Vindicated by Cable: Difference between revisions

Line 21:

* ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|Flash Gordon]]'': Its popularity in America was due in part to airings on HBO.

* The film ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'' didn't make a whole lot of waves upon its release, having received mostly dismissive or negative reviews (with the notable exception of ''Time'' magazine, and even they complained that it was ultimately superficial and sentimental). However, after it was accidentally released into the public domain in 1974, it became a Christmas standard, and a new generation came to see it as a classic and one of the best films ever made. In this case, it was repeated airings on broadcast stations, not basic cable, that brought the film its new status, but the principle is the same.

** Later, when showing this movie on nearly every TV channel had become a Christmastime tradition, it was discovered that not ''all'' parts of the movie were actually in the public ~~domain -- the~~ musical score, in fact, is still under copyright. With this revelation, only those broadcasters willing to pay for the rights could show it, and viewers had to tune in to one of those few venues who did for their annual fix.

** Later, when showing this movie on nearly every TV channel had become a Christmastime tradition, it was discovered that not ''all'' parts of the movie were actually in the public domain—the musical score, in fact, is still under copyright. With this revelation, only those broadcasters willing to pay for the rights could show it, and viewers had to tune in to one of those few venues who did for their annual fix.

** It's somewhat of an urban legend that Ted Turner built his media empire on repeated airings of this movie, though that distinction more properly belongs to some of the films already mentioned or mentioned below.

* ''[[Road House]]'': In [[The Nineties]] the number of cable channels exploded, all of which needed 24-hour programming. So the rights to lots of cheesy action movies were scooped up, and those movies put into heavy rotation. In particular, Turner (who owned TBS, the so-called "superstation") bought up the entire MGM film library, which just happened to include ''[[Road House]]''. And it wasn't long before TBS discovered the movie was drawing phenomenal ratings; Perhaps ''Road House'' is the very reason TBS is a "superstation".

Line 29:

* ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory|Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory]]'' was a box office bomb in 1971, but went on to become a [[Cult Classic]] thanks to repeated showings on HBO (and later, TBS).

* ''[[Hook]]'' barely made back its production cost in theaters, but it has become much better received on cable.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' was considered a [[Ratings]] flop in its original run, because [[Demographics]] were not applied at the time. This was exacerbated by the network responding to the ratings by placing the show in poor time slots. In [[The Seventies]], ''Star Trek'' became a hit in [[~~Rerun|reruns~~]].

* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' was considered a [[Ratings]] flop in its original run, because [[Demographics]] were not applied at the time. This was exacerbated by the network responding to the ratings by placing the show in poor time slots. In [[The Seventies]], ''Star Trek'' became a hit in [[rerun]]s.

* ''[[The Iron Giant]]'' failed at the box office thanks to [[Warner Bros]]. having no faith in the movie. Then [[Cartoon Network]] started doing 24-hour runs of it on Thanksgiving...

* ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'' also failed at the box office despite some critical acclaim. Most of its success came from the fact that Ted Turner (who owned Castle Rock Entertainment at the time, and thus owned the rights to the film) loved this movie and made sure it was run almost every weekend on TNT and TBS and it slowly picked up a fanbase and is now considered one of the finest films of all time. It was also Vindicated by Video: since it got many [[Academy Award]] nominations (including Best Picture) and was already available in VHS at the time, a lot of people decided to rent it.

Line 47:

* Unlike many other classic comedies, the films starring the team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were not shown on television during the Baby Boomer generation, which resulted in virtually no one having any clue who they were after Woolsey's untimely death in 1938. In the '80s and '90s, stations like TCM and AMC began to show Wheeler and Woolsey's movies for the first time in decades- if it weren't for cable, Wheeler and Woolsey's films would've been completely forgotten decades ago. OK, so they're still not very well-known at all, but among vintage film/comedy fans, Bert n' Bob have a very small but very loyal following, so this trope definitely counts despite the fact that they remain obscure to the general public.

* ''[[Strictly Sexual]]'' is a 2008 comedy that history would have forgotten...except for the fact that it is the most watched movie available for free on hulu.com through some bizarre twist. It still frequently ranks in the most popular movies of the week. Ditto for ''[[Saints And Soldiers]]'', ''[[Sex And Consequences]]'', and ''[[Film/Kama Sutra|Kama Sutra]]''.

* [[Mike Judge]] is one of the kings of this trope. ''[[Office Space]]'' is the quintessential example, with tepid box office numbers at best, only becoming a [[Cult Classic]] after being shown ad nauseum on premium cable (and, later, [[Comedy Central]]). ''[[Idiocracy]]'' bombed similarly in theaters, a victim of [[Screwed by the Network|zero to no promotion by the distributor]], 20th Century Fox (all the [[Take That~~|Take Thats~~]] in the film at the Fox network probably didn't help Judge). Thanks once again to cable, the film seems to be well on its way to this trope if it's not already there.

* [[Mike Judge]] is one of the kings of this trope. ''[[Office Space]]'' is the quintessential example, with tepid box office numbers at best, only becoming a [[Cult Classic]] after being shown ad nauseum on premium cable (and, later, [[Comedy Central]]). ''[[Idiocracy]]'' bombed similarly in theaters, a victim of [[Screwed by the Network|zero to no promotion by the distributor]], 20th Century Fox (all the [[Take That]]s in the film at the Fox network probably didn't help Judge). Thanks once again to cable, the film seems to be well on its way to this trope if it's not already there.

* Oh, ''[[Destroyer|Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins]]'', was there a weekend afternoon movie block you '''weren't''' on in the '80s?

* ''[[Citizen Kane]]''. While it had received much critical acclaim and many Oscar nominations (though it didn't win many of them), during its release, it was far from a box office hit, due largely to William Randolph Hearst's media empire refusing to promote it. It quickly dropped out of the public eye until RKO released its catalogue to television networks.