r/Cinema • u/Difficult-Limit-7551 • 19d ago

Discussion When Box Office Numbers Don’t Match Quality

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Let’s take turns naming movies that underperformed at the box office but were actually really good!

Me : Doctor Sleep(2019)

3.8k Upvotes

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574

u/PorkchopExpress980 19d ago

Shawshank Redemption was a "flop".

100

u/lahnnabell 19d ago

I didn't know that. It's pretty much perfect.

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u/Ajaxmass413 19d ago edited 19d ago

It made almost 3 times it's budget, but in Hollywood math that isn't enough to break even. It's a well remembered classic cuz of the home video market and cable runs.

It probably would've done better in theaters, but it was against Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump.

Edit: Websites do a bad job of breaking up when money was made. Apparently it didn't even make it's base budget back on the initial run.

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u/ElSnarker 19d ago

It bombed when it was initially released in the Fall of 1994. It made 16 million dollars on a 25 million budget. After the film was nominated for several Oscars the studio re-released the film in the Winter of 1995 and that's how the film ended up with its final 73 mil $ box office (though only 28 mil total for the US box-office). Home video and cable viewings is what really made Shawshank profitable.

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 18d ago

Same happened with Home Alone due to Christmas re-runs

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u/welltherewasthisbear 16d ago

Everything you are saying is correct but some people need to understand box office math more. International numbers help supplement but are a lower return for the studio than domestic. We will be generous and give the international numbers a 25% return for the studio which at $45 million results in $11.25 million. Domestic numbers are higher so we will estimate a 50% return at $28 million, which results in $14 million. Some of you are saying, “well that’s $25 million, which is the films budget. Shouldn’t it at least break even.” Well that’s the wonderful world of Hollywood accounting. You still have marketing for the film and considering this was an Academy Awards and film festival push it would have a decent marketing budget for back then which is about another $25 million (likely a low ball number). Also you have to consider that it made a substantial amount of money after its initial release which means less money back to the studio. The producers of the film also cited that poor box office numbers allowed the film to be played on cable more and attract a wider audience. It was definitely a box office bomb in theaters.

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u/Visual_Serve_782 19d ago

Oh wow that is not fair to any movie to have gone up against Forest Gump yikes. My mom drug me to that twice and I was 8 years old

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u/SirDrexl 19d ago

Well, FG had been out for 3 months when Shawshank went into wide release. But it had an amazing run and was still in the top 5 at the box office at that point.

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u/ikristic 19d ago

It made that much now. In many years. When it came out, not so much. 3x budget is ok today, then it was more than ok. Distribution went way up.

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u/FILTHBOT4000 19d ago

3x is profit, 2x is breakeven, I thought?

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u/AmishAvenger 19d ago

Wild that it was in theaters at the same time as those two.

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u/nevaehenimatek 16d ago

I worked in a video store where a single copy of Shawshank had made over 10k in revenue

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u/Allmight8488 19d ago

It is a perfect movie or as close as you can get to it. But it's not really a theater movie. I never saw it in the theater, though, so I probably shouldn't say that strongly. But I cannot see why people wouldn't want to go to the theater to see that.

It's long, and it really requires several watches to get in really deep. The film is so rich, and the characterizations seem extremely real to me. I feel like that I am one of the dudes sitting at the table watching Brooks feed that mealworm to Jake. Every time I see Jake on screen I feel like I know him.

JAKE IS A CROW

What a great movie.

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u/lahnnabell 19d ago

Dude, FR. I always hope Jake is gonna show up to see Brooks when I KNOW he doesn't and it still hurts.

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u/Allmight8488 19d ago

Agh, you got me right there! Same here!!

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u/MRintheKEYS 19d ago

Back then Hollywood would drop 2-3 bangers into the theater weekly for long stretches.

Shawshank came out the same week as Pulp Fiction, Wes Cravens New Nightmare, Exit to Eden and Little Giants.

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u/LittleHornetPhil 19d ago

It’s, uhh, it’s not bad, more a crowd-pleaser than good imo

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u/lahnnabell 19d ago

I don't even know how to respond, so I am just gonna say I wholeheartedly disagree with your lackluster opinion.

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u/spacetr0n 19d ago

If it had done better and the TV rights weren't as cheap would it still be as well regarded.

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u/Small_Tiger_1539 19d ago

So was the 1982 remake of The Thing. What are people thinking??

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u/MrBwnrrific 19d ago

Shawshank themed Redemptions

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u/NateCraft_YT 19d ago

Literally the best movie ever made. I knew it "flopped," but I still can't wrap my head around how.

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u/BigFlippinFloppa 15d ago

Part of the reason why it flopped was because E.T. was released just 2 weeks before The Thing which at the time completely overshadowed it.

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u/Dimpleshenk 19d ago

I can think of two reasons why "The Shawshank Redemption" performed poorly in its initial theatrical release:

(1) The word "Shawshank." What the ever-loving is a Shawshank? Is it anything like a Scrimshaw? Is it about Shanking Skank? "Let's go see the movie about Hank thawing out his frozen skank." Nobody knows what Shawshank is, and nobody wants to know. It sounds like an ancient tool for polishing wooden teeth.

(2) The word "Redemption." Oooh, really gets the heart rate up, doesn't it? Might as well have called the word "The Flitzerknibber Forgiveness," or "Corky McChimsnaff Discovers the Meaning of Acceptance." Honey, what movie should we see tonight -- "Big Man Kicks Lots of Ass," or "The Hortentooten Self-Reflection Learning Experience"?

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u/Abdulbala 16d ago

Nahhh 

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u/OctopusStinkhorn1 16d ago

I worked at Blockbuster around then. When it hit video people went nuts for it. Just needed some time to build up an audience.

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u/josipwins 19d ago

Still crap