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45 Unlikely Pop Culture Smash Successes

By:: Brian C. Miller; Cracked Writers

September 01, 2021

We all know that pop culture is a huge part of our lives. It can be a source of entertainment, information, and even education. When it comes to pop culture, there are few things as universally loved as movies. Whether it's a heart-wrenching drama or an action-packed thriller, movies can take us on a journey like no other form of entertainment can.

People are often surprised when a movie, T.V. show, or album they loved and expected to be popular only becomes a modest success. It seems that the most likely pop culture smashes are those that no one saw coming. Those sleeper hits take everyone by surprise. Be it poor initial reception or general audiences inevitably turning on something popular-- You'd be surprised to find what pop culture properties were surprising successes.

First is the 2005 indie film The Squid and the Whale. Starring Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney, the movie was mostly panned by critics but found an audience with art-house film fans. It made just $4 million at the box office on a $12 million budget.

Here are some of the wildest, most eyebrow-raising examples.

45

IN 1983, CRITICS CALLED CHRISTMAS A GRACKED.COM STORY LUDICROUS BIZARRE CORNY BORING THANKS TO CABLE TV, THE NOW-BELOVED HOLIDAY CLASSIC FOUND ITS AUDIENCE. NAMED TO THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS' NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY IN 2015, A CHRISTMAS STORY HAS SPAWNED BOOKS, DOCUMENTARIES, A BROADWAY MUSICAL, FAN CONVENTIONS, ACTION FIGURES, AND A VARIETY OF OTHER MEMORABILIA - AND THE HOUSE WHERE IT WAS FILMED HAS BECOME A POPULAR CLEVELAND TOURIST ATTRACTION. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

44

Reviews were The not good for GodfatherII In 1974 The NYTimes claimed it was unoriginal and disjointed, particularly disliking its non-linear form. The review even goes so far as describing the dialogue as 'dumb' and 'cartoon captions'. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

43

CRACKED.COM THE BELOVED CHRISTMAS CLASSIC IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE FLOPPED AT THE BOX OFFICE BANKRUPTED ITS STUDIO ESSENTIALLY ENDED FRANK CAPRA'S CAREER WAS LARGELY IGNORED BY THE PUBLIC ...UNTIL 1974, WHEN A CLERICAL ERROR ALLOWED THE FILM'S COPYRIGHT TO EXPIRE, FREEING LOCAL TV STATIONS AND VIDEO DISTRIBUTORS TO PICK IT UP, AND BEGIN BROADCASTING AND SELLING COPIES OF IT, AD INFINITUM. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

42

How much money could a dumb Jason Statham shark movie, panned by both audiences and critics, possibly make? THE TOMATOMETER ? AUDIENCE SCORE ? MEG 46% 45% liked it The answer is a reasonable $145 million... However we live in an unreasonable world and those are actually just the U.S. numbers. It grossed an insane $530 million worldwide. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

41

The 2010 remake of the Wes Craven classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street did better at the domestic* box office than the original, even if you adjust the figures for inflation. *The 1984 movie wasn't released in theaters worldwide. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

40

a IN ITS THIRD WEEK IN US THEATERS, THE MUMMY (2017) WAS PULLED FROM 900 SCREENS. T H HE MUMMY TOM CRUISE WHEN RELEASED IN CHINA, THE MOVIE MADE $82 MILLION IN ONLY TEN DAYS, MAKING IT TOM CRUISE'S BIGGEST GLOBAL BLOCKBUSTER TO DATE. 81% OF THE MUMMY'S PROFIT SO FAR HAS BEEN FROM INTERNATIONAL MARKETS. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

39

The critically panned Cars 2 made $561 million, over 20 percent more than Cars. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

38

CRACKED.COM Skyscraper was supposed to be Dwayne Johnson's 2018 summer blockbuster... ...but it only raked in $67 million in the US (only half its budget). However, The Rock is so popular in countries like China, the film tripled that overseas, pulling in $304 worldwide! — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

37

GRAGKED.COM When The Sound of Music was released in 1965, the critics tore it apart. ROBERT THE - WISE SOUND RODGERS -HAMMERSTEINS OF MUSiC cellus JULIE ANDREWS CREATOPRES PLUMMER RICHARD - Richard HAYDN - ELEANOR PARKER - - I Robert Whe Rodgers - Oscar Hammerstein II Production KALORE - - سلام Active - Ernest Lehman We have been turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs. was one of the harshest reviews. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

