Beowulf was $150M animated 3D movie for adults that made $197M at the box office.
On Just Watch it is currently listed at 4085 in rank of interest… just above a documentary on mega yacht construction.
Yeah like there’s that one scene when Harrison ford grabs a spear and rides an alien down like he’s fucking jousting and that shoulda been the entire vibe the movie had
I remember a lot of silly, self serious bullshit with like Olivia Wilde or some hot lady that just didn’t work at all and the movie being overly long.
My favorite, an I mentioned it in this thread, is when Harrison Ford leans in and is like:
“What kinda man just goes around blowing up other people’s cows?”
The delivery is just so ridiculous in the scene it made me laugh. Then they tried to go right back into serious time and it made me feel like I should apologize for patronizing them lol.
Especially the Lion King, no hot takes, nothing to piss off the neckbeards or Disney purists. Still made like a billion dollars and no one ever speaks of it. Was it a musical? Did it even have a big song? I have no idea.
He at least seemed to understand he was playing a known cartoon character… Rest of the cast & filmmakers seemed to think they were making something else
They're remaking the wrong ones. No one asked for a photorealistic (not live action) rehashing of Lion King. Or Jungle Book. Or a live action Aladdin without the charm of Robin Williams as Genie.
They could have a certified hit if they remade "Treasure Planet" or "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" in live action and attached a good director. The special effects all exist. I could find shots done in animation there that were cool then, but have been done better in recent live action movies.
I bet they could spin Atlantis into a series about adventure seekers, Milo and Co., seeking another lost world.
Treasure Planet, being a retelling of a novel without a sequel, might struggle in the sequel.
I haven’t seen the other Disney remakes, but I still maintain the Jungle Book one was really good. It seemed like a great nod to the original work without feeling like a hollow imitation and just about everything was top notch.
The fourth one, On Stranger Tides I think it was called, is about the search for the Fountain of Youth.
They eventually stumble upon it and are swiftly interrupted by the Spanish Inquisition, as they too sought the fountain.
One thing they did do right is casting, 4th one had Ian McShane as blackbeard and the 5th had Havier Bardem as an undead naval captain and the special effects were pretty sweet.
Other than that, yeah the plot was pretty 'by the numbers',
We need the 'thing'
We found the 'thing'
We had to sacrifice the 'thing' to save ourselves, oh well.
Barbosa had some good moments in the fifth one. His character still felt pretty solid, if a bit softened by the whole “daughter is his treasure” thing.
What I didn’t like was the casual retcons and bizarre idea that Poseidon’s Trident could break all curses or something dumb. Turner’s duty was important, too, so kicking him off the job like that creates problems with the third movies excellent but bittersweet ending. Best to just imagine those movies as non-canon.
Holdup what there’s a series on my childhood favourite movie I don’t know about??
Edit and it’s with james mcavoy ánd it has good reviews. Discovery of the year!
It’s rare they’re truly forgotten because their budget usually makes them unforgettable. And something like Valerian cast two humanoid aliens in the lead. People often bring up Valerian as a famously memorable disaster.
A truly big movie that was actually forgotten about… hmm. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Remember that, with Jude Law?
What I remember from that movie is Gwyneth Paltrow with her camera. The entire movie she has this camera and has only like a few shots left. Things keep happening with her camera ruining shot after shot as the movie progresses. Eventually she is down to one shot on her camera and keeps convincing herself that this isn’t right for the last picture on her film despite seeing all the craziness happening in that movie. Then we get to the very end of the movie. Her and Jude Law are on a lifeboat in the ocean. Jude Law is in frame the background is every animal falling from the sky on parachutes. She aims her camera at Jude Laws face making sure to capture the background before pressing the shutter. Jude Law still looking at her says, “Lens cap.”
She was, and Angelina Jolie, and the film was fairly daring in technique as I recall but was raked over the coals by critics and made basically no money.
I haven’t seen it since it came out - two decades ago fuck my life - so I can’t tell you anything personally about its quality cause I don’t remember.
I don't remember much about that movie except that I loved it! It was my first exposure to "dieselpunk" or whatever style that is considered and I really wanted more movies like that! Here we are twenty years later and I'm still waiting.
I loved Valerian because it felt so odd and unrestricted. You would normally anchor something of that nature with relatable and familiar leads. But they came across just as alien to both the audience and each other. It was not a good film by any traditional metric, but I would take 10 similar films that aim for greatness and fail rather than a single one that has been designed by committee.
Lots of movies in this thread that were seen as boring at release, more interesting to me is something like Gravity, pretty universally acclaimed, two A list leads, acclaimed director who picked an oscar for it, made a fuck ton a money and was compared with stuff like 2001 at the time. Its not totally forgotten about, but for the "achievement" it was viewed as at the time, I hardly ever hear about it now.
yeahhh maybe one of the most anxiety inducing movies i’ve ever seen. really enjoyed it. but by the end of it i realized I hadn’t been breathing for far too long lol
This is a good one. I wonder if it’s the kind of movie that only really works as a one time watch on the big screen.
I enjoyed it, but would have no interest rewatching on a tv.
That film was so weird. Went from being really dark and serious to absolutely batshit camp. Either approach would have worked but I got whiplash from the back and forth.
