When do cult movies become mainstream ?

[Mikey]

A cult movie usually means the movie probably did pretty poorly at the box office but developed an audience over time.

BUT, when does a cult movie TURN into a mainstream movie ?

Example ---- Blade Runner ..... I remember when Blade Runner came out most people didn't generally like it .... Today it's a very popular movie.

Same with John Carpenters's The Thing and Escape From New York

Today they're "classics"

So what when and why does a cult movie turn mainstream ?

[Bruce Banner]

It never becomes mainstream.

It just continues to acquire new fans over the years within its particular sub-genre of fandom and simply becomes a well known cult movie. At that point the label "cult classic" is generally (and predictably) applied to it.



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[jds1911a1]

It never becomes mainstream.

It just continues to acquire new fans over the years within its particular sub-genre of fandom and simply becomes a well known cult movie. At that point the label "cult classic" is generally (and predictably) applied to it.



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when the fans of the film are old enough that no one thinks of them as kids anymore. A film only loved by 17-25 year olds which was not a hige blockbuster (and often critcally panned to boot) is "cult", often a cult film is also one that gain popularity becuase of video or broadcast on cable. Before home video and cable how many of us might have seen Evil dead or blade runner neither would have made broadcast on the big 3 except maybe as a late nite movie after carson (if like me you are old enough to remeber those).

[Den82]

When Hollywood makes a **** poor remake of it.

[jimsmegos]

When Hollywood makes a **** poor remake of it.

couldn't help myself

[MIB41]

Time and nostalgia often removes the ills of all films that disappoint audiences. And what's funny is the very thing that made audiences deplore them are often the reasons sited to adore them later. No where is that better illustrated than the NOW cult classic Halloween 3. Who'd 'thunk' that? I'm waiting for Batman and Robin to come around next. Hey, when the Hot Toys forums actually asks if anyone would buy a Hot Toys product based on that film, you know time is beginning to soften the criticisms.

[Brazoo]

A cult movie usually means the movie probably did pretty poorly at the box office but developed an audience over time.

BUT, when does a cult movie TURN into a mainstream movie ?

Example ---- Blade Runner ..... I remember when Blade Runner came out most people didn't generally like it .... Today it's a very popular movie.

Same with John Carpenters's The Thing and Escape From New York

Today they're "classics"

So what when and why does a cult movie turn mainstream ?

Yeah, "cult classic" doesn't seem well defined sometimes.

I just ran across one that goes the other way - so I guess it works both ways:

Prince's "Purple Rain" was the 11th biggest grossing movie in 1984. To put that in context a little, here's the list of hits in order from 1984:


1 Beverly Hills Cop
3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
4 Gremlins
5 The Karate Kid
6 Police Academy
7 Footloose
8 Romancing the Stone
9 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
10 Splash
11 Purple Rain
12 Amadeus
13 Tightrope
14 The Natural
15 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan
16 Revenge of the Nerds
17 2010
18 Breakin'
19 Bachelor Party
20 Red Dawn
21 The Terminator

So, it was a giant hit movie - it also won an Academy Award for Best Score - but now it's considered as a cult classic.

[ctc]

>now it's considered as a cult classic

I think there's a few different ideas getting mixed up here. Something like "Purple Rain" isn't a cult film because it was once a big hit, and is widely known. It's also inseperably tied up with it's era, so it becomes nostalgia. (Meaning anyone watching it NOW generally does so 'cos of the warm memories of having lived through the 80's; or ironically if you're a young hipster.) Cult movies are ones that either had a small release, or a wider one but were ignored; and are remembered by a smaller cadre of hardcore fans. People who enjoy the film AS the film, and not because it's part of some wider feeling. (So something like "Psychomania," or "Rock and Rule" would be cult films.)

What sometimes happens is a cult film gains wider acceptance and a larger audience; maybe because of a remake, maybe because the era it's from recycles (like how we're just exiting the 80's again) anhd THIS TIME it gets a wider audience, or sometimes it's one of them things that everyone's SORT OF heard of and when it comes back in some other form (like on a new video format) people jump on board. (So.... whenever a caertain type of film is the thing, smaller companies will scoop up similar stuff, often cheaper stuff.... and reissue it just to take advantage. Sometimes an older film gets "rediscovered" in the mix.) Once this ahppens, the film really isn't a cult classic anymore.... except usually to the marketing team. I don't know what you'd call them at that point.

'Course, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Classifications are fine for discussion and academic debate; but don't serve the viewing public so much.

Don C.

[Figuremod73]

I agree. It's a film that usually does poorly (or is a disappointment) but gains a audience over time. Usually the criticisms of it do soften as time goes on. Rocky Horror Picture Show may be the biggest example ever of this. I also would include Xanadu or even a comedy like Space Balls.

Some films have gone completely main stream since its original release like A Christmas Story.

