not a still from Ed Wood, you boob, and what do you mean a “new affleck”? Casey Affleck’s career was over a decade old by the time that movie came out. I hope you get crabs.

Dalgast

I think I’ll just sum this up by saying this list is bull shit.

Malatrope

Yes and no. It reminded me of a few movies I need to go watch again

dharmabob

Whoever wrote this article should be ashamed. They have no knowledge of grammar, sentence construction, and nothing to say anyway. Idiots!

Jakerb25

blade runner failed? blade runner is one of the most admired movies ever made. wtf? and since when is the movie with johnny depp with scissors called ‘ed wood’?

chinaskee

You left out “Heaven’s Gate” which is a much better film than any of the critics who killed it gave it credit for. It’s a beautifully photographed epic movie, which contrary to what all it’s detractors said about it, actually does have a plot. The wedding scene alone is worth the price of admission.

Jerry Chaney

Water world wasnt a flop! We always see this movie on the lists of movies that were flops, but it made over $100 million more than its production costs. Serenity made back its production cost of $38 million, but has made almost twice that since its release to the small screen.

bigdawgman

Gross has to be split with the theatre owners, so 265 is actually about $135, and there are marketing costs to consider. It was a serious flop. Barely made the production costs back with video sales. Companies want to make profit from films, not break even.

Anahata

Please get a fifth-grade grammar textbook and learn the difference between its and it’s.

Chiang Kai

Postman and waterworld were both obscenely formulaic political propaganda movies. waterworld is still the darling of the global warming attackers. This is a push piece designed to make the two look like real movies.

Yojimbo556

I dont remember them pushing an agenda in The Postman…but then again i left half way through because i was bored.
- Chiang Kai
  
  Just some of the points made by Costner’s political memes in the film.:
  1. Just as liberals have predicted, there is near total destruction when “old America” is bold enough to use nuclear weapons. 2. 15 years after the war, americans can’t even get a car running. 3. The most evil creature in the movie is a white, Christian, gun loving, ex businessman who is attempting to re-organize society along military lines, but is portrayed as a merciless warlord. 4. All of the “good people” live like flower children, avoiding technology and militarism.They are so disappointed and hopeless that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is no longer there to send checks (never mentioned but implies) and do all the other things that must be done. 5. The only sign of technology is an old small hydroelectric dam, which is portrayed as some symbol of doom. (big meme of liberals who want to “dam bust” to restore rivers to their natural course).6. Costner raises a “people’s army” to defeat the fascists (they actually use the word about the white Christian guy and his organization) 7. The people are magically revived with the knowledge that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is there to give them what they need and they magically get things organized, technologized etc. Something that individuals could not do in the previous decades.
  - Yojimbo556
    
    Makes me glad i didnt finish it, and avoided it when it was a weekend movie on TV.

Green Lama

“The Postman” was drech…

Green Lama

…and “The Fountain” was unwatchable. Aronofsky is a deeply over-rated talent.

HenryC

Waterworld was pablum not terrible but hardly worth watching. Nothing like the other movies, though The Foundation wasn’t much either.

PollsAndTrolls

Decent list, except that Waterworld was truly awful (Costner his usual sickening self) and Citizen Kane is perhaps the most overrated movie of all time.

John Gerhard

Waterworld?? The Postman?? Great movies???? You’re kidding, right??

Steve Jess

“…Was a massive flop on it’s release. Even with the star power of a never-better Harrison Ford at it’s heart…”

Repeat after me: It’s (with an apostrophe) means IT IS or IT HAS.

Steve Jess

“Alright,so this movie…” Really? You don’t even spell check?

calpolyjeff

I saw Ed Wood a long time ago, and remember it as being pretty good. I appreciate them mentioning it, but the photo they show here– I’m pretty sure that Edward Scissorhands. Yes, Johnny Depp, but do they have no photos from Ed Wood?

