Popular Comic Strips That Became Flop Movies; ONTD Original

[archersangel]

Some of the first comic strips appeared in U.S. newspapers in the late 1800s and for most of the 1900s there were at least 200 comic strips & cartoon panels. During the week these would often be in black & white, with the Sunday comic section, sometimes called the funnies (because the strips were humorous, although some were more like serialized

Comments

[amanda_aces]

I would never have known the 1982 Annie was a flop.
I grew up on that shit I thought it was the greatest film ever.

[noxonesxlooking]

Right?! I was obsessed with that movie and just assumed it was a hit lol. I never knew anyone who didn’t see it.

[sadteenager]

I feel like there's a conversation to be had about how certain ppl equate "flop" with "irrelevant," mostly fan communities and studio heads. nights of falling down wikipedia holes have taught me that so much iconic stuff from my childhood was considered a flop (I was shocked that the defining "Madeline" feature film wasn't the blockbuster success I thought it must have been.) Many "flops" go on to become super culturally relevant, but ofc studios only care about money and stan wars are a mess.

[sadteenager]

like... a film could be a box office smash bc ppl watch it for hype but it ends up being a forgettable movie.

[euraylie]

See Avatar. All that box office money and no cultural impact at all. No one knows the characters' names or can quote any of the dialogue.

[shortysc22]

It made two pretty Disney rides in Walt Disney World but that's about it for Avatar. And somehow they think we want sequels.

[archersangel]

If you looked at the audience reaction at the time it came out, sequels seemed like a good idea.
People were going to see it more than once & some were talking about how real life was so drab compared to the world the move was set in and they wanted to end it all because of it.

But I feel as time goes by, fewer people care and other than die hard fans, no one will want to see them.

[euraylie]

I think people went to see it because the visuals were amazing for the time. But I don’t remember there being a lot of people who were in love with the story or the characters. Some used it for Halloween costume inspiration that year, but that’s about it.

[fluxy_2535]

I feel this way when the stage musical version of Newsies is brought up, to be honest

[silverstarry]

ITA - The Princess Bride didn’t do great at the box office either but it’s such a well known pop culture reference that’s quoted and referenced all the time. If it wasn’t so well known, they wouldn’t be able to release a new DVD edition every five years for the past twenty years!

[genbu_no_miko24]

same!

[misscrystal]

For real. The number of times my old white teachers made us watch that movie when recess was rained out, I would have thought it was an multi-Oscar winning blockbuster.

[numara]

same. i loved the 99 version too!

[colonel_green]

One of many family films from the 1980s/1990s that did indifferent box office and then conquered on cable and VHS.

You’d never know that the Mara Wilson Matilda wasn’t a theatrical success.

[adam_pally]

Same. I watched this when I was a kid and never would have guessed it flopped at the box office

[not_moe_szyslak]

I was OBSESSED with Annie. Flop or not, it defined my childhood.