There are many facets that can contribute to a film being negatively affected by bad hype. Poor reviews from critics, overall disdain from audiences, controversy, poor marketing, and an evolving collective perception over time can all lead to a film's reputation being ruined. Casting against type and defying audiences' expectations have also historically contributed to films receiving bad hype.
Once a film's reputation is tarnished, it becomes difficult for it to find commercial success. Despite being inflicted with bad hype at one point in time, there are several great films that do not deserve the notoriety they have received.
10 Seinfeld Contributed To The English Patient's Negative Perception
When The English Patient first premiered in 1996, it was a critical and commercial smash hit. The film won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and grossed over $200 million at the box office.
However, over the years, The English Patient's reputation has diminished. The film is now consistently ranked among the worst Oscar Best Picture winners, with many citing Fargo as the film that should have won that year. One of the biggest factors contributing to The English Patient's negative perception is the television sitcom Seinfeld, which features an episode mocking the admiration of the film.
9 Annihilation's Bad Hype Stems From Its Poor Marketing
Annihilation was director Alex Garland's highly anticipated follow-up to his critically acclaimed film Ex Machina. The film's production was plagued by issues, including poor test screenings and fights between producers over making the film more audience friendly. Although more in line with slow-burn, intellectual sci-fi films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Stalker, the final cut of Annihilation was ultimately left untouched.
To counter Annihilation's thought-provoking nature, the marketing of the film made it appear as though it was a horror sci-fi action film. When audiences finally saw the film, their reactions were highly unfavorable. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a "C." The negative audience responses quickly spread, resulting in Annihilation becoming a box office bomb.
8 It Comes At Night Was Hated By Audiences
Despite being one of the greatest horror films of the last decade, It Comes At Night is generally hated by audiences. With a CinemaScore grade of "D," word of mouth spread pertaining to audiences' dissatisfaction with the film following its opening night, resulting in its poor box office performance.
The central reasons behind It Comes At Night's severe negative reactions can be attributed to its ambiguous nature and its defiance of stereotypical horror movie tropes. It Comes At Night does not contain standard jump scares or revealing explanations for its mysteries. Instead, it is a rumination on human nature and the horrors that exist within us all.
7 Licorice Pizza's Romantic Age Gap Caused A Stir
Partly truth, partly fiction, Licorice Pizza is based on Paul Thomas Anderson's experiences growing up in the 1970s. Many of the plot elements in the film are also inspired by the life of Gary Goetzman, a child actor who went on to open a waterbed company and pinball arcade.
Licorice Pizza was one of 2021's most acclaimed films, yet it was also one of the year's biggest box office bombs. Many people vehemently refused to see Licorice Pizza upon hearing the film contained a relationship between a woman in her twenties and a high school student.
6 Punch-Drunk Love Is An Atypical Adam Sandler Film
Punch-Drunk Love is yet another Paul Thomas Anderson film that was a box office disaster because of bad hype. By the early 2000s, Adam Sandler had emerged as one of Hollywood's biggest box office stars with his goofy and often angry characters in films such as Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Waterboy endearing him to audiences worldwide.
In 2002, Sandler teamed up with Anderson for Punch-Drunk Love, an arthouse romantic comedy that featured Sandler in his darkest and most dramatic role yet. Despite critical acclaim, audiences detested Punch-Drunk Love, resulting in Sandler's biggest box office failure up until that point in time. Luckily, the film's reputation has grown over time and is now considered one of the best films of the 2000s.
5 Now A Classic, Blade Runner Was Originally A Critical And Commercial Failure
Similar to Annihilation, Blade Runner was marketed as an action-adventure sci-fi film even though it contains minimal action and is more concerned with existential philosophy. Negative test screenings resulted in the film being drastically cut, with seven different versions of the film existing over its forty-year existence.
The negative audience reactions and poor critical reception resulted in Blade Runner's lackluster box office. The general consensus was that the film was too slowly paced, did not contain enough action, and was a prime example of style over substance. Over the years, different cuts of the film have been released that fall more closely in line with director Ridley Scott's original vision. Blade Runner now consistently ranks among cinema's greatest works.
4 For Years, Vertigo Was Considered An Inferior Alfred Hitchcock Film
Between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, Alfred Hitchcock directed a string of critically and commercially successful films that included Rear Window, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds. Also made during this time was Vertigo, a film critics and audiences felt was boring and lacked the typical thrills people came to expect from a Hitchcock film.
Although initially a critical and commercial failure, Vertigo's standing has grown exponentially over the years. Between 1962 and 2002, Citizen Kane ranked number one on Sight and Sound's once-a-decade greatest film poll, but in 2012, Vertigo unseated Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time.
3 Charles Laughton Only Directed One Film Because Of The Night Of The Hunter's Bad Hype
Charles Laughton was one of Hollywood's greatest actors during the Golden Era of cinema. In 1955, he decided to try his hand at directing with The Night of the Hunter. The movie was such an epic failure both critically and commercially that Laughton never directed again.
The Night of the Hunter was condemned by the Legion of Decency and labeled objectionable by multiple religious organizations due to its narrative about a murderous preacher. Critics and audiences did not appreciate the film's lyrical nature and allegorical contemplation on the nature between good and evil. Retrospectively, The Night of the Hunter is widely considered a masterpiece. One cannot help but wonder what Laughton's career as a director would have looked like had this film's reputation not been tarnished.
2 Peeping Tom Should Have Been As Successful As Psycho
In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock directed Psycho, a massively successful film about a serial killer with voyeuristic tendencies. Two months before Psycho hit screens, Michael Powells Peeping Tom, another film about a serial killer with voyeuristic tendencies made its way to theaters. However, Peeping Tom was so despised by critics and audiences that the film was pulled from theaters after less than a week.
Despite being one of the twentieth century's greatest filmmakers, Powell's reputation was damaged so severely by Peeping Tom that he never directed another significant film for the remainder of his career. Peeping Tom, one of the first ever films made in the slasher genre, is now considered a landmark film of British cinema.
1 No Film Has Been As Adversely Affected By Bad Hype As Freaks
One of the most misunderstood films of all time, Tod Browning's Freaks was labeled as grotesque by audiences and exploitative by critics. The film, which centers on the members of a circus sideshow, caused such outrage that it was banned in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, where it was banned for over thirty years.
Retrospectively, Freaks has been properly interpreted as a positive representation of people with disabilities. In his assessment of Freaks, famed critic Andrew Sarris proclaimed Freaks was one of the most compassionate films ever made. In 1994, Freaks was inducted into the National Film Registry for being one of the most culturally important films in American history.