MrSly

Wrong movie pic, you fruit loop, dodo birds

https://www.facebook.com/jeff.levin.92 Jeff Levin

Will somebody hire a bona-fide cinephile to come up with these lists? Egregious omissions from this one:
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
BRINGING UP BABY
THE WIZARD OF OZ
VERTIGO
WILLIE WONKA
RAGING BULL
THE CONVERSATION
SCARFACE
THE BIG LEBOWSKI

bankerdanny

I would agree with everything but Scarface. It is fun listening to Pacino’s accent and the over the top violence, but I can’t think of anything about it that would cause it to be on a list of “great” movies. I’m not a huge fan of Vertigo either, but can see why it might make a list like this. I love Hepburn and Grant, but Bringing Up Baby is unwatchable to me. Hepburn’s character in that movie is one of my all time least favorites.
Douglas

Nice list!
- https://www.facebook.com/jeff.levin.92 Jeff Levin
  
  Thanks. If you want to see my two best, check out http://www.imdb.com/list/ls003803830/ and http://www.imdb.com/list/ls006040700/.
Malatrope

“The Big Lebowski” is funnier every time I watch it. Granted, it should be watched with copious beer at hand.

http://www.facebook.com/no.guff NoGuff

Waterworld wasn’t all that bad?? You obviously didn’t see the Waterworld starring Keven Costner.

TKpeterGunn

Nope…the fountain was terrible movie. Critics like it just to claim a higher appreciation for art then the knukle dragging, popcorn spilling plebeans who fill the cineplexs. They didn’t really like it ethier.

Argol

Citizen Cane didn’t do well because William Hurst controlled newspapers is most small towns in the US and told cinema owners in those towns not to show the film. It was only seen in big cities and not by the majority of movie fans in the US. The people who did see it overwhelmingly liked it.

drdarke

Both Costner movies on this list, THE POSTMAN and WATERWORLD, are unwatchable PoSs. I guess Costner himself, or his agent, contributed to this article.

THe rest of list is pretty much spot-on, though.

CAM

Thumbs down on Serenity. My elderly mom who is no longer with us loved Waterworld.

Kivaari

I like the Postman. Good over evil. The good people win. And it was filmed a few miles away.

Malatrope

I recognized the scenes from just outside of Sisters right away, and I knew precisely where that river canyon was (it is an astonishing thing to look at in person). They shouldn’t have gone all the way to Mexico for Bethlehem’s camp, though, the difference in geology was far, far outside horse range from southern Oregon. I’m sure they could have found something between Bend and Burns that would have sufficed &ndash or even up in the lava fields on the Old McKenzie.

prince duomarr

That’s a shot from the movie Edward Scissor Hands, not Ed Wood.

muslimdog

I have always liked the POSTMAN. I don’t understand the dislike people have for it really.

Manny Reznick

Moist people rightly recognize Costner as a hack.
- muslimdog
  
  Like people view Matt Damon as a leftwing hack?

C.T. Westing

The writer really needs to learn about proper apostrophe usage. “It’s” means “it is” or “it has”, okay?

lvogt

The Postman was an interesting concept poorly executed. It was impossibly corny at the end. Waterworld had promise but ended badly. Serenity made no sense.: The Reavers are insanely violent, but still capable of maintaining and operating a fleet of spaceships. That was really stupid. The Fountain was to interesting but slow and not compelling. Jesse James was a snooze despite excellent performances. Ed Wood was cute but certainly not great.

Malatrope

The more advanced technology is, the more it is self-maintaining. I didn’t find that to be a problem with the Reavers. What I found less than believable was that the Alliance allowed them to exist, since they drew attention directly to the Alliance’s biggest mistake.

bankerdanny

Waterworld and The Postman? Both are barely watchable on cable when nothing else is on (Postman more than Waterworld in my opinion), but only in an alternate universe could they be included in any list of ‘great’ movies.

Manny Reznick

They got three right. Blade Runner, Strange Days, and Serenity. Anything with Costner in it is crap. The golden oldies were recognized afterwards as masterpieces and get played every year.

Daniel

I loved Blade Runner summer 83 and still think it was way ahead of its time and very well done. People didn’t understand it. Go figure they understood “The Matrix”.

Malatrope

They didn’t even understand it after the director’s cut made Harrison Ford’s biological heritage explicit.

Daniel

wasn’t moved by Ed Wood. Hmm seemed like it was missing the whole movie part of the movie. Guess that was the point? Bad Movie Good actors.

ALC

“The Postman,” was a corny turd, and still is a corny turd, the only thing is could have done was fail, especially if you combine it with Kevin Costner’s equally horrid display of corny sci/fi-Apocalypse crapola called “Water World.”

