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== Animated Films ==
* [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney]]:
** ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'', ''[[Fantasia]]'' and ''[[Bambi (Disney film)|Bambi]]'' are nowadays regarded as three of the [[The Golden Age of Animation|greatest animated films]] of all time, but were all huge flops, both critically and financially, on their original releases. [[World War II]] cost Disney the foreign market (that helped make ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]'' so successful), although other factors contributed to the films' failures (listed below with each film). Their combined failures nearly destroyed [[Disney|Walt Disney Studios]]. Even after they recovered from the debacle, Disney never again experimented with such risky films, opting for safer, more commercial and profitable ventures instead. However, Walt ''did'' live to see the films gain the reputations they truly deserved.
*** ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'' (1940) was considered too episodic by some critics, and audiences proved to NOT be in the mood for such fanciful fare during WWII.
*** ''[[Fantasia]]'' (1940), in a nutshell, was too far ahead of its time. Most theaters refused to install the special "Fantasound" speakers needed to create the surround sound which Walt had planned the film to use, and many critics derided the film as pretentious. Yes, the [[Animation Age Ghetto]] existed [[Older Than They Think|before the trope did]]. The failure of ''Fantasia'' crushed Walt, who abolished plans to make any sequels (and this was the only film he wanted to make a sequel to).
*** ''[[Bambi (Disney film)|Bambi]]'' (1942), like ''Fantasia'', was a victim of being too far ahead of its time. Critics derided it as [[Animation Age Ghetto|pretentious]] and overly introspective compared to everything that had come before. Oh, and lets not bring [[Bambification]] into this either, please.
** The following decade had its ups and downs. ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'', ''[[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Peter Pan]]'' and ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]'' were big hits. But:
*** ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Disney film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1951) was a financial failure. Like ''Fantasia'', it was rediscovered in [[The Sixties]] and became popular among the counter-culture and a new generation of fans that didn't care that they weren't the Disney Princess fare.
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*** ''[[Nosferatu]]'' was taken down by the estate of Bram Stoker, due to it being quite obviously a rip-off of ''[[Dracula]]'', and only survived in the form of pirated copies until ''Dracula'' entered the public domain (or more precisely, was discovered to have been public domain all along in the US). It single-handedly launched the idea of sunlight killing vampires.
*** The three now-landmark films he made in the United States -- ''[[Sunrise (film)|Sunrise]]'', ''City Girl'' and ''Tabu''—were unable to recoup their cost in their day.
** [[Fritz Lang]]'s ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' had the most advanced special effects of any film from the silent era, which nearly bankrupted the UFA Studio. The original Berlin premiere in 1927 was not a failure; however, the film did become one when its American distributor got hold of it and made drastic edits. Thanks to a 95%-ish complete print found in Argentina in 2008, fans of sci-fi are rediscovering just how much of a masterpiece it really is.
** G.W. Pabst's silent version of ''Pandora's Box'', considered today to be one of the greatest examples of Weimar Cinema, was overlooked by German audiences of the late 20s.
* [[Charlie Chaplin]]
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* David Lean
** ''[[Blithe Spirit]]'', regarded today as a masterful adaptation of the [[Noel Coward]] play, flopped in both the UK and America and would not find an audience for several decades.
** ''Ryan's Daughter'', upon arriving in theaters, failed to live up to the expectations set by Lean's previous two works (''[[Lawrence of Arabia]]'' and ''[[Doctor Zhivago (film)|Doctor Zhivago]]''). It has since risen in stature.
* [[Akira Kurosawa]], up until his death, was [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|far more popular and acclaimed in the West]] than in Japan and was [[Never Accepted in His Hometown|even accused by Japanese film critics of being "too Western"]]. When ''Dodes'ka-den'' bombed in 1970, most of his small amount of Japanese popularity and acclaim vanished completely and he was considered to be a hack that was beloved in the West for what Japanese critics believed was mere exotica and [[Hype Aversion|over-rating by their American counterparts]]. After his death, his Japanese reputation [[Dead Artists Are Better|increased dramatically]].
** ''[[Rashomon]]'' was panned and dismissed as junk in Japan on its release in 1950. Shortly afterwards it was embraced by American audiences, and [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|the resulting popularity of samurai flicks in the West]] convinced Kurosawa to make more movies in that genre, leading to the even greater classics ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' and ''[[Yojimbo]]''. ''Rashomon'' remained a dud in Japan for a while but gradually built up its well-deserved reputation as a really good film.
