"Even the theatrical release of The Shawshank Redemption had a TNT logo in the corner!"
— Jebidiah Atkinson, Saturday Night Live, "Weekend Update"
This is a subtrope to Vindicated by History. These are films that usually bombed at the box office in first-run and might otherwise have been left to rot in the dust bin of history. Not all of them did, though.
Through frequent airings on premium or basic cable channels because they're cheap, handy filler, they gather a devoted audience that sees its entertainment value despite the obvious flaws. Sometimes, these films bombed when they were first released and were just misunderstood at the time, but a later time period and cable made them popular. Other times, the show in question is aired so often that viewers mistakenly believe it must be some sort of classic... so they keep watching and rewatching it to the point that it does become a classic. This can also happen to a film if it gets featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and, in fact, is the cause of many a Missing Episode of said series; after a movie was MiSTied, it often gained in popularity, which raised the price for the rights beyond what Best Brains (or Rhino or Shout! Factory) was able to pay.
An interesting effect of this process can happen when the TV rights to sequels of classic movies are cheaper than the rights to the original movie. Thus, while the original was already popular, for generations who grew up after its release, their largest exposure to the franchise is often the sequels. Thus, for certain groups, otherwise detested sequels can be viewed through Nostalgia Filter.
Compare Critical Dissonance, Quality by Popular Vote. Vindicated by Reruns is the television counterpart.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Robotech could be classed as this in the UK, seeing as the full series never got released either on terrestrial TV or on video (only the first 2 episodes, the Codename:Robotech feature-length pilot, and the obscure Robotech The Movie), though was shown on various cable channels throughout the '80s and '90s.
- Genesis of Aquarion is a comparatively rare example of Vindicated By Theme Song - despite being helmed by Macross creator Shoji Kawamori, the series largely flew under the radar until 2007, when the usage of its Yoko Kanno-penned opening song in a pachinko game commercial catapulted the song to triple platinum status and Aquarion itself back into the limelight, leading to first an OAV series and later the 2012 TV continuation Aquarion Evol.
Films — Animation
- Since it couldn't compete with Disney's The Little Mermaid, All Dogs Go to Heaven was a failure in cinemas. However, home-video rentals made this movie a bestseller in the market, a Cult Classic among animation buffs and consequently a popular entry in the Don Bluth canon.
- Bébé's Kids bombed at the box office, but home-video rentals and cable showings elevated it to Cult Classic by the time the 2000s rolled around.
- Warner Bros. has a bad track record with this:
- Batman: Mask of the Phantasm performed badly at the box office when released in theaters, due to poor advertising on WB's part, but made a profit of millions when available on video the following year.
- Cats Don't Dance was a box-office flop, buried in an Easter-weekend release by Warner Bros. (as Time Warner had just merged with Turner, which made the movie), with scant advertising and a barely promoted Subway tie-in. At the time, the only people really talking about it were the animation community (who went on to award it the Annie for Best Picture) and the Furry Fandom. Eventually, the film did become a Cult Classic after its subsequent video release, and airings on Disney Channel, Starz, and Cartoon Network (in the latter's case, presumably trying to make up for their corporate cousin's failure).
- The Iron Giant failed at the box office thanks to Warner Bros having no faith in the movie. Fortunately, one of those who did see it was Ted Turner, who loved it so much that he had Cartoon Network run a 24-hour marathon of it on Thanksgiving, a tradition that continued for many years (back when he saw it he was still running his own company, he left after the disastrous AOL/Time Warner merger). It's easy to see why this film in particular would complement Thanksgiving day — the vague 1950's small-town America setting is plump with nostalgia, and the plot is a wholesome Boy and His Robot story, which only reveals more layers as the viewers grow up.
- Osmosis Jones (which actually is a live-action/animation hybrid) was already a hard sell thanks to what was deemed an Audience-Alienating Premise, and subsequently tanked as the studio dumped it with little fanfare into one of the Dump Months. Good video sales and frequent airings on Cartoon Network (along with a kid-friendlier spin-off) made it grow a fanbase — some fans noted the scenes in the host body's mind wound up oddly prescient to what would appear in Inside Out. It also gained a second life being shown in classrooms, of all places.
- The Powerpuff Girls Movie had decent reception with critics and fans, but with Warner Bros. opting to market the Live-Action Adaptation of Scooby-Doo (2002) instead, it was opened against Men in Black II. Despite heavy promotion on Cartoon Network, it bombed at the box office. Home video and showings on Cartoon Network and Boomerang helped it gain a strong audience.
- Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie was far from a total flop in theaters; its $25 million gross was considered surprisingly good for a theatrical movie based on an edutainment show, becoming the highest-grossing film adaptation of a preschool franchise. (A record it would hold for 17 years until it was replaced by Dora and the Lost City of Gold in 2019.) However, its box office gross wasn't enough for the film to recoup its $15 million budget, which led to the film itself (due to both its Troubled Production and its box office performance) being one of the contributing factors that led to Big Idea (the animation studio that created VeggieTales) going into bankruptcy by late 2003. That said, the film did become more financially successful on home video, selling 2.5 million copies within its first year of its original VHS and DVD releases.
- The Japanese release of The LEGO Movie bombed because it came out during the 16-week box office romp of Frozen, which gathered a lot of attention during those weeks with Japanese moviegoers. It later became one of the biggest-selling Western animated films when the DVD came out.
- Several 2000s Disney films once considered part of an Audience-Alienating Era — such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Brother Bear, and Treasure Planet — have all received a much better reputation outside of theaters. A large part of this was due to high DVD sales and reruns on Starz, Disney Channel, and ABC Family.
- Lilo & Stitch (2002) is relatively minor, as it did decently at the box office (it made over three times its $80 million budget at the global box office), but it didn't become as popular as it was until its home video release during the 2002 holiday season, which sold over a million DVD copies in its first year.
- The Swan Princess bombed at the box office, but made enough money on home video to spawn six sequels.
- Despite receiving wide acclaim, Winnie the Pooh (2011) made just enough money to make up its $30 million budget due to Disney releasing it in the middle of the summer blockbuster season, and on the exact same day as the much anticipated final installment of the Harry Potter series. However, it managed to become a big seller on Blu-ray/DVD and has gotten frequent reruns on cable.
- The combination of a bigger budget than its predecessor and being released by a studio (Cinema Center Films) on its last legs helped doom Snoopy, Come Home at the box office in 1972. It gained belated success after being frequently featured on HBO in the 80s and Disney in the 90s.
- My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) suffered from a combination of poor advertising due to a dispute between Hasbro and Lionsgate, was released in a Dump Month with said release occurring on the same weekend a hurricane hit the Gulf Coast of the United States, and was seen by critics as being too saccharine. When the film was released to DVD, it was much more popular, with the digital release being one of the most popular titles on Amazon Prime Video, beating out shows like SpongeBob SquarePants and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and every film of the Disney Animated Canon except for Frozen.
- Despite being a Surprisingly Improved Sequel to its predecessor and dethroning Pokémon Detective Pikachu as the highest-rated video game movie, The Angry Birds Movie 2 flew under the radar upon its initial release, due to said release happening at a time where the Angry Birds franchise was no longer the cash cow it was years ago. Once the film hit Netflix, it stood on the top 10 for weeks, which led to Rovio Entertainment to green-lit a spin-off show
excusively for the service.
- Encanto may win the record for the fastest turnaround of a film's fortunes from cinemas to home video. At the box office during a spike in coronavirus cases in a year when audiences were still weary about returning to the cinema, it earned $257 million worldwide ($96 million domestic) on a budget estimated to be somewhere between $120 and $150 million, meaning that it most likely either lost money or just barely broke even. Upon its release onto Disney+, however, it became an immediate smash hit, and a genuine worldwide cultural phenomenon, driven by both the film itself and its soundtrack, ultimately ensuring that nobody today considers the film to be a flop.
- Elemental only earned around $154 million domestically, but became the most viewed premiere on Disney+ of that year, making it a streaming hit similar to Encanto. Unlike Encanto, however, this was preceded by a remarkably strong international run in theaters (particularly in South Korea), earning $341 million for a worldwide total gross of $495 million.
- Elio was one of Pixar's biggest flops in its theatrical run due to its Invisible Advertising and a Troubled Production. Months later, it found audiences on Disney+, where it became the number one most watched film on the service.
- Despite its paramount success in Japan, Princess Mononoke was a box office bomb in the United States, in part due to Hayao Miyazaki insisting that the English dub be released unedited.note Luckily, its immense critical acclaim gave it newfound success from television airings and home media releases, bringing it on par with its Japanese performance by becoming the highest-selling anime production of 2001, and quite likely paving the way for the runaway success Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli's following release, became.
- The Transformers: The Movie and My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) both performed poorly at the box office, and were met with negative reviews thanks to their Merchandise-Driven nature — the one-two punch of their failures led to G.I. Joe: The Movie going straight to video in the US. However, both films sold well on home video and became Cult Classics, mostly thanks to the lingering pop culture notoriety of the franchises they belonged to.
- Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure bombed at the box office, but constant Disney Channel airings in the 80s and home video sales earned it a dedicated cult following, particularly for its surreal nature and Joe Raposo-penned, Broadway-esque musical numbers.