“Ed Wood,” was a turd from the start and is an example of a film specifically made to be artsy and with aspirations to be some kind of breath taking award winning film. The problem is that when you make a movie with such a transparent goal it is almost always going to be a big ole #2. The reason this movie even made this list is because most of Hollywood, and a lot of movie-goer’s will heap praise upon anything made by Tim Burton, and anything containing Johnny Depp. Don’t believe me? This article couldn’t even get a picture from this movie and went with an “Edward Scissorhands,” instead and probably thought no one would notice because Burton-Depp movies are pretty much the same. On a side note, Depp is one of the most overrated actors of all time but he has been very smart about his role choices. Tim Burton’s movies require over the top characters and that is all Depp can really pull off.That is not to say he is a horrible actor, just not one with a lot of range.

“The Assasination of Jesse James….blah, blah, blah….” is a movie that you put on the TV when unwanted company comes for a visit and you just want them to leave. It’s over 2 1/2 hours of what could be best described as assisted suicide. Maybe it was great if you are in the “Driving Miss Daisy,” crowd, or the doctor has recommended it as a way of curing insomnia. I feel sorry for anyone who got bilked out of money to see this in a theater.

“The Fountain,” features 2 decent actors and a story that could have been decent but there are only a tiny few scenes that were worth watching which is what destroyed it. I am not hating on this movie too much because I can see what was trying to be done but it wasn’t pulled of well enough. The few decent scenes weren’t enough to glue together the rest of the time warping collage. When the boring parts hit you (and a majority of it was boring) you find yourself day dreaming and the back and forth timeline become too much to keep up with and when that happens a lot of people lose interest altogether. I found myself thinking,”Couldn’t they just make a really good Conquistador movie…

stevenfranklin54

When it comes to writing, we all slip occasionally. But the word “it’s” means “it is.” I’ve lost count of the number of times this word is improperly used in this article.

TxSon

Why pick a scene from Edward Scissor hands for Ed Wood?

rogerrramjet

My problem with the two Costner movies, I went to Waterworld and passed on The Postman, was his character was such an unlikeable person who bordered on either complete indifference or cowardice towards people in distress. That is not how we want a movie to go. We want heroes.

When I finally saw The Postman I was turned off by the character. The length didn’t help either since we got to see his cowardice nonstop for what seemed like hours and hours.

Never knew Blade Runner was a financial flop as everyone I knew went to see it.

Serenity was a great movie and no it didn’t tie up all loose ends. It got NO publicity, no talk show visits, nothing. Never even saw a commercial for it.

Funny thing is now that Joss is practically a god in Hollywood and Nathan is doing well in his show “Castle” and GIna Torres is doing well in “Suits”. He could do Serenity again as a rerelease. What I didn’t like about Serenity was the filters. Oh and the death of two of its series stars. Could have done without both.

Further NO movie has ever lost money. It is always on the books for the studios in rentals, DVD, cable, TV rentals all of them world wide for ever.

Malatrope

The entire point of The Postman was that he lost his cowardice…partly by the example of Tom Petty, fer cryin’ out loud!
- rogerrramjet
  
  It took just too fucking long though. After a while it became tedious.
  - Malatrope
    
    I agree. It could have used shortening, or a different way through the plot.

Douglas

You forgot ‘Shawshank Redemption!’

Joe_HTH

LOL! The Postman and Waterworld were complete shit. The fact that you claimed they were great movies shows you are brain dead.

spintreebob

For the Greater Glory with Andy Garcia

dbushik

You’re whiffing so hard on #1, there’s no point in continuing with this list. You know what the Postman’s one major mistake was? (Oh, sorry. You already demonstrated you don’t…). It was that he was delivering the mail. Three hours, and you expect people to be excited about the epic blockbuster adventure that is delivering the mail?

Malatrope

Clearly you didn’t see the bigger picture, or any of the basic blood-flows of civilization being explored and evolved. Try watching it again in twenty years.
- dbushik
  
  I missed the blood-flows of civilization evolving? Wow, that sounds riveting! I will wait at least 20 years before watching the Postman again! At least!

Sentry Virginia

Not sure what failure means. Half of those movies made money in the long term. Some do not belong on the list at all.

Waterworld for example made a half a billion in World Wide box office when it came out. It has made even more in residuals sales. It remains a favorite during Network sweeps weeks to include Netflex and Amazon limited time streams.

