Sci-Fi Box Office Bombs That Are Actually Worth Watching

Making movie magic isn't cheap, and some films live or die based on their box office receipts. But does not making money mean they suck? Not always! These sci-fi bombs are the bee's knees.
#Scifi #HiddenGems #StarshipTroopers
Dredd | 0:00
Titan A.E. | 1:07
Starship Troopers | 2:16
Tron | 3:18
Idiocracy | 4:30
Strange Days | 5:32
Sunshine | 6:20
Dark City | 7:24
The Thing | 8:23
The Abyss | 9:11
Annihilation | 10:00
Donnie Darko | 11:06
Children of Men | 11:41
Blade Runner | 12:35
Voiceover By: Alex Mitts
Read Full Article: www.looper.com/1529427/sci-fi...

[@Looper]

What movies would you recommend for this list?

[@malachai333]

fantasy movies from the early 80's

[@sosadagod6963]

Dredd was a 3D movie. Sooo good with the 3d effect on and a duby

[@lppoqql]

Titian A.E just have horribly bad character design. Their problem is with their art director and style.

[@sosadagod6963]

@@lppoqql hmm, never seen, ill watch, that was my first ever xbox360 game

[@KadeemG61]

It’s a damn shame we’ll never get a sequel to Dredd.

[@sopcannon]

You know there was 2 Dredd movies? One with Sylvester Stallone.

[@AoKodo]

@@sopcannonit was a shit movie, I know I was there.

[@sultanabran1]

i thought they were both awesome movies.

[@ViktorSarge]

yeah Dredd is such an awesome film, even for someone who never cared about the comics.

[@Ayrshore]

*Judge Dredd

[@1972LittleC]

Idiocracy is looking like a documentary every day in the US...

[@ZenCorvus]

People don't know their gender

[@seanbrazell7095]

Starship Troopers killed it upon its video/dvd/blue ray releases.

[@Otis151]

Children of Men is worth the watch for the scale and cinematography alone.

[@giorgiopalmas7934]

Dredd kicks ass in 3D.

[@archibaldsalyards926]

How was "Equilibrium" not on this list? One of my favorite Sci-Fi future films. And it has Christian Bale!

[@lesleydoughty3895]

Tron and Blade Runner are two of my favourite films.

[@doomlordkaka]

i remember when starship troopers was being advertised. it looked incredible. but the ad was done to blurs song 2, which never appeared in the movie, which caused a lot of negative publicity that the movie wasnt what it was advertised to be. but i saw it at the cinemas and have been a fan ever since.

[@basslin3r]

but thats super common? most trailers have songs that are never in the movie..

[@kmoecub]

The movie wasn't even remotely related to the novel. It's generous to say that it was a poor extension of a single paragraph of the novel. It did look good though.

[@Anurag-xe2jp]

@@kmoecub It's better than the novel. The novel was influential but a product of its time

[@davidconner-shover51]

@@kmoecub It seemed to have the propagandist air from Starship Troopers, but the plot came directly from another novel. I wish I could remember the title and author, the book is no longer in my collection

[@tepidtuna7450]

This is why 'dumb' movies make so much money, they appeal broadly. Works of cinematic art bore the mainstream but appeal critically. I guess it's tough to be in the movie production business.

[@KuyaAccordionista]

They may not have done well at the box office by those who seem what “box office success” is, but each of these sci-fi movies are classics! Starship Troopers, Blade Runner, Dark City, The Abyss, Tron, and all the others. 👏🏽

[@bazzer124]

Perhaps you should read Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" before you call the film a sci-fi classic. The adaptation is pretty lousy. Cheers....

[@M32Mirach]

​@@bazzer124 lol what sort of fascist are you?

[@jamesbrice6619]

​@bazzer124 the adaptation is very different. It's a great movie. You could use the same argument against the movie The Shining. It's nothing like the book and I considered it a failure

[@bazzer124]

@@jamesbrice6619 point taken, but It's all subjective. One usually expects a film adaptation to closely follow the story line of a book, but then there's that "artistic license" thing Hollywood is famous for. Cheers....

[@FixerUK]

All I can say of one movie off this list is "That bear!". Unforgettable.

[@starshiptrooper2354]

Most of all of them are classic greats

[@theauntofdragons]

I was "too young" to watch these in theatres. I watched them as a teen online. I'm curious, why did these flop in theaters? I'm not trying to be argumentative. Honestly, why didn't people show up?

[@abnurtharn2927]

The reason Annihilation failed is probably that the latter part of the movie dont make any sense .

[@Ilnath]

Decent mentions also include: Europa Report (2013) The Last Days on Mars (2013) Impostor (2001) Pandorum (2009) Prospect (2018) Alien raiders (2008) World Invation battle los angeles (2011)

[@radomirkorac-uu3nk]

Deep Rising (1998). Great movie!

[@RadoLex]

Dark City 👍🙂👍

[@stepheng1523]

Im so glad i saw that movie knowing nothing about it going in. Blew my mind

[@Dumapower1996]

​@@stepheng1523 same didn't know anything about it. Loved it.

