Box office success is not always an indicator of a film’s quality. Yes,plenty of blockbustersover the years happened also to be great movies, but there are numerous examples of bad movies taking in tons of money while great offerings under-perform. This can either be because they were poorly marketed, lost in the shuffle of bigger films, or were too offbeat and quirky for a general, mainstream audience. In the early days of home video and cable, these “disappointments” could find their audience andbuild cult followingsover several years, but that is less than ideal for actors and filmmakers who put their all into a work of art intending for it to be released and connect with people upon its initial release.
One of the many benefits of ournew streaming cultureis that movies of all kinds tend to get the same real estate. So, it’s easier for lower-budget or riskier fare to get noticed by casual viewers. Also, the added convenience of not having to rush out to a theater or video store to take a chance on a new movie. People can simply click a button and give something a shot. With that in mind, we’re going to discuss 10 movies that would have found success much earlier had they been released today via streaming. These are all movies that came out prior to the streaming revolution and were either considered flops or disappointments, but are still great movies.
10Big Trouble in Little China
Released in July 1986,Big Trouble in Little Chinais one of several John Carpenter classics that utterly failed to light the box office on fire. Before its release, however, the buzz surrounding the film was pretty positive. Star Kurt Russell recalls interviewers asking him how he felt about starring in a movie that was bound to be a huge hit. The movie has everything: great action, hilarious comedy, charismatic performances, a great villain, and momentum that just won’t quit. At the end of the day, though, the fact that it was so wild and subversive may have been its downfall. Had it been released now, the film would have blown up on Netflix. Its mix of tones and quotable lines would have been adored and turned into memes almost instantly. That word of mouth would have made the film so successful that we’d already have a sequel and an animated spin-off in production.
Related:7 Movies That Actually Don’t Need Sequels (Despite Fans' Wishes)
9The Princess Bride
LikeBig Trouble, Rob Reiner’s classic romantic comedyThe Princess Bridewasn’tthe global smash you might think given its classic status now. Reiner said he was concerned that it would become anotherWizard of Oz(viaAspen Times). Just like that other all-time classic,Bridewas so unique for the time that the studio didn’t know how to market it. Do they tell people it’s a comedy? Should they focus on the romance? Then again, there’s legitimate action and adventure as well, should they sell it as such? By now, media has become so adept at blending genres that selling viewers a romantic fairytale comedy would be no problem. Had they thrown it up on Netflix or Prime Video, discussions about how sweet, hilarious, and moving the film was would have gone viral in no time.
8Office Space
Perhaps no other film perfectly captured the relentless monotony of working in a cubicle better thandirector and animator Mike Judge’s1999 comedyOffice Space. As is the case with many of the films on this list, the comedy was just a tad ahead of its time, resulting in it practically vanishing from the theater without a trace. Thanks to continuous airings on cable, other workers who felt hollow and frustrated found solace in the story of a fed-up employee who decides to stick it to his corporate overlords in pursuit of a new life. With the current phenomenon of quiet quitting and people all over the United States deciding they have better things to do than spend the majority of their waking hours listening to their bosses drone on or get mixed up in childish office politics, and earning barely enough money to survive,Office Spacewould hit harder than ever.
7Blade Runner
As stunning a cinematic experience asvisionary filmmaker Ridley Scott’s epic adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novelDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheepis, the thin plot and leisurely pace are really best suited for home viewing. Of course, the pacing wasn’t the only thing keeping this pseudo-cyberpunk masterpiece down. There was also that horrendous film noir voice-over from a completely disinterested Harrison Ford ruining the experience by treating the audience like the story is far too complex for their simple minds. Streaming services don’t need to worry about huge numbers opening weekend, so they’re free to take some chances and experiment more. IfBlade Runnerwere released today with our huge TVs and excellent sound systems, would mesmerize the audience and draw them into its fascinating world with ease.
6The Big Lebowski
When considering the massive followingThe Big Lebowskihas with conventions and a kind of religion built around the main character’s life philosophy, it’s wild to think people didn’t quite get it at the time. This is a perfect streaming movie because it’s the kind of thing you need to share with friends. It feels like a hidden gem that is too perfect to be believed. So, you race to let people know how great it is and beg them to watch it right away. From the litany of offbeat characters, surreal mystery, and dialogue so quotable you could spend hours speaking only in Lebowski quotes without getting bored, there’s so much here for audiences to unpack and dissect that there’s no way it wouldn’t be trending for weeks.