36

CRACKED.COM The beloved cult-masterpiece CLOB wasn't exactly well-liked on initial release... It bombed in theaters and earned mediocre reviews. Notably Rosie O'Donnell hated it so much, she gave away the twist ending on her talk-show to dissuade people from seeing it! — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

35

Despite their popularity with the younger generation, early critics HATED this mop-top STEADY band. Not even their a huge joke mothers would ChicagoTribune claim that they near disaster Newsweek sing well. they are god awful LosAngeles Times Boston Globe BEATLES THE GRACKED COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

34

Led Zeppelin's debut was slaughtered by critics. Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn bashed Jimmy Page's weak, unimaginative songs and called Robert Plant prissy. John Paul Jones later said, In our naïveté we thought we'd done a good album, and then this venom comes flying out. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

33

Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo was released to a mixed reception, and barely broke even at the box office. In 1959, the British Film Institute's magazine Sight & Sound said that the plot was egg-shell thin and that Hitchcock was repeating himself in slow motion. Even famed director Orson Welles hated it. Ironically, 53 years later, Sight & Sound would rank Vertigo the greatest film of all time, dethroning the five decade reign of Welles' own film, Citizen Kane. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

32

CRACKED.COM TRULY TRAGIC STREET LAMP BELFRY SKELETON HIGH AND SKINNY PYRAMID OF IRON LADDERS HALF-BUILT FACTORY PIPE Such were the opinions of Guy de Maupassant and other celebrated men of letters, who protested the erection in the very heart of our capital, of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower in 1887. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

31

When Predator came out, it was called derivative, predictable, dull, and grisly. CRACKED.COM PREDATOR And the Predator's design was panned: Frankly, scarier critters have checked into Roach Motels. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

30

His LADY - 20a - - - AMERICAN BLUEJACKET Now recognized to be a punk rock masterpiece, the first RAMONES album was met with disgust. They had a hard time getting any radio play, and the album was compared to the sound of 10,000 toilets flushing. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

29

GRACKED.COM NO 15 Akira Kurosawa, the auteur behind Rashomon, was widely hated in his home country Japan for pandering to Western values. PANAVISION — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

28

CRACKED COM The Simpsons nearly got cancelled before it aired. YUMMYDONUES After the first viewing of the pilot episode, One Enchanted Evening, both the writers and the network executives were displeased. The writing wasn't great, but it was the animation that really turned them off. Luckily, the next episode, Bart the Genius, was better and saved the series from an early death. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

27

The New Yorker thought the prose in Slaughterhouse-Five left something to be desired. A 1969 review called its deliberate simplicity... as hazardous as the grand style, and said that Vonnegut occasionally skids into fatuousness. So it goes. D Crusade A NEW NOVEL BY KURT VONNEGUT.JR. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

26

FANTASIA CRACKED.COM The movie was disliked by the studio that was meant to distribute it, RKO. They dismissed it as a longhair musical. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

25

CRACKED.COM Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here 20 In 1975, the band's follow-up to The Dark Side of the Moon left many critics wishing for something better. Rolling Stone magazine declared that the epic song Shine on You Crazy Diamond, about their original lead singer, Syd Barrett, was so boring that they might as well be singing about Roger Waters's brother-in-law getting a parking ticket. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

24

CRACKED.COM Most reviews shredded Friends when it premiered. They complained the characters just aimlessly drank coffee and chatted, and that the show used pop culture references too much. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

23

Remember back in 2006 er how a the internet novie choi reacted, when Heath Ledger was ter om an an22 cast as the Joker? BAD casting.. er? A joke uth_park300 on 07-21-2006 05:55 Heath Ledger? Really? I mean, really now? pradeep55 on 07-21-2006 08:04 AM Hell NOOOOOO Posted by: Peter I I July I am NOT seeing this movie if he is in it. 10FootJackGilardi on 07-21-200 Ledger justreah great, Jokeback Mountain. eply Flag Spam doesn't have Heath Ledger is an embarrassmer what it takes. the guy couldn't act his way out of But regardless of the bad reception... A — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

22

Some early reviews called HBO's Game of Thrones kids' fare, with things for grown-ups put in. GAMEOF THRONES It was boy fiction with a heart of geek that never lets the rest of us in, full of favorites of the infantile. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

21

Bambi made no money early on, and critics called it stuff like entirely unpleasant. They said the movie was awful because the animals were so animal-like, unlike Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