- Rise of the Guardians made back its budget, but the distribution costs for the film lost the studio $87 million, forcing DreamWorks to lay off over 300 workers. Not helping matters was the fact it was head to head with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, Skyfall, and Lincoln as well as Wreck-It Ralph at the box office. It was on home video and streaming where it finally found its audience, elevating the film to Cult Classic status by the time the mid-to-late-2010s rolled around.
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was far from a failure. It grossed over $380 million worldwide — however, this was a far cry from any of the live action Spider-Man movies had received. Luckily, its immensely positive word of mouth had allowed enough word to spread for a hugely popular run on Netflix — so much so that analysts think its availability played a role in why its sequel grossed significantly more at the box office.
- Titan A.E. was a critical and commercial flop on release, and was the death knell for Fox Animation Studios. However, good home video sales and frequent TV airings earned it a cult following.
- Transformers One was an Acclaimed Flop during its run due to both a poor marketing campaign and a declining interest in Transformers films. Despite the box office failure, the film would later become a success on digital storefronts and on Paramount+.
Films — Live-Action
- The 13th Warrior is one of the biggest bombs ever filmed. As such, it was very cheap to buy for variety of TV networks and channels. Cue everyone airing it at least once per week anywhere in the world for years. The end result is genuine confusion of to why this film even bombed in the first place, since it gained a reputation of a well-made adventure flick without any major or obvious flaws.
- Comedy Central rescued Accepted and PCU, both critical and commercial flops, from obscurity.
- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension was a niche audience-aimed film that its studio tried and failed to sell to a mainstream audience. It only made $6 million (on a $17 million budget) in theaters. It finally found its cult on cable.
- The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland bombed at the box office because of its target audience, but later became the biggest-selling children's VHS of the early 2000s.
- The 1994 comedy Airheads bombed at the box office and was thrashed by critics. But due to the fact that it was played heavily on Comedy Central during the late 1990s, it has managed to achieve Cult Classic status — especially among fans of hard rock and Heavy Metal music, due to all the rock & roll in-jokes and the cameos by famous rock musicians.
- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery did alright at the box office (it recouped its budget), but not exceptionally. It was only when it reached home video that it became a pop culture touchstone. Tellingly, its sequel earned five times what the original did at the box office.
- Barney's Great Adventure was not a critical and commercial success due to the franchise's target demographic (not helping matters is that it was released just as the Hype Backlash towards the character was taking hold), but sold incredibly well on video.
- The Beastmaster was a critical and box office failure upon its 1982 release, grossing just $3 million against a $9 million budget. However, it subsequently received significant cable airplay, notably HBO and TBS, where it became a TV mainstay and viewer favorite. Its replay was so common that some waggishly dubbed TBS "The Beastmaster Station", and HBO "Hey, Beastmaster's On".
- Big Fat Liar was a modest success at the box office, but it received mixed reviews from critics. Disney Channel's airings in the mid-2000s helped make it a viewer favorite.
- Birds of Prey. For various reasons, including some Misaimed Merchandising, an R rating that locked out a lot of the younger fans of Harley Quinn, and a short theatrical run due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, it had a pretty underwhelming box office outcome, not quite a flop (it made back double its budget) but inarguably below studio expectations. However, the film performed much better when it made its way onto HBO Max, consistently ranking as one of the most-streamed films on the platform during its first year. The vindication ultimately led to a successful push for a Spin-Off starring the film's incarnation of Black Canary, to be made with HBO Max in mind.
- Black Dynamite was a flop at the box office due to poor marketing and a distributor change a few months before release, but it got noticed through DVD and airings on the Starz network, which led to an animated series being greenlighted by [adult swim].
- Blade Runner's theatrical release was on the last weekend of June 1982, at the height of a now-legendary summer of blockbusters, most in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror vein (E.T. was king, but it was also the year of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Poltergeist). Trailing stories of its lengthy Troubled Production, it premiered to disappointing reviews that praised its visual splendor but found everything else moribund. It did poorly, but thanks to this trope and home video it was seen as one of the decade's most influential films by the end of the 1980s. It even managed to get a belated sequel over 30 years after the fact.
- BloodRayne made less than $4 million at the box office worldwide, against its $25 million production budget - yet its near-immediate release to airings on Syfy and better-than-expected DVD sales brought in an audience and led to two direct-to-video sequels.
- Attempting to mimic the success of The Original Kings of Comedy, Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie bombed, but did much better on DVD. The two follow-ups bypassed theaters completely after it was realized that their audience didn't want to see them there.