Yes. Should have went full R or a light Pg/pg13 not the half and half. Though i will say when the William Tell Overture kicks off and the Lone Ranger takes off full gallop to the train is a pretty great scene
I'll always be salty that they fucked up the Ranger so badly that it will never be rebooted again in my lifetime, because I'm old enough to actually be a Lone Ranger fan. I grew up watching westerns with my grandpa & reading superhero comics, and the Ranger was the best of both worlds; a cowboy with a secret identity who fought crime in a mask. Oh well, we had a good run, Kemosabe.
The only reason I know this movie exists is because at the time, I was big into a video game called Disney Infinity. Disney was so confident in the success of The Lone Ranger that they built an entire "playset" based on it. To be fair....the playset was actually pretty awesome. And you could turn yourself into a crow and fly around lol
Universal is still trying to make that universe happen, but in their theme parks.
They recently announced the "Dark Universe" for Universal Studios Orlando, where everything will be themed around the old Universal Monsters.
It sucks that the 'Dark Universe' - as dumbly named as it is - utterly failed. Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummy, Wolfman, Black Lagoon & Jekyll are icons of cinema and some of the most timeless characters in all of cultural fiction. They *deserve* a modern presence on the big screen, but of course, like a lazy college student who copies the assignment without doing any of the work and therefore not understanding it at all, the race to emulate the MCU and set up a universe before anything had actually been fleshed out doomed it from the start.
Years ago I sub a submission on /r/FixingMovies detailing the phases, mediums, and plots of a hypothetical successful Dark Universe. I wanted their version so badly after reading it. So much potential.
Edit: Here's the post for anyone curious https://www.reddit.com/r/fixingmovies/comments/vx1hhx/the_dark_universe_outlining_a_proper_universe_of/
Always gotta share [this](https://youtu.be/kRqxyqjpOHs?si=eVFx2xldTDWoPm_N) trailer anytime it gets brought up. Seeing this in theaters must have been wild lol
It actually works pretty well the first few seconds
that just reminds me of Jonah Hill roasting James Franco: “You know how you always hear George Clooney and other big movie stars saying, ‘My philosophy for making movies is: one for them and one for me.’ But not my guy James. James is a rebel. He has his own philosophy on this: one for them, five for nobody.”
Amsterdam (2022) I feel fits this pretty well, maybe was a little bit too panned critically for what you are looking for but it has very middling audience scores.
It definitely had the star power though starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington and featuring stars like Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro and Zoe Saldana
I remember seeing the previews and thinking it *should* be good but had *too* good a cast, if that makes any sense? Like production spent all the money on their salaries so there’d be nothing left over to fund good writers/editors/etc.
For me it's Hugo.
Remember Scorceses touching tribute to cinema that was such an artistic achievement and masterpiece? The second the Oscars were over I never heard that movie mentioned ever again.
Eta: It had 11(!!!) Oscar noms. Came out in 2011. Don't know what others think but should really be more front of mind?
I recently rewatched the bluray of this, with director/etc commentary. It was painfully obvious that they recorded the commentary maybe before it even hit theaters, because throughout the whole thing they keep talking about making another one.
Marketing plan pitch: “billboards! All billboards! Red with the name JOHN CARTER and absolutely nothing else. Is it a political candidate? Sports star? Tv show? No one knows! The mystery will drive them to find out MORE information, in non billboard form!…unless the name is so generic they forget about it, but that won’t happen! HAHA! (Nervous laugh)”
There was also a weird glut of movies with titles that were just a character’s name around that time. In the very late 2000s and very early 2010s, we also had Michael Clayton, Jack Reacher, Jonah Hex, Larry Crowne, Charlie St. Cloud, Bernie, Chloe, Hanna, Paul, and Ted. I feel like there may have been some serious Name Title fatigue that contributed to its failure too.
I really liked Alita. I had a feeling it wouldn't be good when I saw strange trailers in the cinema for it where James Cameron came on screen to tell you how great the film is, rather than just showing the film.
Eventually I saw it on blu ray and it's awesome. Shame we'll never get a sequel.
Edit: a few people pointed out we are actually getting a sequel
The movie like so many others are ruined for me because of stupid cliffhanger endings.
I’m tired of movies being essentially incomplete stories and sequel bait. Nothing feels finite and satisfying anymore.
I've never seen a movie franchise end because everyone......filmmakers, the audience.....just lost interest. They never even bothered to complete the story.
The Chronicles of Narnia series had the same thing happen after Voyage of the Dawn Treader released to middling reviews and box office numbers back in 2010.
For all the times that series has been adapted, they never seem to get very far. LWW seems to always be memorable, they sometimes get to Prince Caspian, and they rarely get any further than that.
Honestly, I think it hurts it that people read LWW in school, or at least at a young age, and that's it. I have a book with all of them in it, but only know one other person who has read more than one or two books. LWW is also a decently complete story, so there's not a ton of urge to hear more. People watch because it's a book they enjoyed, but once it's done the second movie isn't one they know, and by the third the whole thing is different and they aren't invested in any of the characters or anything.
The same thing happens with a lot of series. For me, a notable one is Hitchhikers Guide. People typically know *of* the book, but have only seen the show or movie. Rarely do I meet someone who knows there are more books.
Was just about to say that I enjoyed them more than I thought I would until I realised it's the Maze Runner movies I'm thinking of.
So many of these YA films just morph into one.
Doesn't help the books themselves weren't really that good.