20

Some critics quickly dismissed Breaking Bad as being Malcolm in the Meth Lab. 35 Br eaking 56 Bad The New York Times even called the first few episodes a hard slog, that lacked the originality and sparkle of AMC's first hit show, Mad Men. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

19

GRACKED.COM Initial reactions to the Shining were mixed to the point that... Stanley Kubrick was nominated for the first-ever Worst Director Razzie Award. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

18

CRACKED.COM A brazen Queen's lyrics are not the stuff hodge podge. of sonnets. -Rolling Stone - TIME Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was not received well by critics during its release. It is now one of their most iconic songs. — **Source:** **24 Pop Culture Iconic Things (That Bombed Initially)**

17

HOBBIT THE MOVIES weren't bombs. Each of them made more money worldwide than The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers each made. Only Return of the King did better at the box office. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

16

CRACKED.COM Men in Black 3 bombed in the U.S. and Canada, but more than made up for it overseas. The sci-fi comedy has foreign audiences (who still love Will Smith like it's 1996) to thank for its $654 million worldwide gross, earning more than the previous two. Ironically, the 2019 reboot/spin-off is called Men in Black: International. — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

15

DESPITE A ROTTEN TOMATOES CONSENSUS OF HARDLY WORTH A QUARTER. PIXELS (2015) GROSSED OVER $244 MILLION WORLDWIDE, NEARLY DOUBLE ITS BUDGET. CRACKED COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

14

Everybody hates on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. But it made $873 million, and its $166 million Easter Weekend opening was the highest ever. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

13

CRACKED.COM THE HAPPENING was lambasted by critics and audiences for both the ridiculous premise, and the wooden acting. TOMATOMETER AUDIENCE SCORE 18% 24% In fact, word of mouth kept people flocking to it in droves, to see for themselves. It played in theaters for fourteen weeks and raked in more than triple its $48 million budget worldwide. — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

12

Porky's is the fifth highest grossing movie of 1982, earning $327 million (adjusted for inflation). PORKY'S The teen sex comedy outperformed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, First Blood, and Best Picture winner Gandhi. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

11

The cringe-worthy Twilight parody, Vampires Suck, was far from a flop. It quadrupled its budget, raking in over $80 million worldwide. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

10

Source: 23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures

9

The Devil Inside, one of the many found-footage horror movies Hollywood used to crank out, was even despised by fans of the genre. Rotten Tomatoes: 6% CinemaScore: F The film ended up making $101 million worldwide. Which is even more impressive because its production budget was only $1 million. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

8

Remember that time Vin Diesel decided to make a sequel to a bad movie he did 15 years ago, and we all laughed at him? VIN DIESEL DONNIE YEN x RETURN OF XANDER CAGE Maybe we shouldn't have laughed, because that movie made $346 million worldwide (more than four times its production budget). CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

7

The Smurfs (2011) was critically panned, scoring only 22% positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, but that didn't stop it from making more than five times its budget. That's right, this terrible CGI-fest of a cartoon no one asked for made over $560 million with only $110 million budget. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

6

Dumb and Dumber To has a 29% Rotten Tomatoes score. But it made $170 million, and its budget was less than a quarter of that. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

5

Despite getting a horrible reception, and it being a completely unrequested Conjuring spin-off, The Nun was actually a massive hit. TOMATOMETER ? AUDIENCE SCORE ? 38% 26% liked it Not only did it bring in an incredible $365 million worldwide, it also outgrossed all of the movies in the Conjuring universe. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

4

Spider-Man 3, which has gained the reputation of being one of the worst comic book movies ever, was actually the highest- grossing film domestically in 2007. It has also made more money worldwide than any other Spider-Man-based movie -- $890 million, to be exact. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

3

Moonraker is usually said to be the worst Bond movie. COP It was the all-time highest-grossing one for 16 years. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

2

Jaws 2 is a glorified B-movie. JAWS CRACKED.COM 2 But until Rocky // came out, the year after, it was the highest-grossing sequel ever. — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

1

CRACKED.COM ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES has a pretty low Rotten Tomatoes score (51%) for being the #2 movie of 1991 (beating out Beauty And The Beast and Silence Of The Lambs.) Bryan Adams' cheesy soundtrack hit and Costner's sporadic English accent have given the movie a pretty silly legacy, but at the time it made a sh*t ton of money. — **Source:** **23 Wildly Successful Movie Failures**

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