Purple Rain is a awesome piece of nostalgia but it was a pretty big hit even when it was first released. Personally, I just like the soundtrackl

[Brazoo]

>now it's considered as a cult classic

I think there's a few different ideas getting mixed up here. Something like "Purple Rain" isn't a cult film because it was once a big hit, and is widely known. It's also inseperably tied up with it's era, so it becomes nostalgia. (Meaning anyone watching it NOW generally does so 'cos of the warm memories of having lived through the 80's; or ironically if you're a young hipster.) Cult movies are ones that either had a small release, or a wider one but were ignored; and are remembered by a smaller cadre of hardcore fans. People who enjoy the film AS the film, and not because it's part of some wider feeling. (So something like "Psychomania," or "Rock and Rule" would be cult films.)

Keep in mind, calling "Purple Rain" a cult classic wasn't my distinction. I was looking up info on the movie and "cult classic" was used in almost every description I found of the movie. I don't know if it's a fair description - but I don't many people who like it, and the hard-core Prince fans I know are very culty about their fandom.

I still don't think "cult classic" is a strictly defined thing. I think movies like "Blade Runner", "The Thing" and "Escape From New York" have cult followings - and that definition makes sense because initially they were box office failures - but they've also got 30 years of being huge hit movies on video and DVD after that. So, they're genuine hits too, no?

[ctc]

>"cult classic" was used in almost every description I found of the movie.

Yeah; it's something of a catach all for a LOT of different things.... genuine cult classics, old B-movies, stuff you sort of heard about but never saw.... 'Course these kind of films all sort of swish together, which is why I don't believe in getting too wrapped around the axle about defining them. One of the NICE things I find about these kind of movies is that they DO defy definition so much; means they're different. I like different.

>but I don't many people who like it, and the hard-core Prince fans I know are very culty about their fandom

Maybe. I still chalk it up more as a nostalgia piece since even folks who don't care for it have heard of it, and the general public associates it with a given era more than His Purple Highness himself. I think proper cult films aren't well known by the masses but are insanely beloved to those who do know of them. Stuff I'd consider cult films would be "Deadly Friend," or "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," or "Reanimator" and my all time favourite film "Rock and Rule."

>I think movies like "Blade Runner", "The Thing" and "Escape From New York" have cult followings

Those are some good examples. They're big films, not B's, and they're all stuff folks saw after the fact. Bladerunner's a good example too 'cos it's a film that the general public didn't care for but two decades of film makers lost their minds over. (Hence why there's more than a touch of it in almost every action and sci-fi film since.) I think they're all films that slipped the bonds of a "cult classic" though; because everyone's seen them since.

I suspect part of the problem comes from how inundated we are by the tertiary entertainment industry. Only the biggest and most successful films gain any gravitas, so we tend to think of anything that DOESN'T rake in 200 bajillion dollars as a flop, or lesser film. Any movie that does "okay" is shunted into the "other" category; and becomes a b-movie, cult film, sleeper hit.... or any of a number of terms that used to refer to something specific but are now used for "anything not pulling in the bucks like Avatar." Funny thing; over the last decade or so I've seen a lot of films I think will be future cult classics. Films that were just a nick away from being good, or were too weird for most folks, or drowned in hype before they came out.... but a few years from now when the hooplah dies out and people can decide for themselves I could see film freaks from the next generation getting into them.

Don C.

[fallensaviour]

Yeah, "cult classic" doesn't seem well defined sometimes.

I just ran across one that goes the other way - so I guess it works both ways:

Prince's "Purple Rain" was the 11th biggest grossing movie in 1984. To put that in context a little, here's the list of hits in order from 1984:


1 Beverly Hills Cop
3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
4 Gremlins
5 The Karate Kid
6 Police Academy
7 Footloose
8 Romancing the Stone
9 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
10 Splash
11 Purple Rain
12 Amadeus
13 Tightrope
14 The Natural
15 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan
16 Revenge of the Nerds
17 2010
18 Breakin'
19 Bachelor Party
20 Red Dawn
21 The Terminator

So, it was a giant hit movie - it also won an Academy Award for Best Score - but now it's considered as a cult classic.

You know I saw everyone of those movies at the theatre with my Dad back then.I was twelve and I'll tell you I have an 11 year old son and there is no way I could take him to 21 of this years top grossing films?*** is up with that...LOL

[Figuremod73]

^ I remember going with my cousins and uncle to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and one of my cousins (probably seven at the time) was so scared during the ripping out the heart scene that we had to leave the theater.

My uncle complained to the people who ran the theater about it. I think this may have been just before PG13.

Hmmmm this may have been just before Red dawn. Its suppose to be the first PG13 film.

[mego73]

Gremlins and Temple Of Doom inspired the creation of PG-13 because those movies were considered too strong for PG and too soft for R.

Red Dawn was the first PG-13 released but The Flamingo Kid was the first to actually receive the rating.