- A Christmas Story. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the film began airing quietly on the "superstations" WTBS and WGN as a Thanksgiving movie, where it started to grow in popularity. As it was a seasonal film, the studio only ran it for a couple of weeks in December on original release, so it owes all of its reputation to cable, video, and word-of-mouth. Since 1997, the film has aired for 24 consecutive hours on Christmas Eve on TNT and TBS.
- Citizen Kane. While it had received much critical acclaim and nine Oscar nominations (though it only won for Best Original Screenplay), during its release, it was far from a box office hit, due largely to William Randolph Hearst using his media empire to bury and smear the film due to its unflattering portrayal of him. It quickly dropped out of the public eye until RKO released its catalogue to television networks.
- Clue bombed, partly due to its multiple endings. However, VHS and cable showings (with all the endings) helped rescue it from obscurity.
- Dirty Work was a critical and financial flop when it was first released in 1998. But once it began airing on network TV, it became a Cult Classic, causing speculation of a sequel. Alas, all hopes of a sequel ended with the deaths of star and co-writer Norm Macdonald in 2021 and director Bob Saget in 2022.
- Doctor Sleep was an Acclaimed Flop when first released in 2019 thanks to a mediocre marketing campaign, but has enjoyed a noteworthy resurgence in popularity on streaming services (e.g., Prime Video) during/following the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and resulting quarantine.
- Barely anyone saw Donnie Darko during its four-week limited theatrical run, but it became a cult hit once it hit DVD (and had become a hit in the UK) and strong sales led to a theatrical reissue and an extended cut.
- Dredd was another example of an Acclaimed Flop that was redeemed by this trope. It bombed at the box office for many of the same problems Scott Pilgrim did (an over-reliance on geek and internet buzz, lingering memories of the disastrous 1995 adaptation with Sylvester Stallone), but it did so well on DVD and Blu-Ray that there was briefly talk of greenlighting a sequel based solely on home video sales.
- David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of Dune was a flop, but became a cult classic through TV airings and on home video.
- Eddie and the Cruisers was a major and critical flop when it came out in 1983, but when Showtime started to air it, its popularity was such the studio made a sequel, Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives.
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore had a less than spectacular run at the domestic box office, coming up just shy of $100 million. However, it would go on to do well in ancillary markets. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav singled it out for its strong performance on Max at a presentation for the service and its physical sales (which are sold at almost pure profit for studios) were very strong. In the latter, it was sixth highest seller in terms of revenue and eleventh in units in 2022.
- Flash Gordon: Its popularity in America was due in part to airings on HBO.
- Gettysburg, at four hours and fourteen minutes long (one of the longest films ever released by a Hollywood studio), was naturally a tough sell in theaters, and indeed, it was originally conceived as a miniseries for TNT before producer Ted Turner insisted on releasing it theatrically, where it only got a limited release in 248 theaters and failed to make its budget back. Sure enough, when it premiered on TNT eight months after its theatrical run, it set a ratings record for cable television with over 34 million viewers, and since then, it's been a perennial bestseller on home video that's regarded as one of the great Epic Movies about The American Civil War.
- The Great Santini was a flop when it was first released due to Warner Bros. not knowing how to handle the film (it was tested in some markets as a war film and others as a drama). It's near immediate release into heavy rotation on HBO has been credited for earning Robert Duvall an Academy Award nomination for his performance.
- Heathers got good reviews but bombed in its theatrical run, as distributor New World Pictures was going bankrupt at the time and couldn't afford to advertise it. (One of its producers even paid for an ad in the Los Angeles Times out of pocket because New World wouldn't!) Home video and airings on basic cable, combined with its edgy subject matter making teenagers morbidly curious (especially after Columbine), helped it build a cult fandom in The '90s, and now it's remembered as one of the best teen comedies of all time.
- Heaven's Gate. Well-publicized reports of its Troubled Production meant that film critics, most notably New York Times critic Vincent Canby, gave it very poor reviews, and became one of the biggest flops in film history. Along came The Z Channel, who aired a re-edit which made critics reappraise the film, and its reputation brightened.
- Highlander was a financial flop in its theatrical release. It went on to do very well in home video sales, and spawned the Highlander franchise.
- The Hobbit. Its divisive status is still there but it's noticeably lessened over time, with people slowly warming up to it, thanks to the release of the Extended Cuts (which are the preferred versions by the cast and crew, including Peter Jackson himself) and the news of the Executive Meddling by Warner Bros. and the resulting Troubled Production coming to light, which garnered sympathy for the crew. The Better on DVD state of the films helps too.
- Hocus Pocus was critically and commercially unsuccessful during its theatrical release. Then it began showing up on the Disney Channel on an annual basis during Halloween, gaining a cult following that grew year after year, and within 15 years, it entered the cultural mainstream and has become a beloved Halloween classic, with a sequel in 2022.