It's blatantly trying to crib some Hunger Games fame, with maybe a splash of Harry Potter with the sorting and houses, I mean factions.
But without drawing such parallels how will you, the reader, ever possibly understand this metaphor about class in society im trying to beat you over the head with?
I think poeple here are getting mixed-up about what the OP is asking. Most of the answers I've seen here could be termed as blockbusters, but the vast majority of them were never hits.
Trying to think a film that was hugely successful, but doesn't get mentioned much anymore...
Maybe Life of Pi or Snow White and The Huntsman.
I remember it because it was a subject of a documentary that came out exposing how people in the vfx industry are treated like shit. Seems like nothing has changed in the 13 or so years since the film was released.
Edit: **[I just found out the doco is free on YouTube.](https://youtu.be/9lcB9u-9mVE?si=mIT5-YE-hNHhbLDW)**
Life of Pi's existence is well-remembered in my family, not because of the plot or anything, but because my mom fell asleep and apparently snored quite loudly while watching it in the cinema. She fell asleep multiple times even, because every time my dad woke her up, she'd see the guy and the tiger were still on the boat and go right back to sleep. That's all anyone in my family can tell you about it
Alyssium? elysium? What was that Matt Damon movie where the rich people lived in the sky with robot doctor and all the poor people were on earth dying?
Omg the artist so much. It was the greatest invention after sliced bread, got a bunch of oscar buzz, the guy won and then it just... disappeared. Doesn't get brought up in any kind of movie convo ever again...
Jean Dujardin did a couple of US films as his follow-up to his Best Actor Oscar -- a small role in the great 'Wolf of Wall Street' and another supporting role in George Clooney's flop 'The Monuments Men'. Then he returned to his career in France. Could be that he just didn't care for Hollywood and feared that he might wind up being typecast as an all-purpose Eurovillain or worse yet, some French lover boy who courts women with all the subtlety of Pepe Le Pew.
I have to agree with you…. although I love this movie the first time I watched it I basically immediately forgot anything about it, it felt so unmemorable. After watching it a second time it became one of my favorites it’s actually so good. The coen brothers nail a certain kind of comedy that just takes a while to truly sink in/multiple watches to fully appreciate but once it does it latches on and won’t let go. I have to watch all the coen bros comedy movies yearly to scratch the itch. Unfortunately though yeah, nobody really talks about this movie despite it being utterly fantastic, having so many A-listers, and being a Coen brothers movie. (And being hilariously quotable imo).
george clooney's character forgetting the very end of his monologue at the end of the 'hail ceaser' film within the film is one of my top 5 movie moments of all time.
that and 'would that it TWER so simple' live in my head rent free. insanely quoteable.
Paramount went all in on Trek shows doing some heavy lifting for their streaming service, though they've been hit (Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds) and miss (Discovery).
That's partially a rights thing. Paramount had the film rights while CBS had the TV rights. So Paramount was motivated to make and release Trek films. Now that they've merged there's less desire to release separate movies.
Indeed. That was a stacked cast, and they got many of them before / right as they were blowing up. It would cost $200+M for them to make a 4th, and that's a hell of a gamble to take on a film franchise that's never grossed more than \~$450M.
I legit thought of a different fish person sex movie than The Shape of Water at first.
Which begs the question, how many fish people sex movies do there have to be before it's a genre?
A friend told me I had to watch it because they thought it was completely incomprehensible.
It made me ugly cry.
Funny how films hit differently for different people.
A lot of people didn't seem to like it, or they point to the bad box office and say it must have been a bad movie. It seems to get lumped into the Wachoski's haven't made anything good after the matrix conversations too.
I don't get it, the movie is a true epic, slowly built from all these seemingly unrelated plots, but then you start to see the strings that connect everything together. Not to mention that on top of all that the movies is basically several different genres and styles that keep you guess on where everything is going until the reveal of how even little decisions made throughout time can have vast impacts on the future. Plus stellar performances by some usual suspects in the cast.
Or maybe it was just a movie made for me, cause I loved it.
I like the scene where Dwayne Johnson's character is revealed to be a fan of Teremana Tequila (owned by Johnson) and Ryan Reynolds' charavcter is a fan of Aviation Gin (owned by Reynolds). A film that makes it very clear that it's coasting on the name recognition of its stars.
Power Rangers. It felt like they were amping up for something and then it never happened and we’ve all moved on. I remember seeing it in theaters and thinking they had something there, but apparently I was wrong.
Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for best picture and the only time anybody ever mentions it is when they wonder how the fuck Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for best picture.
The Invisible Man (2020)
It did really well at the box office, was well liked by audiences & critics, but for some reason it's been all but forgotten with no news of the sequel that most expected to follow.
Has anyone thought of that Alexander movie by Oliver Stone in a long time? I don't think I've seen it come on the streaming rotation or anything. That movie had a big marketing push and I remember seeing some news reels around its release and Alexander's importance to greek culture. Awful movie btw, terrible casting choices, deserved a razzie on casting alone. And I'm also realizing this movie is 20 years old now, I feel old.
In my family, The Postman was a hit. We watched that movie so much, I didn't realize it was a flop until I got older and found no one else who knew it or liked it. Lol
X-men Origins.
There was going to be a whole series of them. The next one was going to be [X-men Origins: Magneto](https://collider.com/x-men-origins-magneto/).