Even back then, Christmas movies aimed for the long term and re-releases during that holiday season. Its a Wonderful Life producers the same goal, and STILL draws in the cash.

This list just has very little facts to support it’s title.

ramubay

Firefly didn’t have enough viewers to survive as a TV show, why would they think it could make it as a feature film. By the way, I liked the show and the feature film (both on DVD), but let’s face it, neither was epic and the TV show ripped off a British TV show (Starhunter starring Michael Paré). Waterworld stunk.

leisureguy

Why is the “Ed Wood” snippet accompanied by a photo from “Edward Scissorhands”?

You know what, they should do a lesbian version of that movie called “Edwina scissoringhands”. Maybe the porn world has already got to it.

unpleasantfacts478

I thought Harrison Ford was the weakest link in Blade Runner. WATERWORLD? Some of these were mediocre mush.

HarryTC

Grammatical error! Move on people, doesn’t anyone out there use an iPad? Bet you don’t know what I am getting at? I have typed into these boxes for years now and have realized that you really need to re-read every single word you type. I was shocked to see words that seemed like foreign language! After checking, I found that the error correction in Apples iOS that change what your typing into what it thought the word was meant to be.

Sarcastic1

Postman was a great movie and book. I’m not a huge Costner fan but I thought he did well in it.

Christopher Hassett

hell yes, Jesse James. I haven’t seen a good western in years, but this one is a movie i can watch again and again for some reason. Much respect for Casey Affleck in this one.

Bow D

The Jesse James movie was boring as hell with that irritating tune in the background which seemd like a clock ticking away making the audience painfully aware of the impatient feeling they had wishing something would happen other than the gloomy scenery. Besides, everyone knows the traditional story of Jesse James was a hoax.

thatguy

Ridiculous list – waste of time. I’m slowly learning my lesson about these links.

Doug M’Jay

All pretty great films. Especially Assassination of Jesse James. How Casey Affleck didn’t nab an Oscar for that is beyond me.

kcroofer

I love and recommend the Postman to everyone I talk to. Usually when talking to people about direct deposits, paying bills online, and communicating. I remind them that if you allow these things to overwhelm our system and we lose the internet our country will be in dire straits. There would be no form of communication between cities and towns that would allow a cult or organized crime to instill fear in those communities leaving them vulnerable to crime and oppression.

Druffmaul

Waterworld is a great example. Before it came out, Variety and all of the other Hollywood papers were declaring it was doomed to be a “bomb,” that it was so far over budget there was no way it could make a profit. That’s the definition of a “box office bomb,” a movie that doesn’t make a profit. It isn’t synonymous with “bad movie,” but the general public thinks it is… because most bombs are indeed bad movies. So when word got out that it was a bomb, what immediately entered the public consciousness was that it sucked top to bottom. But Waterworld wasn’t bad at all. The worst you can really say about it was that it was a watery rip off of Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior. Taken on its own terms and without all of the negative publicity, it’s a decent popcorn action flick.

Kenneth Sloan

The Best Years of Our Lives, which won Best Picture and Best Actor (Fredrick March) for the same years that It’s a Wonderful LIfe was released was infinitely better.

Kenneth Sloan

The Postman a great movie? Next thing you’ll be saying is Waterworld was great, too!

Kenneth Sloan

Waterworld a great movie? Next thing you’ll be saying is The Postman was, oh, wait.you did. Never mind.

Darin

This “movie buff” writer loses a bit of credibility, singing the praises of Ed Wood while posting a pic of Scissorhands.

Joe Cogan

Indeed. I was just about to post the same observation!

Unlicensed Dremel

Citizen Kane sucks balls. Sorry, it’s true. For its time, sure, it had interesting aspects. On an absolute scale, it’s a best a mediocre flick.

God Mann

A. Really. Stupid. List.

rhadagastt

Did Kevin Costner write this garbage article? Waterworld and the Postman are both terrible movies. They were created at the height of Costner’s career and both flopped terribly b/c they sucked.

dougiefresh85

I loved the Postman. Very patriotic.

dwpittelli

Heaven’s Gate was one of the biggest money losers of all time. It destroyed careers and pretty much ended the era of director-driven films, with more control moving to the studios, to the detriment of movie lovers. The long version of this movie is a masterpiece.

stevie lewis

I loved the postman movie so who ever said that has no tast.