- The Incredible Mr. Limpet was only a modest success at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics, but TV and home video turned it into a family favorite.
- Steven Spielberg's Hook made a nice profit, but poor reviews and going up against Disney's Beauty and the Beast gave the film a rather bad reputation. Frequent cable TV airings earned it a cult following.
- Idle Hands tanked at the box office (not helped by Columbine happening a few days before release, and the backlash against violent content doubles for a Horror Comedy with high schoolers) and was hated by reviewers. But over time it gained a cult following thanks to TV airings and home video.
- It's a Wonderful Life didn't make a whole lot of waves upon release, having received mostly dismissive or negative reviews. One of the few positive reviews was from Time magazine, and even they complained that it was ultimately superficial and sentimental. However, after it was accidentally released into the public domain in 1974, it became a Christmas standard, and a new generation came to see it as a classic. In this case, it was repeated airings on broadcast stations, not basic cable, that brought new status, but the principle is the same.
- Several of John Carpenter's films (Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, etc...) did much better on cable and home rental than in the theaters. Kurt Russell, who starred in several of said films (including the three mentioned), has remarked a few times that he wouldn't have a career if it weren't for such.
- Josie and the Pussycats was a critical and commercial failure upon its initial release. While the soundtrack did well in comparison; the film was marketed as a campy teen girl-friendly comedy, despite its satirization of rampant capitalism and music industry dishonesty, which drove away its expected audience and left critics accusing it of hypocrisy in regards to its message. It quickly became a Cult Classic through cable TV and home video.
- Labyrinth underperformed in the US, grossing only $12.9 million, and was met with mixed reactions from critics and audiences, but found its cult following through home video and frequent TV airings.
- The Last Dragon, a mix of mid-'80s Black culture and '70s Martial Arts Movie tropes, was an average performer at the box office and was met with scathing reviews from critics. It gained its following through being shown ad-nauseam on Saturday afternoon movie blocks, with characters like Bruce Leroy and Sho'Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem becoming pop culture icons.
- The Legend of Billie Jean was a box office bomb upon its original release, but gained popularity through constant TV airings.
- The Swedish film Let the Right One In was an average performer in American theatres (though it grossed over $750,000 and played for five months in one New York theatre) but amassed a large following through DVD and on-demand rentals, to the point where it received an American remake two years later.
- Love & Basketball didn't exactly bomb when it came out, but it probably would not be nearly as popular among African-American youth (some of which were only 4 or 5 when the movie came out) if it weren't for constant reruns on BET. It even occasionally becomes a trending topic on Twitter when it's on.
- Two of Mel Brooks' films, Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, received a cold reception when they were first released. The former was considered the start of the fall of his directorial career (especially since it was largely seen as a Shallow Parody, since it was a spoof of the Original Star Wars Trilogy, the last of which, Return of the Jedi, had only been released four years prior and was seen mainly as topical), while the latter helped to solidify it. Years later, both films have become fan favorites and continue to resonate with audiences.
- Mike Judge is one of the kings of this trope. Office Space is the quintessential example, with tepid box office numbers at best, only becoming a Cult Classic after being shown ad-nauseam on premium cable (and, later, Comedy Central). Idiocracy bombed similarly in theaters, a victim of little to no promotion by the distributor, 20th Century Fox (all the film's cheap shots at the FOX network and its news division probably didn't help Judge), but thanks once again to cable, the film has gained cult status too.
- The Monster Squad bombed in its original 1987 theatrical run. It was marketed as a campy, lightweight film despite its PG-13 rating and dark tone that, while still a horror-comedy with kid protagonists, largely took its Universal monster villains seriously, which led families to steer away and left critics not knowing what to make of it. Furthermore, it was released just two weeks after The Lost Boys, and got run over at the box office as a result. Even afterwards, it only received a single lone VHS release that quickly went out of print. HBO, however, screened it frequently through The '90s, allowing it to build a cult fandom that culminated in a 20th-anniversary cast reunion at the Alamo Drafthouse and a feature-packed DVD release. Nowadays, it's ranked next to The Goonies and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as one of the great kids' adventure films of The '80s. The documentary Wolfman's Got Nards goes into detail on how the film built its following over the years.
- Out Cold bombed in its theatrical run and was met with scathing reviews, but quickly became a staple of Comedy Central. Extreme sports fans especially loved it due to its mix of a Sex Comedy with an Extreme Sports Plot, having been directed by the makers of the surfing documentary Thicker Than Water and featuring a lot of scenes of snowboarders carving up the slopes of British Columbia (doubling for Alaska). Now, its remembered as a hidden gem of the late '90s/early '00s sex comedy boom that followed American Pie.