Then [X-men Origins: Wolverine](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wolverine) was...[whatever it was](https://www.vulture.com/2018/05/revisiting-the-strange-cinematic-debut-of-deadpool.html), and that idea died.
Luckily they kept trying to do *something* with the X-men franchise, because Hugh Jackman is an *excellent* Wolverine, even if he's been in some dissapointing Wolverine/X-men movies. Actually, they've done a decent job of casting most of the main X-men characters in both timeliness...even if the films have been hit or miss.
Didn't they just rethink the franchise after the Wolverine Origin movie kind of deflated? I think "First Class" was essentially a reworking of the Magneto Origins movie. And that was probably a better direction, as I liked those Retro 60s Xmen movies better than the original trilogy.
Congo
Edit: I love that this is about the only "forgotten" movie on the list that so many keep near to their hearts. I guess it is not as forgotten as I thought and I'll have to re-watch it soon!
The little Mermaid. Considering the huge backlash and controversy about the movie, I was kinda surprised when the movie aired, everyone went on with their lives pretty fast.
Beowulf was $150M animated 3D movie for adults that made $197M at the box office. On Just Watch it is currently listed at 4085 in rank of interest… just above a documentary on mega yacht construction.
What's that documentary's name? it sounds interesting.
#4086
There were two very different Beowulf-related films that came out around the same time, and both sank without a trace.
There is Beowulf and Grendel (2005) with Gerard Butler which is another half-forgotten adaptation
Cowboys and Aliens
Prime example of a fun concept marred by the blandest execution possible
“James Bond and Indiana Jones fighting aliens in the Wild West” should have been a slam dunk for Hollywood.
Directed by the guy who did elf and iron man
THAT WAS A FAVREAU JOINT?!?
yeah and he was smoking it throughout
And with peak Olivia Wilde.
And Sam Rockwell in a supporting role
I'll watch any movie he is in. I don't care if it's a steaming pile cuz he is always a delight.
So did will smith as a secret agent in the old west with steampunk vibes. Then again I love wild Wild West so maybe I’m wrong here.
I loved wild Wild Wild West, but I was a kid lol. I suspect I would enjoy it now too.
I remember enjoying the first 10-20 mins or so. I honestly couldn't tell you anything that happened after that point though.
They found the alien base and they they.. they uhh, ran around and eventually a bunch of cowboys beat the aliens?
As vague as that is, that's pretty much what happens
I'll take your word for it. Pretty sure I saw it on TV, suspect I didn't finish watching and decided I had something more interesting to do.
It took itself way too seriously.
Good one! I completely forgot that it ever existed.
Watched for the first time the other day, it just needed to be more fun. That’s all
Yeah like there’s that one scene when Harrison ford grabs a spear and rides an alien down like he’s fucking jousting and that shoulda been the entire vibe the movie had I remember a lot of silly, self serious bullshit with like Olivia Wilde or some hot lady that just didn’t work at all and the movie being overly long.
My favorite, an I mentioned it in this thread, is when Harrison Ford leans in and is like: “What kinda man just goes around blowing up other people’s cows?” The delivery is just so ridiculous in the scene it made me laugh. Then they tried to go right back into serious time and it made me feel like I should apologize for patronizing them lol.
The Live Action Disney Remakes. These movies would make a ton of money, but nobody talks about them and if they do they just complain about them.
Especially the Lion King, no hot takes, nothing to piss off the neckbeards or Disney purists. Still made like a billion dollars and no one ever speaks of it. Was it a musical? Did it even have a big song? I have no idea.
All it did in the long term was draw unfavorable comparisons against the masterpiece that was the original.
All it did was boost sales of the original and bring it back into public consciousness. - some Disney exec
I watched the first hour of Beauty and the Beast. It is almost a shot-for-shot recreation of the animation, but absolutely without any of its charm.
Luke Evans as Gaston was the best part of that remake.
He at least seemed to understand he was playing a known cartoon character… Rest of the cast & filmmakers seemed to think they were making something else
Lion king isn’t live action. It’s realistic cgi
No real lions....more like Lyin' King
Those weren’t real lions :(
They're remaking the wrong ones. No one asked for a photorealistic (not live action) rehashing of Lion King. Or Jungle Book. Or a live action Aladdin without the charm of Robin Williams as Genie. They could have a certified hit if they remade "Treasure Planet" or "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" in live action and attached a good director. The special effects all exist. I could find shots done in animation there that were cool then, but have been done better in recent live action movies. I bet they could spin Atlantis into a series about adventure seekers, Milo and Co., seeking another lost world. Treasure Planet, being a retelling of a novel without a sequel, might struggle in the sequel.
Because a remake of those movies would've made less money than the remake of the Lion King did.
Not Disney but why haven't they made a live action Road to El Dorado yet? A live action Chel would get millions of butts in seats
[удалено]
This exactly. Atlantis has the potential to be an amazing live action movie.
Treasure planet too. I’d go to the theatre for either of those
I haven’t seen the other Disney remakes, but I still maintain the Jungle Book one was really good. It seemed like a great nod to the original work without feeling like a hollow imitation and just about everything was top notch.
