Dredd. Fight Club. Citizen Kane. Stop Saying it’s a Flop.

TotalFilm.com recently put together a list of the “50 Flop Movies That Deserved Better.” This list includes a good sampling of my DVD collection: Fight Club. Dredd. Citizen Kane. Serenity.I agree with the sentiment on nearly every one of them. These are fantastic films that deserved to be seen at the theaters by millions. But it’s the very idea that many of these films were flops, and didn’t make money is not only wrong but that makes it more difficult for filmmakers to get sequels of the films made – and to get other films like them made in the first place.Many of the films on this list (and I’m not going after this list or Total Film – these lists are made all the time) made money–and not just a couple bucks over the top but MILLIONS.Let’s take the most over used example of a “bomb” (after Ishtar, of course): Waterworld. Kevin Costner’s epic enviro-action-tragedy-on-water film. It was famously the most expensive film of its time – 175 million bucks. It’s considered just a bomb that one of the richest men in the world Daniel Loeb used it as an example of why Sony’s CEO should be removed in an investor letter:

“We find it perplexing that Mr. Hirai does not worry about a division that has just released 2013’s versions of Waterworld and Ishtar back-to-back, instead giving free passes to Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-CEO’s Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal, the executives responsible for these debacles … under Mr. Lynton and Ms. Pascal’s leadership, Entertainment’s culture is characterized by a complete lack of accountability and poor financial controls.”

Except one small detail. Waterworld made millions… like a LOT of millions.