- Overboard has been a cable-TV favorite for years despite limited theatrical success, such that it was eventually remade in 2018.
- The 1980 live-action adaptation of Popeye gained Cult Classic status thanks to HBO, as did the camp, glitzy, all-star movie musicals Tommy and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978).
- Once Upon a Time in America was reappraised by critics after it was shown by the Z Channel in its original form, this happening after the theatrical version bombed with critics and audiences.
- Paulie earned a decent response from critics, but it flopped at the box office (it only grossed $26.9 million). However, it found its audience through home video.
- The Princess Bride recouped its budget (it made $30.9 million at the box office), but wasn't really a big success. It was thanks to VHS and cable that it became a pop culture cornerstone.
- Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins bombed at the box office, but gained an audience through constant syndicated TV airings in the later half of the 1980s.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show isn't this trope exactly, but is close enough. The film flopped in the initial release but became a cult classic when it was shown as a midnight movie. To date, RHPS has grossed over $175 million and has consistently played in theaters for well over 50 years.
- Road House (1989): When it was released, it got panned by critics and was considered a Follow-Up Failure for Patrick Swayze after the success of Dirty Dancing. In The '90s, the number of cable channels exploded, all of which needed 24-hour programming. So the rights to lots of cheesy action movies were scooped up, and those movies put into heavy rotation. And it wasn't long before TBS discovered the movie was drawing phenomenal ratings; Perhaps Road House is the very reason TBS is a "superstation".
- The Room was only released to a few select theaters in Los Angeles, where it received scant advertising and was slammed by critics. Then [adult swim] started airing it on April Fools' Day for 3 years, and it became the cult phenomenon it is now.
- James Woods got national recognition and an Academy Award nomination solely because the Z Channel championed a little-seen indie film called Salvador.
- The Sandlot did alright at the box office (it grossed $34.3 million), but was met with mixed reviews and wasn't as successful as Fox hoped it to be. It was only when it reached home video and cable TV that it became a pop culture touchstone. Tellingly, its two sequels skipped theaters entirely and went straight-to-video.
- Despite very good reviews, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World did poorly in its initial theatrical release. For one thing, it starred Michael Cera, whose career was in a tailspin at the time thanks to his Typecasting in "hipster" roles. Furthermore, it was directed by a cult British filmmaker and based on an indie comic book, both of which were largely unknown outside of their respective geek fanbases, limiting its appeal and guaranteeing that it would've struggled at any time of the year. Finally, it was released against The Expendables, a far more mainstream-friendly action film with a similar target audience and a lot more hype behind it. However, when it hit home video, it was a far bigger hit than it had been in theaters, finally becoming the Cult Classic that it failed to become at first.
- Scrooge (1951) was a box-office disappointment when released. After being on cable for a few years, it went on to become a classic and considered one of the best adaptations of A Christmas Carol.
- Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird was an Acclaimed Flop whose failure wounded Sesame Workshop financially and led to another Sesame Street film not being made until 1999's The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. It reached an audience through frequent showings on cable TV, including HBO.
- The Shawshank Redemption also failed at the box office despite some critical acclaim. Most of its success came from the fact that Ted Turner (who owned Castle Rock Entertainment at the time and thus owned the rights to the film) loved the movie, and he made sure it was aired on his TNT and TBS networks almost every weekend for years. The film slowly picked up a fanbase from these airings, and it's now considered one of the best films of all time. Even before the television rescue, it was also Vindicated by Video: since it got many Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and was already available in VHS at the time, a lot of people decided to rent it.
- Showgirls was a major flop when released in theaters (most chains refused to carry NC-17 rated movies), but it became one of MGM/UA's biggest-selling home video titles and has become a Cult Classic.
- Somewhere in Time was critically and commercially unsuccessful on release, not helped by a lack of promotion due to an actors' strike. Later cable showings increased its popularity to the point that it garnered a significant cult following, with fans making yearly pilgrimages to the real-life Frozen in Time Mackinac Island in Michigan to get the full experience of the film. The film even has a devoted fan club, the International Network of Somewhere In Time Enthusiasts, which holds an annual October event celebrating the film, an astounding feat for a early-80s melodrama.
- SpaceCamp: Endless showings on HBO helped people forget that it was released not long after the Challenger disaster.
- Streets of Fire bombed at the box office and was met with poor reviews, but good home video sales and constant cable TV airings — coupled with Dan Hartman's soundtrack piece "I Can Dream About You" becoming a Breakaway Pop Hit — rendered it a Cult Classic. It also found a second life in Japan, where it was much more successful, influencing everything from Bubblegum Crisis to Final Fight.
- Thomas and the Magic Railroad was critically panned and derailed (no pun intended) at the box office. However, it did much better on video to the point where it grew a small cult following and eventually got a Blu-ray release in 2020.