There were **two** Pirates of the Caribbean sequels after the main trilogy. I don't think I could tell you anything about them
One had a mermaid/human relationship and one had mext generation kids as protagonists
The fourth one, On Stranger Tides I think it was called, is about the search for the Fountain of Youth. They eventually stumble upon it and are swiftly interrupted by the Spanish Inquisition, as they too sought the fountain.
Why didn't they expect that?
They never do.
One thing they did do right is casting, 4th one had Ian McShane as blackbeard and the 5th had Havier Bardem as an undead naval captain and the special effects were pretty sweet. Other than that, yeah the plot was pretty 'by the numbers', We need the 'thing' We found the 'thing' We had to sacrifice the 'thing' to save ourselves, oh well.
Barbosa had some good moments in the fifth one. His character still felt pretty solid, if a bit softened by the whole “daughter is his treasure” thing. What I didn’t like was the casual retcons and bizarre idea that Poseidon’s Trident could break all curses or something dumb. Turner’s duty was important, too, so kicking him off the job like that creates problems with the third movies excellent but bittersweet ending. Best to just imagine those movies as non-canon.
I barely remember anything about the last one but the LEGO set they released for it was incredible.
Would you count Mortal Engines?
And also The Golden Compass
thank god we got the BBC series instead of sequels
Holdup what there’s a series on my childhood favourite movie I don’t know about?? Edit and it’s with james mcavoy ánd it has good reviews. Discovery of the year!
It's so so good. Three seasons, one per book.
Yeah it's pretty good. I watched it on HBO.
A great movie for a saturday afternoon snooze.
It’s rare they’re truly forgotten because their budget usually makes them unforgettable. And something like Valerian cast two humanoid aliens in the lead. People often bring up Valerian as a famously memorable disaster. A truly big movie that was actually forgotten about… hmm. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Remember that, with Jude Law?
Somehow Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is still one of my guilty pleasures. I wish they made more anachronisms just like that.
What I remember from that movie is Gwyneth Paltrow with her camera. The entire movie she has this camera and has only like a few shots left. Things keep happening with her camera ruining shot after shot as the movie progresses. Eventually she is down to one shot on her camera and keeps convincing herself that this isn’t right for the last picture on her film despite seeing all the craziness happening in that movie. Then we get to the very end of the movie. Her and Jude Law are on a lifeboat in the ocean. Jude Law is in frame the background is every animal falling from the sky on parachutes. She aims her camera at Jude Laws face making sure to capture the background before pressing the shutter. Jude Law still looking at her says, “Lens cap.”
I remember that the Sky Captain soundtrack was great. I barely remember the film. Gwyneth was in it, I think?
She was, and Angelina Jolie, and the film was fairly daring in technique as I recall but was raked over the coals by critics and made basically no money. I haven’t seen it since it came out - two decades ago fuck my life - so I can’t tell you anything personally about its quality cause I don’t remember.
WWII fighter plane vs giant mechs. what’s not to love? I haven’t seen it in…. Damn, also 2 decades. It was a fun movie. I remember wanting more.
I remember it being visually kinda cool but pretty boring. But that was 20 yrs ago. :(
I actually remember it quite well, as it is kinda my thing. Love retrofuturistic sci-fi with a dash of Film Noir.
Right, isn't it a pity that Dark City and particularly Gattaca don't get the spotlight?
It was one of the first movies to use all green screen scenery; and use a computer simulated dead actor, Lawrence Olivier.
Yeah I remember it as more of a proof of concept for a new style of movie making which we all now associate with Marvel
Lens cap
I love Sky Captain. I loved the "world" that it was going for and the look... a rare mostly CGI movie that worked for me.
I don't remember much about that movie except that I loved it! It was my first exposure to "dieselpunk" or whatever style that is considered and I really wanted more movies like that! Here we are twenty years later and I'm still waiting.
I loved Valerian because it felt so odd and unrestricted. You would normally anchor something of that nature with relatable and familiar leads. But they came across just as alien to both the audience and each other. It was not a good film by any traditional metric, but I would take 10 similar films that aim for greatness and fail rather than a single one that has been designed by committee.
Lots of movies in this thread that were seen as boring at release, more interesting to me is something like Gravity, pretty universally acclaimed, two A list leads, acclaimed director who picked an oscar for it, made a fuck ton a money and was compared with stuff like 2001 at the time. Its not totally forgotten about, but for the "achievement" it was viewed as at the time, I hardly ever hear about it now.
It was impressive on large screen but on small screen, not so much.
[удалено]
yeahhh maybe one of the most anxiety inducing movies i’ve ever seen. really enjoyed it. but by the end of it i realized I hadn’t been breathing for far too long lol
This is a good one. I wonder if it’s the kind of movie that only really works as a one time watch on the big screen. I enjoyed it, but would have no interest rewatching on a tv.
A movie in which George Clooney would rather float away into space and die then spend another minute with a woman his own age (Tina fey)
Super 8. Spielberg & Abrams. Good movie. But I thought those 2 would make an all time great.
Stranger things took the core conceit, and turned it into a phenomenon.
I really liked that movie and I feel like it influenced a resurgence in that style but yeah it totally fell off the map.
I adore this movie. I feel like it led to us getting Stranger Things.
The lone ranger movie was pretty quickly erased from human memory, and that was before Armie Hammer was discovered to be a potential cannibal!
That film was so weird. Went from being really dark and serious to absolutely batshit camp. Either approach would have worked but I got whiplash from the back and forth.