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* All the works of Jean-Luc Godard in the 60s are praised by lovers of European film, but there was a period in the early part of that decade when a handful of his movies (including ''Vivre Sa Vie'' and ''Contempt'') were initially bombs.
* [[Sergio Leone]]
** The "Man With No Name" spaghetti westerns were popular, but critics didn't take them seriously because... spaghetti westerns are automatically cheap [[B-Movie|B-movies]]. Read [[Roger Ebert]]'s [https://web.archive.org/web/20110917175756/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=
** Leone's operatic western ''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]'' was not received very well upon release in 1968. These days, you'd be hard-pressed to find a notable director who doesn't claim to have been influenced by it in some way, and it frequently ends up on Greatest Films lists.
* ''[[The Great Race]]'' was initially derided in cinemas for being too cartoony (which was said mostly because it came from an apparently unexpected source: Blake Edwards). Several years went by before it gained the popularity it truly deserved, to the point where it inspired the Hanna-Barbera primetime series ''[[Wacky Races]]'' and ''[[The Perils of Penelope Pitstop]]''.
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* ''[[Tora! Tora! Tora!]]'' flopped in the U.S., only picking up its classic status after home video release in the following decade.
* The weirdness of ''[[Harold and Maude]]'' wasn't in sync with the early 70s, what with [[Squick|a teenage boy having a romance with an octogenarian woman]], and it failed horribly. People have since come to understand the film's finer qualities better, and its repuation has skyrocketed.
* ''[[Willy Wonka
* [[George Lucas]]' ''THX-1138'' remained unpopular even after the success of ''[[Star Wars]]''. Around the time the aforementioned franchise's prequels were coming out, ''1138'' gained a lot of momentum.
* Nicolas Roeg
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* ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' did NOT do well when it was first released into U.S. theatres in 1975. However, noticing that those people who liked it ''really'' liked it, the studio relaunched it as a midnight movie, the fandom grew and developed [[Audience Participation]] rituals, and ''35 years later'' it's still in limited release. It is the longest run of any movie, hands down.
** In some places, it never ''stopped'' running. It's rare, but there are a few theaters that have shown it every Friday night since it first premiered.
* The original 1976 ''[[Assault on Precinct 13 (1976 film)|Assault on Precinct 13]]'' by [[John Carpenter]] was made on a very small budget, and had lukewarm criticial reception and unimpressive box office returns. This was no doubt in large part thanks to it being largely a modern western, and American audiences had become desaturated from the huge number of western films being released just around 1976. However, when shown in Europe, it gained both critical acclaim and was a box office hit, as European audiences were less familiar with the westerns. It subsequently underwent a reevaluation in the States, and is now considered to be one of the best action film of the 70s, and is a a true [[Cult Classic]] in its own right.
* ''[[Eraserhead]]'', the shoestring-budget horror film [[David Lynch]] debuted with, barely made a blip at the box office. Now it is well-loved as a textbook example of cinematic creepiness.
* ''[[Slap Shot]]'' was not a well received movie when it was released as people found it ridiculously violent and vulgar. Critics also went on to deride it for similar reasons. Over the years however, the movie gained a solid cult following and today is considered one of the best sports movies ever made (and the best hockey movie ever made as well. It even left a lasting mark on hockey culture). In fact, Gene Siskel went on to say that giving the movie a poor review was his biggest regret as a critic after viewing the movie multiple times.
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* After ''[[Taxi Driver]]'', the legendary [[Martin Scorsese]] made the disastrous ''New York New York'' (which so far hasn't ''quite'' been vindicated), and a losing streak started for him in the 80s as the "New Hollywood" crumbled down on him and other major 70s filmmakers.
** The first in the losing streak was ''[[Raging Bull]]''. Although it was [[Robert De Niro]]'s way of saving Scorsese's life (Scorsese was depressed and doing heavy drugs after ''New York New York'') and was successful in that regard, ''Bull'' just barely reached the modest-hit mark in its first run, dismissed by most moviegoers as being too gratuitously violent, and most critics latched onto the tiniest inaccuracies of the film on its subject matter which they believed believed spoiled the whole thing. 10 years later it was hailed by every film poll as Scorsese's masterpiece and the ultimate example of 80s cinema.
** Then came ''The King Of Comedy'' and ''[[After Hours (film)|After Hours]]'', which tanked commercially and critically but have since gone on to be hailed as comedy classics.
