big little movies

Name and recommend movies that were not big box office successes but everybody knows and loves.

Here are mine: adventures in babysitting (elizabeth shue) and bronx tale (robert de niro and chazz palminterri).

300..

300 was a very big box office success, bringing in over $210 million (more than three times its budget) in North America alone.

Wow, we have different understandings of the word "everybody" and the term "knows and loves". Adventures in Babysitting is not anywhere near as well known as Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Sixteen Candles and the like. And A Bronx Tale is a great movie but also not the kind that has permeated pop culture.



The Princess Bride (1987 - Rob Reiner)

Despite decent reviews, The Princess Bride limped along to only about a $30-million domestic box office take in 1987...and despite my going to see it three times. This figure didn't put it even in the top forty for the year, a year that saw Three Men and a Baby, Fatal Attraction and Beverly Hills Cop II all in the top three spots with over $150-million each. Princess Bride even finished behind the likes of the Dragnet comedy with Aykroyd & Hanks, Outrageous Fortune with Bette Midler & Shelly Long, the body-switching dud Like Father, Like Son with Dudley Moore & Kirk Cameron, Andrew McCarthy romancing Kim Catrall's Mannequin and yes, even Adventures in Babysitting. They were all bigger box office success than The Princess Bride. I know what you're thinking: "Inconceivable!"

Now of course The Princess Bride is a beloved favorite that most of us probably have at least a dozen lines memorized from, characters we adore, and generally love just every single thing about, scarcely being able to pass it when flipping around television even though you have it on VHS, three different DVD versions and know it by heart. It did not develop that deeply beloved status until after it hit VHS and cable TV and more and more people started discovering it over the subsequent years. The $30-million was still enough to nearly double its modest budget, so an accountant may classify it a hit in relation to cost. But where it finished among the other movies released that year, many of which have been pretty well forgotten and certainly not cherished in such a way, is in stark contrast to how The Princess Bride is seen and remembered and celebrated today.


THAT is what I would consider a movie "everybody" indeed "knows and loves". Adventures in Babysitting? Maybe in your house, which is cool, but I don't think it meets the universality test.

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I agree with Holden on "The Princess Bride" and "Ferris Bueller's day off". I would also add "Top Secret", "This is Spinal Tap", and "Better Off Dead" (I want my $2!!!!!)

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There's too much blood in my caffeine system!!

Also not really sure why we have to name or recommend them if they're already known and loved by everybody.

Hah, Partimus, I loved that too (I want my $2)

Coincidentally, the paper kid, played by Yano Anaya is also the bully's toady in:

A Christmas Story


Which is most definitley known by all and loved by most and grossed only $19m in box office spoils.

"You keep on using that word... I do not think it means what you think it means."

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I like the Boondock Saints, not sure if that is as well known, also The Evil Dead didn't do to great at the box office... and that is pretty well known

If everybody doesn't 'know and love' The Boondock Saints, they should! Great movie!

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Yeah, but sadly I know alot of people who know it and hate it

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stardust

grossed only 38m in NA. with a budget of 70m. dissapointing revenue generation but great movie!

I agree with the Boondock Saints comment. That movie is amazing.

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I'd have to submit "Your Friends & Neighbors," as a title that reached a miniature peak, financially, but soared as an overwhelming success in regards to the socialized satire it touched upon. It's simplicity remains untouched by sausage stew! In other words, it's often criticized as vomit, but tastes as sweet as candy; quite frankly due to the nature of its relativity with an audience. (I can laugh at Jason Patric, but only because I'm too embarrassed to agree with the nature of his ways.)

Dodgeball and Garden State.

Although you guyses might not know/love Large's Ark like me....

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Dodgeball has been somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me. It nostalgically reminds me of Ben Stiller's similar performance in Disney's 1995 production of Heavyweights, which ran hysteria straight into the bellies of all who took the time to view such a small film. There's something humorous in a character so self-indulged in a physical idea that becomes a bit taboo for an average adult (children take this sort of thing a little less seriously, I think). It's oddly interesting that as America has become a dynamic victim of obesity, Dodgeball and Heavyweights appeals to more people than ever before.

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I have to agree Princess Bride and Boondock Saints are both incredible movies that did not make it big in the theaters. Heck I never even heard of Boondock Saints till one of my friends told me I had to check it out. I did and bought it the next day. Great Movie.

Princess Bride is a classic "Who would have thought that Andre the Giant" would be the best pro wrestler to act.

Another one I think everyone knows is Hellraiser... It didn't break the top 50 in 1987 and that means it was behind Ernest goes to jail. Great movie that became known as one of the best horror movies of all time!!!

Yeah "Princess Pride" is great, I love watching that movie. I've heard from many that "Stardust" was excellent. "Boondock Saints" was pretty decent IMO

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I highly recommend the movie Serenity, which is a continuation of the t.v. show Firefly
and the movie Equilibrium, they are among my favorite movies, yet did quite poorly at the box office

Fast Times At Ridgemont High earned only $2.5 million in its opening weekend. The release was later widened to 713 theaters, earning $3.25 million,

Office Space only recieved like 10 million in theaters i think

The Outsiders also faired poorly i think

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Agree with Garden State and Princess Bride
Add: Mumford, Dark City and Office Space