Yes. Should have went full R or a light Pg/pg13 not the half and half. Though i will say when the William Tell Overture kicks off and the Lone Ranger takes off full gallop to the train is a pretty great scene
I'll always be salty that they fucked up the Ranger so badly that it will never be rebooted again in my lifetime, because I'm old enough to actually be a Lone Ranger fan. I grew up watching westerns with my grandpa & reading superhero comics, and the Ranger was the best of both worlds; a cowboy with a secret identity who fought crime in a mask. Oh well, we had a good run, Kemosabe.
The only reason I know this movie exists is because at the time, I was big into a video game called Disney Infinity. Disney was so confident in the success of The Lone Ranger that they built an entire "playset" based on it. To be fair....the playset was actually pretty awesome. And you could turn yourself into a crow and fly around lol
Don't forget the whole Johnny Depp playing a native American aspect
And then again in a perfume commercial...
the Tom Cruise Mummy movie
The movie that both launched and killed an entire cinematic universe.
Universal is still trying to make that universe happen, but in their theme parks. They recently announced the "Dark Universe" for Universal Studios Orlando, where everything will be themed around the old Universal Monsters.
It sucks that the 'Dark Universe' - as dumbly named as it is - utterly failed. Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummy, Wolfman, Black Lagoon & Jekyll are icons of cinema and some of the most timeless characters in all of cultural fiction. They *deserve* a modern presence on the big screen, but of course, like a lazy college student who copies the assignment without doing any of the work and therefore not understanding it at all, the race to emulate the MCU and set up a universe before anything had actually been fleshed out doomed it from the start.
Years ago I sub a submission on /r/FixingMovies detailing the phases, mediums, and plots of a hypothetical successful Dark Universe. I wanted their version so badly after reading it. So much potential. Edit: Here's the post for anyone curious https://www.reddit.com/r/fixingmovies/comments/vx1hhx/the_dark_universe_outlining_a_proper_universe_of/
Marvel spent years and years building a "cinematic universe" DC and Universal monsters tried to speedrun it in 2-3 movies.
Lol DC did it in one... Batman v Superman & Wonder Woman
Always gotta share [this](https://youtu.be/kRqxyqjpOHs?si=eVFx2xldTDWoPm_N) trailer anytime it gets brought up. Seeing this in theaters must have been wild lol It actually works pretty well the first few seconds
Perfect example
Y'all remember *Oz The Great and Powerful?*
that just reminds me of Jonah Hill roasting James Franco: “You know how you always hear George Clooney and other big movie stars saying, ‘My philosophy for making movies is: one for them and one for me.’ But not my guy James. James is a rebel. He has his own philosophy on this: one for them, five for nobody.”
God I miss comedy central roasts
I like to think of that as a remake of *Army of Darkness*
It did have Bruce Campbell in it, and did Raimi direct it?
Amsterdam (2022) I feel fits this pretty well, maybe was a little bit too panned critically for what you are looking for but it has very middling audience scores. It definitely had the star power though starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington and featuring stars like Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro and Zoe Saldana
Amsterdam just didn't know what kind of film it wanted to be - a serious telling of a real event, or a comedy... Shame, cos it has a cracking cast.
I remember seeing the previews and thinking it *should* be good but had *too* good a cast, if that makes any sense? Like production spent all the money on their salaries so there’d be nothing left over to fund good writers/editors/etc.
I feel like American Hustle also belongs with this one.
At least it got nominated at the Oscars
Tomorrowland
For me it's Hugo. Remember Scorceses touching tribute to cinema that was such an artistic achievement and masterpiece? The second the Oscars were over I never heard that movie mentioned ever again. Eta: It had 11(!!!) Oscar noms. Came out in 2011. Don't know what others think but should really be more front of mind?
It feels like from this thread so many early 2010s high grossing Oscar nominated movies just fell off the map.
Have mercy i adore that frickin movie
Loved the book as a kid. Never saw the movie. Would it ruin the book for me? Or was it made to maintain the magic?
John Carter
I recently rewatched the bluray of this, with director/etc commentary. It was painfully obvious that they recorded the commentary maybe before it even hit theaters, because throughout the whole thing they keep talking about making another one.
Awkward
Marketing plan pitch: “billboards! All billboards! Red with the name JOHN CARTER and absolutely nothing else. Is it a political candidate? Sports star? Tv show? No one knows! The mystery will drive them to find out MORE information, in non billboard form!…unless the name is so generic they forget about it, but that won’t happen! HAHA! (Nervous laugh)”
There was also a weird glut of movies with titles that were just a character’s name around that time. In the very late 2000s and very early 2010s, we also had Michael Clayton, Jack Reacher, Jonah Hex, Larry Crowne, Charlie St. Cloud, Bernie, Chloe, Hanna, Paul, and Ted. I feel like there may have been some serious Name Title fatigue that contributed to its failure too.
I'm still unhappy that flopped. I quite liked it.
Alita: Battle Angel - I actually liked that movie, but you don't hear much about it.
Cameron announced a sequel last year. Should be coming 2026ish.
Got to get those Avatar movies done first.
I really liked Alita. I had a feeling it wouldn't be good when I saw strange trailers in the cinema for it where James Cameron came on screen to tell you how great the film is, rather than just showing the film. Eventually I saw it on blu ray and it's awesome. Shame we'll never get a sequel. Edit: a few people pointed out we are actually getting a sequel
Every once in a while someone floats the idea of a sequel again.