** ''[[The Last Temptation of Christ]]'' was absolutely DESPISED on its initial release, with its stylistic innovation on the Biblical genre 100% ignored. Scorsese's career could have ended soonafter. Luckily, his next film was ''[[Goodfellas]]'', a massive critical and commercial hit. Thus the losing streak ended.
* The films of Harold Ramis.
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* ''[[The Shining]]'' actually got Stanley Kubrick<ref>Check the 1916-1979 category for more on him</ref> nominated for Worst Director at the first ever [[Golden Raspberry Awards|Razzie]] awards. Shocking to imagine today.
* It seems that after the blockbuster success of his slasher flick ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'', [[John Carpenter]] just couldn't catch a break.
** ''[[Escape from New York]]'' made a respectable splash in the cult sense when it was first released in 1981, but wasn't considered a classic by any stretch of the imagination. It has gained much more recognition over the years, mainly due, no doubt, to its influence on other media, with ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', ''[[ReBoot]]'', and ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
** The 1982 ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]'', competing against [[Steven Spielberg]]'s ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'', was a flop at the box office (making only $13.8 million in the US against a $15 million budget) and critically panned when it first came out but is highly regarded these days; it spawned a comic book and a video game and regularly appears on lists of the best sci-fi and horror movies ever made.
** ''[[Starman (film)|Starman]]'' was lukewarm, but over time has achieved an impressive fandom.
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* ''[[EDtv]]'', initially dismissed as a ripoff of ''[[The Truman Show]]'', has gained widespread recognition in recent years as a brilliant satire.
* [[Whit Stillman]]'s ''The Last Days Of Disco'' was a financial failure, but acclaim for its artistry has been growing since its release.
* ''[[Fight Club (film)|Fight Club]]'' did not make much money during its North American theatrical run (a $37 million gross versus a $63 million budget), and received very mixed reviews. However, it quickly developed a large and loyal cult following, to the point that people creating "real Fight Clubs" made headlines. Hardly anyone hasn't heard the film's most famous quotes.
* [[Mike Judge]]
** ''[[Office Space]]'' was poorly marketed, and barely broke even at $10.8 million. Now it's the champion of all workplace comedies, and among the most quoted films ever.
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** ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' did quite well in the UK box office, but did poorly in the US due to being released around the same time as ''[[Seltzer and Friedberg|Epic Movie]]''. But once it was brought to DVD and Blu-Ray, it has become very popular in the US as well as the UK.
** ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' has become a smash hit on DVD and Blu-Ray after a dismal reception in theaters.
* ''[[Van Helsing]]'' got retroactive praise compared to ''[[The Mummy (2017 film)|The Mummy]]'' for bringing the Universal Monsters into a modern perspective.
* ''[[Serenity]]'', the feature-film continuation of the TV series ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'', got a mixed response from critics, and failed to earn back its $39 million budget in theaters despite support from ''Firefly'''s [[Fandom]]. Only on DVD did it gain the tremendous popularity it has now.
* ''[[Stranger Than Fiction]]'', while never really panned by critics, only received moderate critical acclaim upon it's release (mostly because of skepticism towards Will
* [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s and [[Robert Rodriguez]]'s ''[[Grindhouse]]''.
* ''[[Lars and the Real Girl]]''.
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* ''[[Steven Soderbergh|Che]]'' has built up a very high profile in the two years since its theatrical bombing (having made $41 million on a $58 million budget).
* ''[[Speed Racer (film)|Speed Racer]]''. When it was released in 2008, it was a critical and commercial flop. Now, it is becoming a cult classic, with many now calling it underrated, one of the most faithful adaptations ever, and groundbreaking in terms of visuals. Later films such as ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World|Scott Pilgrim]]'', ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'', and ''[[Sucker Punch]]'' would also use inspiration for their visuals from the film.
* ''[[The Hurt Locker]]''. It never got a wide release and grossed just $17 million in theatres despite near-unanimous critical acclaim (the disappointing box office mainly due to Summit having higher hopes on flops such as ''Bandslam'', ''Sorority Row'' and ''[[Astro Boy (film)|Astro Boy (2009)]]''). However, the film managed to became a huge hit on DVD and won several Academy Awards (including Best Picture).
* Indie filmmaker Duncan Jones debuted with a sci-fi drama called ''[[Moon]]''. Getting little attention in 2009 apart from the film festival circuit (with a gross of $7 million it barely made its money back), ''Moon'' has since taken off on home video and propelled Jones to the director's seat on a number of top Hollywood projects.
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