5The Shining
A fact that many film buffs love to point out to people who may not be as aware of the history of master director Stanley Kubrick’s work is that his cold, paranoidadaptation of Stephen King’s classic novelThe Shiningwas a critical and commercial misfire upon release in 1980. Given the film’s iconic status today, it can be hard to imagine a time when it wasn’t topping the lists of greatest horror movies ever, but even Steven Spielberg (a future friend and collaborator of Kubrick’s) admitted it took a few viewings to really get what the film was doing. Supernatural horror movies released on streaming services routinely pick up buzz very quickly, with social media exploding as users share their terrified reactions.The Shiningis perhaps perfectly suited to this one of experience given its hypnotic pace drawing the viewer in so deeply that the rest of the world falls away. If viewed in the comfort of your own home, late at night with nothing less going on, you’re able to feel the same strands of madness claiming the main character encroaching on your personal space: an experience streamers would be giddy to share.
Related:10 Great Movies That Were Sleeper Hits
4Plan 9 From Outer Space
There is perhaps nothing the internet loves to do more than to engage in raging discourse over bad movies. Either they delight in roasting the incompetence involved in the filmmaking or lash out in defense of what they believe to be intentional subversive storytelling. Had schlock auteur Edward D. Wood Jr. been alive today and released his slapdash masterpiecePlan 9 From Outer Spaceon a streaming platform today, armchair critics and journalists alike could craft countless think pieces about the writer/director’s intentions. Just imagine the onslaught of YouTube videos shredding the nonsensical plot and baffling performances and articles with titles like “Why Plan 9 From Outer Space is a Secret Masterpiece” or “10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Plan 9 From Outer Space.” Perhaps this wouldn’t be the kind of attention Wood desired, but certainly far more people would have seen the film that way.
A pitch-black satire about the pressures of being a teenager,Heathersdisembowels our preconceived notions of perfection by depicting the rich, popular high school girls who seem to have everything as selfish, neurotic monsters willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their place on the top of the social mountain. Funny and depressing in equal measure, the film tackles bullying and teen violence so harshly that it manages to cut straight to the core of why our teenage years can be such a nightmare.
With the advent of social media, bullying has become increasingly difficult to escape, making the anxiety of not being perfect all the more insufferable. Plus, the social status many of the young women in the film strive for directly mirrors the millions of aspiring influencers desperate to carve out their own space. What better way to find that than to literally kill the competition and make it look like a series of suicides? The truth is, the story is still tragically relevant and would be right at home on the top of the Netflix homepage. Without needing to compete with other, “safer” teenage film fare like the filmsmade by John Hughes, hadHeathersbeen released today, the reins no question it would have been more successful than the original release and remain a major talking point in the culture for years.
2Carnival of Souls
This surreal, independent, supernatural chiller took so long to build a following that it’s fair to call it a genuine cult classic. Pioneering a visual style and tone that could later be seen in the work of both George Romero and David Lynch,Carnival of Soulsis a captivating and bizarre experience that calls out to the audience, inviting them to ease into the eerie world of a woman adrift in her life following a deadly car accident, It weaves a spell so thoroughly that you have no idea just how wrapped up in the story you’ve become until the final, shocking image. Criminally under-seen upon its release, it would now serve as perfect viewing for those late nights when you can’t quite drift back to sleep or get up to do anything productive. Essentially, it’s almost tailor-made for streaming.
1The Rocky Horror Picture Show
In order to argue thatThe Rocky Horror Picture Showwould be more successful if released today, it is important to remember that this means it was never made previously. Therefore, no raucous midnight showings, no largely forgotten sequel, and no made-for-TV remake. If the greatest cult classic of all time (whichRocky Horroris) came out on streaming today it would be an absolutesmash.The songs would inspire a whirlwind of endless TikToks, its messaging of inclusivity, gender, and sexual fluidity and utterly bonkers plot would be devoured by people today. Yes, it would spark a significant amount of outrage, but so what? That would only add to its notoriety and drive streaming numbers into the stratosphere.