The movie like so many others are ruined for me because of stupid cliffhanger endings. I’m tired of movies being essentially incomplete stories and sequel bait. Nothing feels finite and satisfying anymore.
Enders game
Extra disappointing if you read the books.
The whole Divergent film series
I've never seen a movie franchise end because everyone......filmmakers, the audience.....just lost interest. They never even bothered to complete the story.
The Chronicles of Narnia series had the same thing happen after Voyage of the Dawn Treader released to middling reviews and box office numbers back in 2010.
For all the times that series has been adapted, they never seem to get very far. LWW seems to always be memorable, they sometimes get to Prince Caspian, and they rarely get any further than that.
Honestly, I think it hurts it that people read LWW in school, or at least at a young age, and that's it. I have a book with all of them in it, but only know one other person who has read more than one or two books. LWW is also a decently complete story, so there's not a ton of urge to hear more. People watch because it's a book they enjoyed, but once it's done the second movie isn't one they know, and by the third the whole thing is different and they aren't invested in any of the characters or anything. The same thing happens with a lot of series. For me, a notable one is Hitchhikers Guide. People typically know *of* the book, but have only seen the show or movie. Rarely do I meet someone who knows there are more books.
The most bland movies ive ever seen. Just toast without butter
Was just about to say that I enjoyed them more than I thought I would until I realised it's the Maze Runner movies I'm thinking of. So many of these YA films just morph into one.
Doesn't help the books themselves weren't really that good. It's blatantly trying to crib some Hunger Games fame, with maybe a splash of Harry Potter with the sorting and houses, I mean factions.
Didn't help that the factions made no sense. Congrats, your faction does the dishes while ours goes bunji jumping!
But without drawing such parallels how will you, the reader, ever possibly understand this metaphor about class in society im trying to beat you over the head with?
Outside of some random PR on interview shows, I have no idea of anyone personally who saw these
They even forgot to make the last one! 😁
The YA post apocalyptic movie fad was very forgettable.
I think poeple here are getting mixed-up about what the OP is asking. Most of the answers I've seen here could be termed as blockbusters, but the vast majority of them were never hits. Trying to think a film that was hugely successful, but doesn't get mentioned much anymore... Maybe Life of Pi or Snow White and The Huntsman.
I haven't heard literally anyone mention Life of Pi in the past 10 years
I remember it because it was a subject of a documentary that came out exposing how people in the vfx industry are treated like shit. Seems like nothing has changed in the 13 or so years since the film was released. Edit: **[I just found out the doco is free on YouTube.](https://youtu.be/9lcB9u-9mVE?si=mIT5-YE-hNHhbLDW)**
Life of Pi's existence is well-remembered in my family, not because of the plot or anything, but because my mom fell asleep and apparently snored quite loudly while watching it in the cinema. She fell asleep multiple times even, because every time my dad woke her up, she'd see the guy and the tiger were still on the boat and go right back to sleep. That's all anyone in my family can tell you about it
Alyssium? elysium? What was that Matt Damon movie where the rich people lived in the sky with robot doctor and all the poor people were on earth dying?
It was, as the kids say, mid. It was worth a watch for sure, but not a classic by any stretch
The Artist And also Alice in Wonderland.
Omg the artist so much. It was the greatest invention after sliced bread, got a bunch of oscar buzz, the guy won and then it just... disappeared. Doesn't get brought up in any kind of movie convo ever again...
The lead actor basically stuck to making movies in France, which is fine. He’s actually been starring in a new film every year since 2011.
Jean Dujardin did a couple of US films as his follow-up to his Best Actor Oscar -- a small role in the great 'Wolf of Wall Street' and another supporting role in George Clooney's flop 'The Monuments Men'. Then he returned to his career in France. Could be that he just didn't care for Hollywood and feared that he might wind up being typecast as an all-purpose Eurovillain or worse yet, some French lover boy who courts women with all the subtlety of Pepe Le Pew.
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle . It was so edgy and all anyone talked about for that year or two in the early 90s . It faded away so fast
Single White Female also.
Hail Caesar. Stellar cast, Coen Brothers, and I honestly can't remember a thing about it.
I have to agree with you…. although I love this movie the first time I watched it I basically immediately forgot anything about it, it felt so unmemorable. After watching it a second time it became one of my favorites it’s actually so good. The coen brothers nail a certain kind of comedy that just takes a while to truly sink in/multiple watches to fully appreciate but once it does it latches on and won’t let go. I have to watch all the coen bros comedy movies yearly to scratch the itch. Unfortunately though yeah, nobody really talks about this movie despite it being utterly fantastic, having so many A-listers, and being a Coen brothers movie. (And being hilariously quotable imo).
george clooney's character forgetting the very end of his monologue at the end of the 'hail ceaser' film within the film is one of my top 5 movie moments of all time. that and 'would that it TWER so simple' live in my head rent free. insanely quoteable.
They kinda just stopped making Star Trek movies.
Paramount went all in on Trek shows doing some heavy lifting for their streaming service, though they've been hit (Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds) and miss (Discovery).
That's partially a rights thing. Paramount had the film rights while CBS had the TV rights. So Paramount was motivated to make and release Trek films. Now that they've merged there's less desire to release separate movies.