John O

Agree with some, disagree with others, a couple I haven’t ever heard of, and a couple I haven’t seen.. Waterworld wasn’t a good movie at all, Serenity was really good in my opinion, I liked Blade Runner as well.

Dying_in_this_Crap_World

The Fountain without a doubt was the best film on the list.

Logic4all

The Postman and Waterworld? Get away from the computer Kevin Costner’s mom.

Fanger

Yo, Yahoo – please don’t show an Edward Scissorhands picture with the Ed Wood recommendation.

Professor Umnik

I can’t watch Johnny Depp at all. He never got past assembly-in-High School level. As an actor. He’s still an amateur, who just happens to be getting away with his lack of ability.

Professor Umnik

How about Box Office Success movies that sucked – like “Titanic” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”?

Tim_Parker_999

Titanic was a god awful, cheesy cliché. . .

Judith

I wouldn’t say Waterworld was great, but I never thought it was bad.

George Hankerman

Postman, they took a great book and turned it into a pile of fecal matter.

Oh Adams

Two of the movies have Kevin Costner. You didnt include Shawshanks redemption in your list which is also underrated. Citizen Kane is in no way the greatest movie ever made. Inception and Shawshanks redemption are the greatest movies ever made. Assassination of jesse james is as bad as it was treated on the box office.

Mike

Citizen Kane is not a good movie.

Western Gunowner

Agree, perhaps the most over-rated movie ever.

Po Man

The Postman and Waterworld? You guys need to put the bong down for 5 minutes

Pat Boyle

I saw the preview for ‘The Postman’ in a movie theater. The whole audience burst into laughter. The world and civilization being saved by a letter carrier struck everyone as silly. Maybe that had something to do with its failure.

‘Waterworld’ had a preposterous premise and a loony message. There simply isn’t enough water in the polar ice caps to cover all the world’s mountains. Then we see that Costner has evolved gills on his mastoid processes (skull bones). The environmentalist propaganda was layered on pretty thick.

auh2064

“Ride, Postman! RIIIIIDE!!!”

I’m one of the four people that liked that movie.

Admiral401

Serenity was the culmination of a great TV show. But if you hadn’t seen the TV series, it wouldn’t have much meaning.

walter77777

Oy! Waterworld was a mess. It was sort of an attempt to remake road warrior in a world where the ice caps have melted. It was scientific baloney since the melting of the polar ice caps will only raise sea level by a bit more than one hundred feet. The idea that a man could grow gills and live in the water like a fish was also nonsense.

It deserved to fail.

W.

rupertmundy

The Jesse James movie was incredibly slow moving and boring, despite great performances.

rupertmundy

The reason It’s A Wonderful Life initially failed in both the box office and critically is because its a paean to Socialism. America was having none of it in the 1940′s.

http://obbop.wordpress.com/ obbop

Hollywood accounting is unique. A film can create ample profit but accounting tricks can make it appear to be a flop thus minimizing taxes to pay. It is a HUGE well-known scam/scheme and has also been used to minimize th pay to actors. A complicated topic that can be delved into via an in-depth Web search.

philsie

Waterworld! Waterworld?!? Waterworld??? Great ideas but horrible acting, plot, everything! Dennis Hopper phoned in his performance. I can’t believe I’m generating page clicks for this crap.

fatibel

It didn’t help that newspaper mogul William Randolph Hurst also tried to bury Kane, keeping it out of his papers and many markets.

per89

Ed Wood? Why the still from Edward Scissorhands?

Obamunist_Party

Costner + great movie mutually exclusive.

Your hammerman

I thought “Field of Dreams” was pretty good. No?
Western Gunowner

Oh come on. Bull Durham is fantastic. Funny, smart, you almost want to like ball-players after watching it.

Ernie Prado

Ed Wood,Really guys you couldn’t post a picture from the actual movie but instead post a picture from Edward Scissorhands. I would go as far as saying that Ed Wood is one of Tim Burton’s best movies.

16 Dollar Prosthetic Spock

You were right about 9 of these, but “The Fountain” was TERRIBLE- and I WANTED to like it, and it was just… ugh.

mlnave

Top 10 Great movie lists that failed: 7. Top 10 Great Movies that Failed

Ted Smith

A REALLY GREAT MOVIE IS ONE THAT HAS A HIGH SPEED AUTO CHASE!!!!