[@Myh582]

Blade runner was amazing

[@jfess1911]

Starship Troopers is an over-the-top satire, but few of the reviewers at the time realized this.

[@kmoecub]

It's a piece of crap that took the name of a great novel and threw away the rest of a great story.

[@SciFiDude79]

Director Paul Verhoeven loves over-the-top satire. And gratuitous violence. It's a fun movie that's definitely miles away from the book, which I have read. But, I think both are great for different reasons. The fact that the movie became a cult classic and spawned an entire franchise of DTV movies and other media speaks to how good it really is.

[@YolandaAnneBrown95726]

I loved Strange Days since I worked at a theater showing it in 1995. And I loved Dark City even more, especially the Director's Cut, which I highly recommend for first time watchers.

[@kbrdft]

Idiocracy is a sleeper for eugenics. It just took this long for eugenics to be popular again.

[@destodelvita112]

I love this list, it is spot on!

[@ajh6354]

Loved almost every one of these. Saw none of them at the theater.

[@garrettpeck4437]

I'm happy to say I did see a number of these at the theater: Starship Troopers, Idiocracy, Sunshine, Dark City, The Thing, The Abyss, and Blade Runner. Not my fault they flopped! The others I've seen and enjoyed, except for Annihilation, which is very high on my "need to see" list.

[@rjb7569]

Wasn't aware of some of these. Crisp, rapid moving reviews. Good job.

[@rodrickscott5683]

Sunshine was an awesome movie! 👌 Great list!

[@TheSektor13]

Amazing list, a lot of these movies are among my favourites.

[@invaderjae]

All these movies are SO good. Sunshine is one of my favorites though. And Titan A.E. was just such a underrated movie with a great soundtrack.

[@Phornax7]

The 13th Floor is underrated and worth a watch IMO

[@chrisp1653]

Absolutely. I love that movie. It almost makes me want to take a long drive and see what's out there.

[@hermanturnip3984]

Annihilation is a fun movie, but it shared nearly nothing with the books, which bummed me out. Was hoping to see the tower, the lighthouse, and the pursuit to the reef and the dive underwater.

[@djlowtek]

Idiocracy isn't a movie, it's a prophecy

[@thewebstylist]

The Thing special effects ahead of their time indeed. I’ll be checking out Sunshine and Dark City

[@justinseymour4341]

I’m a big fan of starship troopers is good

[@fisherfilms1111]

Hi I love your videos

[@bbowman105]

This list reads like a top ten of my favorite films!

[@briannastultz1468]

I love Starship Troopers. It’s a cult classic even though it’s so dumb.

[@bbowman105]

Sunshine received no marketing in the US and was only in the theaters a week or so. Then they delayed the release of it on DVD or BluRay. It is exceptional, though, with a very intense final act.

[@BrianaCunningham]

Dredd was great! I definitely recommend it.

[@jamesjimbob71]

dredd, starship troopers and the thing are all great films

[@kierenmoore3236]

BR 2049 and Dredd are two of my favourite movies. So much to love about both.

[@jimyoung1011]

I enjoyed every one of those that i watched.

[@fookusamatube]

Both Blade Runner rule!!!

[@JJ-bc1te]

Funny that movies can be regarded as classic and realistically be ranked in top 200 movies ever yet be failure. Abyss , The Thing , and Children of Men are all spoke so highly of

[@hungfao]

Great list. Haven't seen 'Annihilation'. Looks like I should.

[@CIMAmotor]

To be honest, I thought it was confusing and boring.

[@Gor85]

Dredd 2012 looks pretty good. I don't think I watched first one. I think I watched Titan A.E. It was really long ago. I remember parts I think. Starship troopers is pretty cool.Strange Days too.The Thing is great movie. Donnie Darko looks pretty good. Children of Men seems pretty good. Blade Runner 2049 seems pretty good too. I understand why people loved and still do upbeat sci-fi. Good video

[@abeljacobvarghese3199]

Donnie Darko and Annihilation🔥

[@nothingelse1520]

I found that people out of the UK liked Children of Men, but people in the UK hated it "a low budget BBC-esque special where everything moves crazy fast to cover up nothing is happening" I thought it was a great film

[@MikiaStorm]

Deep Impact, Cloud Atlas & Galaxy Quest should be on this list.

[@deadon4847]

Deep Impact wasn't a bomb, Deep Impact grossed over $349.5 million worldwide on an $80 million production budget, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 1998.

[@MikiaStorm]

@@deadon4847 I know however it seems to be forgotten and overshadowed by Armageddon. So while it didn't bomb monetarily, it really feels like it did.

[@lifediversified8932]

9 monkeys mars attacks brainscan existenz event horizon (obviously) spaceballs fifth element (don't know if it bombed) brass teapot the box downsizing mama the thing 2011 dreamcatcher velvet buzzsaw (gotta watch) mimic butterfly effect (2011) project almanac timer in time palm springs chain reaction heavy metal spectral (loved it) there are lots of other videos here on this topic to give you more movie ideas. i made a list called off-beat films recently on imdb that kinda fits with this theme but not limited to sci-fi.

