These Movies Are Amazing But Didn't Get The Success They Deserved

In cinematic history, it’s hard to watch every single film ever made considering how many products have been released over the years. Unfortunately, there are several great movies that didn’t get the love they deserved. In this post, we will list out 10 underrated quality cinematic products.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Thirty years have past and The Shawshank Redemption is now considered one of the greatest movies of all time, as listed on the Top 250 IMDb. Telling the story about an innocent prisoner, the movie got 90% positive comments on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, when it was first released, the film earned only $16 million, which was $9 million less than its production cost. With several re-releases in the later years, the total earnings went up to $58 million, in addition to the revenue from CD/DVD brands.

The Insider (1999)

This film is about Jeffrey Wigand, a chemist-biologist who uncovered the dirty secrets of a cigarette company he had worked with. The inspiring story was brought to the big screen and got a lot of support from the press. The movie got 96% positive feedback on Rotten Tomatoes and 7 Oscar nominations.

However, because of how the story was told, the movie failed to attract the audience to the cinema. It earned only $68 million while costing $90 million to make.

The Iron Giant (1999)

Over time, the carton featuring Vin Diesel’s voice got a lot of fans around the world thanks to the touching backstory. Nevertheless, when the movie was released, it earned just $30 million though its production cost $50 million. The film was welcomed on Rotten Tomatoes with 96% positive feedback.

Children of Men (2006)

Created in the early 21st century and directed by Alfonso Cuaron, the movie features a background of post-apocalypse when women are no longer fertile. Cleo, the main character, put himself in danger to track down the rumor that there’s a pregnant woman somewhere in England. Ninety-two percent of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were positive, the film got 3 Oscar nominations and nearly 50 movie awards. Despite the $70 million revenue, the movie was still a loss as it cost $76 million to make.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

With Brad Pitt playing the gang boss Jesse James betrayed by his inferiors, this movie was a potential name in the 2007-2008 awards season. The film got 77% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, 2 Oscar nominations, and 26 movie awards. But that wasn’t enough to help it attract audiences to the cinema, which earned only $15 million at the ticket box and $9 million from CD/DVD distributors. Meanwhile, it cost Warner Bros $30 million to produce this film.

Grindhouse (2007)

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are the directors with a huge fan base and many were excited to see them collaborating in a class-B violent, bloody product. Their movie got 84% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes but ended up earning only $25 million, as opposed to the product cost of $65 million.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Scott Pilgrim was a much-loved comic series by Lee O’Malley and director Edgar Wright succeeded in bringing it to the big screen. With this creativity, the director created scenes based on the images that people had thought could only appear on the paper. Critics gave the movie 85% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes but it earned just $40 million, which was $35 million lower than the production cost.

Dredd (2012)

While the 1995 Dredd movie by Sylvester Stallone was purely entertaining, the 2012 version by Karl Urban was violent while raising questions about the story of the character. Critics were astonished by the movie’s quality and gave 79% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. However, audiences were not really interested. It earned only $41.5 million while taking $45 million to produce. Therefore, the plan to produce Dredd 2 hasn’t been executed ever since.

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

The movie is about the biggest oil spill in the US that happened six years prior to that. Deepwater Horizon was considered close to the real story, getting 83% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. This is a psychological movie that got $120 million, not bad compared with other names on this list, but Summit spent $120 million making this film. So, it was a loss after all.

The Sisters Brothers (2018)

This dark comedy movie was based on the novel of the same name by Patrick DeWitt. It got a lot of compliments when debuted at the Venice Film Festival and 86% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly worked well together when they played the Sisters brothers in the challenging journey to find gold. The film also marked the last show of Rutger Hauer. However, audiences were not interested in the movie and it got only $13 million while its production cost was $30 million.