Brock Samson

This list is crap. Any list that puts the word brilliant and Waterworld in the same paragraph loses all credibility.

http://www.bacon4u.com/ The Steve

Serenity was garbage, Firefly is the most overrated show in TV history.

thomaspainelives

Serenity didn’t do well because it was actually a niche film. The rest just plain sucked or were of no interest to viewers.

Jeff Magnus

“The Postman” was a fairly good adaptation of a very good book. And what desert? Did the author actually see the movie?

ron

I’ve never meet a person who didn’t like Blade Runner

Western Gunowner

You haven’t met my wife. Seems like a lot of women don’t get it.

Rocky

Costner’s movies are always interesting, well made and make people think. Trouble is, many people have no imagination and are not able or willing to think. They’re easy to spot. They buy Apple, vote for BO and believe in global warming.

Jim Carroll

I disagree with the author’s reason for the failure of “The Postman”. I think the reason it bombed was that it was released at the same time as Titanic. Theaters couldn’t book two long-length films at the same time. If they had waited even 3 months before releasing it, I think it would have done very well. (still one of my top 5 favorite films on DVD)

Jeff Nagengast

Postman and Waterworld both sucked simply because they were slow.

the ghost that never lies

It might have been better if someone had proofed this article and noticed that a shot from “Edward Scissorhands” was used to illustrate “Ed Wood”. Nice work from someone pretending to be a film aficionado.

Herman Vogel

Never could understand why Waterworld was a failure…Costner’s movies are mostly Family Friendly for the most part,,,not too many Hollywood big name stars can say that today. We watch it every time it is on,,just like Braveheart.

Steven Rowe

Actually, the major mistake on The Postman was straying so very far from the novel it was based on.

Rick Kuhn

The Fountain was the essential horrible artsy film. Made you want to go and drag the projectionist from the booth and flog him for even showing the movie.

Mark Bianchi

The Big Lebowski should be on this list. Bombed at the Box Office but has become one of the biggest cult classics of all time.

stuckInCA

The Postman. Yeah right. With such stirring lines as “I love my government!”. Creepy one worlder agi-prop tripe.

SomeSubjectiveSomeObjective

The postman sucked like this list sucks.

charchar

you lost me at water world…

Michael Kaufmann

i read until i got to Waterworld. see ya!

TruNYC

Bad list.. But I agree on the Fountain.. Seen that movie a dozen times, and it never gets old.

jg collins

I was told that Hearst publications refused to print ads for Citizen Kane, which may have contributed to its poor showing.

rampantlion

“Blade Runner” is hardly a marginal movie. “Waterworld”, on the other hand…in whose mind would this be a “great movie”? LOL

dragontech64

They are on the list because they didn’t make their money back, on first release. A LOT of great movies have suffered this fate! Whether the movies on this list are marginal, otherwise, is debatable, and often a matter of taste.

mrfxx

Did you READ the information? The person who put together this list was pointing out movies that FAILED on first release – which apparently both Citizen Kane AND It’s a Wonderful Life did. He pointed out why audiences at the time underestimated them – oh – you didn’t read the information, just scrolled through the pictures to comment…. Never mind.

http://Handsome.com kG

Agreed,Blade Runner falls some where between very good and great. The one thing the movie really got right was the bleak vision of the future.

p3orion

I agree. “Waterworld” is underrated, but hardly a “great movie.” At the other end of the spectrum, “Citizen Kane” is probably the most reliably OVERrated movie of all time.

Between the questionable choices (“The Fountain”? really?), the stupid mistakes (illustrating “Ed Wood” with a still from “Edward Scissorhands”), the spelling and grammatical errors, and the incomprehensible writing (example: “it’s a slow-burning thriller that has an awful habit of staying with long after its.. running time is over” — what the hell does that even mean?) one has to wonder if there’s any editor overseeing this at all, or if it’s just some unemployed film student writing from his Mom’s basement.

http://Handsome.com kG

Really? Because the headline says ” great” movies that were overlooked. I wouldn’t say Waterworld and the Postman come any where near greatness! And even the mere mention of Citizen Kane with these marginal movies is wrong. Now a movie like Bringing Up Baby belongs on this list which the author left off,

Off Duty

“….like tears in the rain”.

3. Ed Wood

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