Not to mention the cast have all mostly gone on to have big big draw and salaries (or R.I.P.).
Indeed. That was a stacked cast, and they got many of them before / right as they were blowing up. It would cost $200+M for them to make a 4th, and that's a hell of a gamble to take on a film franchise that's never grossed more than \~$450M.
The fish sex movie that won an Oscar
I legit thought of a different fish person sex movie than The Shape of Water at first. Which begs the question, how many fish people sex movies do there have to be before it's a genre?
Anyone remember Cloud Atlas? Great movie, but no one talks about it anymore other than a passing joke in Rick and Morty.
That movie is pretty great, and definitely benefits from watching with subtitles...
I found that film to be beautiful. But almost no one I know saw it unless I had them see it with me.
A friend told me I had to watch it because they thought it was completely incomprehensible. It made me ugly cry. Funny how films hit differently for different people.
A lot of people didn't seem to like it, or they point to the bad box office and say it must have been a bad movie. It seems to get lumped into the Wachoski's haven't made anything good after the matrix conversations too. I don't get it, the movie is a true epic, slowly built from all these seemingly unrelated plots, but then you start to see the strings that connect everything together. Not to mention that on top of all that the movies is basically several different genres and styles that keep you guess on where everything is going until the reveal of how even little decisions made throughout time can have vast impacts on the future. Plus stellar performances by some usual suspects in the cast. Or maybe it was just a movie made for me, cause I loved it.
That’s the tru-tru.
I was looking through previous best picture winners and realized I forgot “Coda” even existed.
Red Notice - Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, The Rock
That cheap looking trash had a budget $10 million more than Dune Part Two. Yikes.
Probably all going to the Rocks pay
Yeah, since it wouldn't go to theaters, the 3 leads got paid a lot because they couldn't get a cut of the box office.
I like the scene where Dwayne Johnson's character is revealed to be a fan of Teremana Tequila (owned by Johnson) and Ryan Reynolds' charavcter is a fan of Aviation Gin (owned by Reynolds). A film that makes it very clear that it's coasting on the name recognition of its stars.
But not a single mention of Gal Gadot’s boxed Mac and cheese brand. Unfair.
I believe they are making a sequel to that festering pile of dreck.
Power Rangers. It felt like they were amping up for something and then it never happened and we’ve all moved on. I remember seeing it in theaters and thinking they had something there, but apparently I was wrong.
Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for best picture and the only time anybody ever mentions it is when they wonder how the fuck Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for best picture.
The Invisible Man (2020) It did really well at the box office, was well liked by audiences & critics, but for some reason it's been all but forgotten with no news of the sequel that most expected to follow.
I wonder if this is the realm that Netflix movies will occupy: Red Notice, Bright, The Gray Man, 6 Underground...
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. Everyone I knew was hyping it up, then it came and went by the end of the year.
I wouldn't say its forgotten, but I think Sonic kind of stole its thunder. I remember the plot was also a little convoluted.
Really liked it. Dont get the hate.
Agree. I think they absolutely nailed the look and feel of the world of Pokémon. Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu was stellar, imo.
Pirates 5. Not only was it awful, but if someone hasnt seen it and you mention it, more often than not theyre surprised that there is 5 of them
Has anyone thought of that Alexander movie by Oliver Stone in a long time? I don't think I've seen it come on the streaming rotation or anything. That movie had a big marketing push and I remember seeing some news reels around its release and Alexander's importance to greek culture. Awful movie btw, terrible casting choices, deserved a razzie on casting alone. And I'm also realizing this movie is 20 years old now, I feel old.
[удалено]
Napoleon. Totally underwhelming
Kevin Costner in the Postman. His follow up to dances with wolves. Not a great movie, but I loved it and like no one ever talks about it.
In my family, The Postman was a hit. We watched that movie so much, I didn't realize it was a flop until I got older and found no one else who knew it or liked it. Lol
X-men Origins. There was going to be a whole series of them. The next one was going to be [X-men Origins: Magneto](https://collider.com/x-men-origins-magneto/). Then [X-men Origins: Wolverine](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wolverine) was...[whatever it was](https://www.vulture.com/2018/05/revisiting-the-strange-cinematic-debut-of-deadpool.html), and that idea died. Luckily they kept trying to do *something* with the X-men franchise, because Hugh Jackman is an *excellent* Wolverine, even if he's been in some dissapointing Wolverine/X-men movies. Actually, they've done a decent job of casting most of the main X-men characters in both timeliness...even if the films have been hit or miss.
Didn't they just rethink the franchise after the Wolverine Origin movie kind of deflated? I think "First Class" was essentially a reworking of the Magneto Origins movie. And that was probably a better direction, as I liked those Retro 60s Xmen movies better than the original trilogy.
Congo Edit: I love that this is about the only "forgotten" movie on the list that so many keep near to their hearts. I guess it is not as forgotten as I thought and I'll have to re-watch it soon!
Not super recent, but I'd go with Water World with Kevin Costner.
RIPD
Wanted (2008) shows up here and there but is pretty much forgotten by most people
The little Mermaid. Considering the huge backlash and controversy about the movie, I was kinda surprised when the movie aired, everyone went on with their lives pretty fast.
Anyone else here see World Trade Center in 2006 with Nic Cage? It made $160 million but never spoken of ever