42 Great Films That Failed at the Box Office

[Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated with new entries.]

Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, Jim Jarmusch, Denis Villeneuve, and Darren Aronofsky are all considered some of the greatest directors working today, but none of them are immune to a box office flop. Over the years, some of the best directors and many of the strongest films in any given year have failed to turn a profit. The box office can be a ruthless place and flops aren’t just reserved for bad films with poor reviews.

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In some cases, movies flop because they’re flat-out bad movies (here’s looking at you, “Dark Phoenix” and “Men in Black: International”). In other cases, a film might just be too challenging or weird to connect with a wide audience. Whatever the case may be, the following 42 films are all worth your time despite tanking at the box office (box office numbers below provided by Box Office Mojo).

Zack Sharf and Ryan Lattanzio contributed to this story.

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