Some comic book movies have bombed in theaters, only to go on to achieve great popularity on home media. In the modern age of comic book movies, many have become some of the biggest box office hits of all time. However, like any genre, flops here and there are also to be expected. Oftentimes, comic book movies that have failed theatrically have done so either due to being adapted from more niche source material, ineffective marketing, or simply being released under unfavorable circumstances.
Videos by ComicBook.com
In any case, cult classics emerge out of the wreckage of commercial failures all the time. Here are three comic book movies that flopped theatrically, and have since become popular and beloved fan favorites.
The Rocketeer (1991)
Released in 1991 and based upon Dave Stevens’ eponymous graphic novel, Disney’s The Rocketeer takes place in 1938 and follows the adventures of Los Angeles-based pilot Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell). After Cliff’s new plane is destroyed during a runway chase with the FBI and fleeing gangsters, the down-on-his-luck Cliff finds a rocket pack stashed in his airplane hangar and soon becomes a local hero known as The Rocketeer. Cliff also soon discovers that the rocket pack, designed by Howard Hughes (Terry O’Quinn), is being pursued by Nazi undercover agent Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton) as part of a Nazi plot to conquer the world.
The Rocketeer arrived to disappointing box office results in 1991, but its nostalgic warmth and high-flying sense of adventure have led it to become a popular cult classic in the decades since its release. History buffs will relish all the World War II-era historical elements liberally integrated into The Rocketeer‘s story, including in Dalton’s clear Errol Flynn-analogue in the dashing Neville Sinclair.
Despite being predicated upon a save-the-world plot, The Rocketeer is a much simpler story compared to modern comic book movie fare, which adds to its time capsule quality of an era when superhero movies were still few and far between. Director Joe Johnston’s work helming The Rocketeer also did not go unnoticed by Marvel Studios, with Johnston going on to direct 2011’s World War II-era origin story Captain America: The First Avenger. The Rocketeer may have come and gone with little impact in 1991, but it has long since soared into the sky as a timeless World War II-era superhero classic.
Punisher: War Zone (2008)
Frank Castle headlined his third live-action movie in 2008’s Punisher: War Zone, a holiday season bomb that has since become a cult hit. Director by Lexi Alexander, Punisher: War Zone sees Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson) continuing his long battle against the criminal underworld after the murder of his family. Crime boss Billy “The Beaut” Russoti (Dominic West) becomes Frank’s newest enemy after surviving falling into a glass grinder and emerging as the horrifically scarred villain Jigsaw.
Punisher: War Zone is a reboot of happenstance, with Lionsgate hitting the reset button after director Jonathan Hensleigh and leading man Thomas Jane of 2004’s The Punisher walked from the proposed sequel over creative differences. Under Alexander’s direction, Punisher: War Zone is, in many ways, Deadpool before Deadpool, an R-rated bonanza of vigilante carnage awash in cartoonish levels of R-rated bloodshed and F-bombs, complete with a vivid color palette right from the pages of a comic book.
The late Ray Stevenson gives a fully focused performance of Frank Castle as a man who only lives to punish the kinds of vicious criminals who destroyed his family. In a delightfully marked contrast, Dominic West hams it up to the eleventh power and steals the show with his over-the-top portrayal of Jigsaw. Despite its box office failure, Punisher: War Zone has developed a loyal cult following, with comedian Patton Oswalt among its more well-known fans.
[RELATED: The Most Underrated Comic Book Movie Is Streaming With No Subscription Needed]
Dredd (2012)
Few reboots have died at the box office and lived on with such remarkable longevity as 2012’s Dredd. Based upon the Judge Dredd comic book series from U.K. publisher 2000 A.D., Dredd focuses on a day in the life of Judge Dredd (Karl Urban), one of many Judges empowered to carry out on-the-spot sentencing and punishment in the overpopulated dystopian landscape of Mega-City One. While responding to a call in the massive apartment complex Peach Trees, Dredd and his young trainee Judge Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) find themselves trapped, with the Mega-Block’s criminal overlord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) ordering their execution by the building’s impoverished denizens.
Dredd faced some bad luck in debuting the same year as Gareth Evans’ Indonesian action hit The Raid: Redemption. Dredd shared essentially the same “cops trapped in a building full of criminals” plot as The Raid, with the latter becoming an instant action classic while Dredd sadly slipped through the cracks in theaters. However, those who did see Dredd theatrically spread the word about it with great enthusiasm, leading to Dredd becoming a hit on home media and spawning ongoing fan interest in Dredd 2.
Dredd‘s impactful R-rated action scenes, the sprawling Peach Trees setting, and the sequences of Ma-Ma’s psychotropic drug “Slo-Mo” enliven the post-apocalyptic world of Mega-City One with far more visual and visceral punch compared to 1995’s Judge Dredd. Additionally, even with half his face constantly obscured by his helmet (a very comic book faithful choice, with Dredd never shown without his helmet in the comics), Karl Urban’s snarling performance as Dredd is absolutely unforgettable. With 13 years of cult classic love accumulated, Dredd is proof positive of the potential shelf-life and long-term popularity of even the biggest of comic book movie flops.