- ¡Three Amigos! was only a modest money-earner and received mixed reviews on release. Today it's more fondly regarded by fans of '80s comedies, thanks to plenty of repeat showings on HBO (which owns the film), and eventually earned a spot on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies" list.
- Trading Places was the fourth highest-grossing film of 1983, but it might've fallen into obscurity if not for yearly airings around Christmas time. In Italy, it's become the Christmas film, always airing on Christmas Eve since 1997, to the point where many Italians joke "It isn't Christmas without Trading Places.".
- Tremors was a box office disappointment, but it made a killing once it hit home video, making enough money that a sequel was greenlit.
- Troy is a nascent example of the trope, as it underperformed at the American box office (but much better overseas) and is polarizing among critics, but has developed a devoted fanbase since being released to cable and video, possibly in retrospect compared to later films like 300.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic's UHF was so well-received by test audiences that Orion Studios decided to put it in direct competition with other movies in the summer of 1989, which included Tim Burton's Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, Ghostbusters II, Licence to Kill and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. UHF ultimately got lost in this shuffle, but did much better once it hit home video and cable TV.
- Unbreakable was initially seen as a Sophomore Slump for M. Night Shyamalan, but as superhero movies became increasingly popular in the ensuing years, it was rediscovered by critics as a potent Genre Deconstruction. The release of Split, however, sparked a surge of mainstream interest due to its Canon Welding post-credits sequence, such that when the sequel Glass was released, many people already knew the story it was based on, most of them through watching it on home video after seeing Split and wondering what the fuss was.
- A zig-zagged example: The Universal Horror movies were extremely successful in their own era of the 1930s and '40s... but it would also be hard to deny that the true height of their popularity was the mid-1950s through the early '70s, when the success of the Shock Theater television package sent them into every American kid's home, and resulted in a huge slew of new memorabilia, including Famous Monsters Of Filmland magazine, the Aurora monster kits, and the song "Monster Mash".
- Warriors of Virtue was a Box-Office Bomb when it came out in 1997, making a paltry $6 million on a $56 million budget. It built its cult following through home video sales; tellingly, the 2002 sequel, Return to Tao, skipped theaters and went straight to video.
- Willow didn't live up to box office expectations in 1988, but thanks to video and cable it gradually became a favorite among sword and sorcery fans and children of the '80s and early '90s in general.
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory barely made its budget back in 1971 but went on to become a Cult Classic thanks to repeated showings on HBO (and later, TBS and ABC Family).
- Wing Commander was a bomb, but video rental income has made good the production costs, and given its regular airing on cable channels (particularly non-US ones) it even has something of a genuine fandom (as opposed to a So Bad, It's Good one).
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) became the classic it is now thanks to being screened over and over on different TV networks.
- Xanadu, thanks to premium cable, was exposed to a generation of young girls who later made up a large fanbase for this movie.
- Xtro was an obscure British sci-fi flick, but in the late '80s, it began running heavily on HBO, giving it a cult status and two sequels.
- While Zoolander received positive reviews, it came out barely two weeks after the attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001 and as a result, it tanked. But it did go on to have strong DVD sales and high ratings on cable, and eventually got a sequel, Zoolander 2, in 2016.
Theatre
- The SpongeBob Musical sold poorly during its Broadway run, but the soundtrack was a hit on the Billboard Kids' Audio charts, staying there even after it had ended its run until Pinkfong: The Best Of Baby Shark knocked it off the top 25 in January of 2019. Songs from the musical also played frequently on children's radio station Kids Place Live, usually during their Couch Potato Stew block.
Video Games
- Pac & Pal was a commercial failure in Japanese arcades, and was never exported overseas until its inclusion in a Plug 'n' Play Game device. Despite its strange premise and gameplay, it is somewhat remembered by those who grew up with such devices back in the day, but not to the point of becoming a Cult Classic.
- EarthBound suffered from poor critical and commercial reception upon its first release in 1995, thanks to a poor marketing campaign and it coming out near the end of the Super Nintendo's life cycle. However, the game slowly picked up a cult following through emulation and this trope really came into effect when Nintendo finally granted the game an official re-release on the Wii U Virtual Console, of which audiences and critics were much more appreciative. Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros." is also partially responsible, as more than a few gamers were introduced to the quirky world of Mother through the Super Smash Bros. series having the main character Ness as a playable fighter.
- On a smaller scale Pulseman counts since not many people knew about it before it was on the Wii Virtual Console. Being created by Game Freak is also enough to spark some curiosity from those wanting to see how they were before their most famous creation.