[@AshtonRogers-se1zj]

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story! .... ...oh! Sci-fi!? Well it's half science fiction. The second half. The "fiction" half. 😁

[@legionandsons8763]

What about 30 days of night? That's got more of a cult following than half of the movies in this video.

[@markkoops2611]

Starship Troopers Did Not Bomb. It's an absolute classic

[@1992disney]

If I were you, I'd replace Titan A.E. with Treasure Planet.

[@BobSure_AKA_PotatoSmasher]

Fox saw "Idiocracy" before it's release and said: "holy 💩, this will hit too close to home for some." Bury it. We are becoming Idiocracy. Watch this movie TODAY and see how many themes apply to us now.

[@fr1day2]

Dredd never got a sequel is a crime! Sentence: Lifetime in Iso-cube.

[@CIMAmotor]

Drokk!

[@crystalweible152]

I guess I am old. I own'em all.🤣

[@sultanabran1]

gattaca was a good movie.

[@michaelmartin4874]

Soldier with Kurt Russell should be number 1.

[@hdready999]

Dredds bigger problem was The raid...

[@whedonite81]

I think Donnie Darko is overrated. But the rest of this list, except two I haven't seen. I 100% agree with!

[@lcmk57]

Not saying it's not worth watching. But if the action in Dredd was actually "gripping " it wouldn't have bombed. The fast and j. Wick franchises prove that's all you need

[@sheldonwheaton881]

Buckaroo Banzai?

[@WeskerLogan]

didnt starship troopers do gang busters on dvd?

[@snowatom]

If they were only available for digital purchase in Denmark (Europe) on Apple. For some odd reason many movies (Starship Troopers) is not available for purchase. Wonder why they don’t want my money.

[@sopcannon]

Sail the seven seas.

[@stepheng1523]

Need to re-watch starship troopers. Was too young when it came out, satire went over my head and i just thought it was some fasci bullshit

[@tobynormoyle637]

Considering all the strife in the US these days I am really surprised Strange Days has not seen a resurgence. But I suppose it is too balanced to appeal to either side. I still do not understand why Children of Men gets so much praise, it is one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. Take that and Annihilation off this list and it would be near perfect!

[@noorazhar2209]

John Carter... Great movie But it flop..😢 I think when Marvel do a next movie, they can slot in "Warlord of Mars" too

[@giorgiopalmas7934]

Should have used the book title JOHN CARTER OF MARS.

[@kmoecub]

I guess that Starship Troopers is worth watching if you're interested in learning about how to not make a film that is a reasonably decent adaptation of a classic American Science-Fiction novel.

[@Achrafu1]

i'm shocked the thing and blade runner bombed but fast and furious didn't. tells you all about the human brain.

[@O4FUXACHE]

And how much creative bookkeeping was used by the studios to grab a few dollars worth of tax deductions on these "losses" ?

[@ryanackley3109]

Some don’t age well. But they become cult classics.

[@danlove12k]

The abyss was not a flop 😅

[@archibaldsalyards926]

Is it just me, or is there a Pink Floyd homage in "Children Of Men?"... I won't explain, because if you get it, you got it.

[@randolphwh9551]

How starships failed man glad it had sequels alot

[@aidanmargarson8910]

love strange days .. just saying

[@elijahmodnar1]

SOLARIS-2002

[@bazzer124]

As a Heinlein fan, I found "Starship Troopers" to be a ridiculously inferior adaptation of the book, heavy on camp with an unexciting, weak in plot. Think of GWTW leaving out the Civil War. That's how vapid and inane the movie was. Cheers....

[@Otis151]

concur. great films that cou'dve used more marketing budget and evangelism from the folks who greenlit the film. "I'll pay for it to be made, but i dont get it and am too proud to admit i have no idea what im doing. lets cut our losses and throw the creators under the bus."

[@user-dm2nx4yu5o]

I actually don’t understand the need to include how much a movie made or even cost…

[@RudolfSikorsky]

I have seen all of them and liked most of them but Annihilation was total joke.

[@mikehemphill2173]

Um, Annihilation is a bad movie made from a bad book. Don't watch it, don't read it...or its two sequel books.

[@adrisan6296]

Annihilation was actually a horrible movie. Without a doubt, one of worst movies I've ever watched.

[@lapprentice]

Let's just say the mass has terrible taste. Hence they like McDonald's and cheap, brainless, PG-13 "action" movies.

[@omar168]

Look at Starship Troopers as a fascist propaganda movie, it is brilliant as that

[@kimballin1115]

Y'all running out of stuff to talk about . ...damn

[@fredschmitt456]

Dredd didn't deserve any box office success, as it sucked (even though I love Karl Urban). Reminds me to watch the original Sly movie again!

[@ANJING_SITUMORANG]

Idiocracy is nice documentary movie

[@yehtoon4237]

Mojo you aught to John Carter on your list.

[@Jaime.Lannister]

Really? No Predestination (2014)

[@yaniargirov5399]

from this movies only donnie darko was stupid bullshit...the other movies are TOP

[@mongul305]

watch this with a nice cup of LIBERTEA!!!🫡