- Larian Studios did this with their older role-playing games in the Divinity series, after receiving increased mainstream recognition for their Kickstarter-funded Divinity: Original Sin and its sequel. Their older games are frequently sold digitally as cheap anthology packages or bundled with special editions of their new titles.
- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars sold well below expectations when it was released on the Nintendo DS and did even worse on the PlayStation Portable; simply put, it was an Acclaimed Flop on those systems and an unusually low seller for a Rockstar game. The iOS version, however, was far more successful, and reached the top of the App Store charts.
- Planescape: Torment had good reviews, but rather poor sales when first released. The digital re-releases by GOG.com and Steam, however, are top selling.
- Psychonauts is a Cult Classic. A Steam sale, however, managed to boost it to that week's number one (by revenue), beating out quite a few new releases. It generally occupies the top-seller space on GOG.com when there isn't a sale going on.
- Rayman Legends was acclaimed, but sold poorly when it was released in 2013, because of the controversy Ubisoft generated when they announced it would go Multi-Platform after initially planning it to be a Wii U exclusive—much to the displeasure of owners of that console, who thought a Wii U exclusive would give more gamers a compelling reason to buy the then-new console—and because the change of plan delayed the game by over six months just in time to be curb-stomped by Grand Theft Auto V. However, both positive word of mouth and future ports to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch steadily increased sales over time.
- The Atari Jaguar was a commercial failure that helped bring down Atari Corporation. However, Hasbro Interactive releasing the patents into the public domain and declaring it an open platform opened the doors for extensive homebrew development, which helped to moderately improve the console's reputation after its lifetime.
Western Animation
- It's safe to say cable also breathed new life into The Golden Age of Animation. After movie theaters stopped running cartoon shorts, series such as Looney Tunes, Casper the Friendly Ghost, The Pink Panther, and Tom and Jerry (among others) went on to become syndicated and Saturday morning staples and became even more popular than in their original time, to the point where many people will be surprised when you tell them some of these cartoons came out in the 1940s. In one case, What's Opera, Doc? was not recognized as a great cartoon when it was released in 1957, nor was it nominated for an Academy Awardnote , and it only started to garner its current acclaim after Looney Tunes began airing on TV.
"Vindicated" by Mystery Science Theater 3000
- Roger Corman, Robert L. Lippert, Coleman Francis, Ed Wood, and to a lesser extent Bert I. Gordon. Corman despises the show for mocking his films. However, Mystery Science Theater 3000 helped generate a new appreciation for that era's B Movies, and some of his films, such as It Conquered the World, has huge fans who were introduced to it by the show. Moreover, fans of the show recognize the good points of his films (such as Corman's preference of the Action Girl over the Neutral Female).
- Manos: The Hands of Fate was an amateur 1966 horror film by a fertilizer salesman on a dare. It was screened at a few local drive-in theaters before being shelved and completely forgotten by all but those personally involved in its making. In The '90s, it was discovered by the makers of MST3K and quickly became known for being the worst film ever featured on the show. The character Torgo, along with his theme music, became a Memetic Mutation.
- In the 1995 Video Watchdog, the entry for Manos was a brief two-sentence entry. The 1996 edition, however, had a four-paragraph entry detailing its poor quality and its relation to MST3K.
- The Final Sacrifice was pretty obscure until MST3K aired it. Thanks to that, viewers got to know Zap Rowsdower, a very flawed but likable character.
- Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders is partly a recut version of the 1984 horror film The Devil's Gift. Having been made more family-friendly, this Nightmare Fuel-laden movie became suitable for MST3K.
- Prince of Space was dismissed at theaters and forgotten until it was MSTed, at which point fans realized that it was a very early example of Toku, and had several supplemental films attached to it.
- Space Mutiny, a cheesy Sci-fi movie with a well-built guy named David Ryder who Screams Like a Little Girl, got featured on MST3K.
- The So Bad, It's Good Sandy Frank dubs of the show's Gamera films, as well as other Toku shows like Mighty Jack and Star Wolf.
- Hobgoblins was suggested to the MST3K gang by its director. "It shoots right to the top of the list of the worst movies we've ever done," writer Paul Chaplin commented. Enough interest was generated in it that a sequel was made, 21 years after its original premiere.
- Although not technically a film, the advertisement Mr. B Natural was so popular that MST3K and Rhino Home Video had trouble getting the rights to it again after it first appeared on television.
- In an interesting case, while parts: the clonus horror was a bomb when first released, its exposure on MST3K not only allowed the film to be re-released on DVD to be seen in its entirety but also helped its director when he sued Michael Bay for The Island.
- The Brain That Wouldn't Die, as the documentary Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies pointed out, has become a feminist parable, though it certainly didn't intend to be one.