Summary
Fantasy is a genre rife with cult classics, meaning thatthere are numerous fantasy movies that bombed at the box office but made a comeback,and came to be beloved by audiences later on.Underrated fantasy movies from the 1970sand 1980s are especially common in this category, as many of them come across as tacky due to being produced before the advent of modern CGI. That is not to say that there are not some more recent fantasy movies that flopped for a variety of reasons before people discovered their merits.
Evenmovies with hilariously unconvincing practical effectshave come to be appreciated for their wacky charm and heartwarming spirit. As animation came to be taken more seriously in Hollywood, someunderrated animated fantasy moviesalso gained more attention and praise.For a long time, fantasy was a difficult genre to integrate into highbrow entertainmentdue to the extensive world-building and massive production costs, while box office challenges today make things difficult for all movies. However, despite the circumstances at the time of release, some fantasy movies made surprising comebacks.
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15 Best Fairy Tale Movies That Are Not Retellings, Ranked
For fans of a straightforward adventure with a happy ending, these movies are inspired by classic fairy tales but still tell a new story.
10Labyrinth (1986)
Domestic Gross: $13.7 Million | Worldwide Total: $14.6 Million
Labyrinthhas all the trappings of a standard fairy tale: a heroine who makes a wish she wants to take back, a pure evil villain, plenty of magical creatures, etc. However,Labyrinthdidn’t quite land with audiencesback in the day. Its biggest selling point is David Bowie, which was doubtlessly the point of casting a musical star as the Goblin King. Although it has come to be considered one of thebest Jim Henson creature shop movies,Labyrinthwas too disconnected in comparison to the Muppets movies working with an established premise.
Arguably,Labyrinthis a better movie to watch at home anyway. The adorable Muppets-like goblins aren’t nearly as terrifying as the story treats them, while Sarah’s adventure is too simple to hold up in a theater. However,Labyrinthworks well as an indulgent fantasy adventurewhere the point isn’t for it to be scary but fun. It became a kind of comforting dose of nostalgia from the days of the Jim Henson golden age.
Labyrinth
Directed by Jim Henson and written by Monty Python’s Terry Jones, Labyrinth stars Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, a teenage girl whose accidental wish that her baby brother be taken by the Goblin King results in an epic quest to save the baby from the King through a vast labyrinth, accompanied by its inhabitants. David Bowie also stars as Jareth, the Goblin King, and many of the characters are played by puppets created by Henson.
All box office information contained in this list is according toboxofficemojo.com.
9Hocus Pocus (1993)
Domestic Gross: $49.3 Million | Worldwide Total: $50.8 Million
Hocus Pocusis also too clichéd and too wacky to serve as a huge box office success. It also came out in the summer of 1993, apparently aiming to be a summer blockbuster, which is completely incongruous with the movie’s branding.Hocus Pocus’significant legacy is in being a goofy Halloween classic,and trying to hit Summerween notes didn’t work for it. Once people figured out that it was perfect for the Halloween season,Hocus Pocustook off as a cult classic.
Hocus Pocusis brought out (or looked up on Disney+ nowadays) every year for Halloween parties, delighting viewers of all ages with the laugh-out-loud antics of the Sanderson sisters. The performances of the main trio are perfect, while all the most typical Halloween iconography creates an overblown holiday aesthetic.Hocus Pocusis a movie that isn’t meant to be taken too seriously,which is part of the reason the sequel didn’t work andHocus Pocus 3is a bad idea.
Hocus Pocus
Hocus Pocus tells the story of the Sanderson Sisters, a trio of witches who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy on Halloween. When the witches threaten to take over the town of Salem, Massachusetts, it’s up to Max, sister Dani, and friend Alison to stop them with the help of Thackery Binx, one of the Sandersons' victims trapped in the immortal body of black cat.
8The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Domestic Gross: $113 Million | Worldwide Total: $115.7 Million
The Rocky Horror Picture Showis a bizarre, out-of-this-world experience, which is what has made it an incredible cult classic. Like many weird fantasy movies,Rocky Horrorflopped when it first came out largely because it was too weird.With time, it amassed a fervent fanbase that loved it for exactly this reason, which led to interactive and theatrical screenings that are still happening today. Tim Curry’s performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter might be the only one more iconic than the Sanderson Sisters in the realm of campy horror movies.
Rocky Horror faced some challenges during the pandemic when it could not be screened at traditional cinemas.
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh recounts (viaBBC) the profound history ofRockyHorror, from a forgotten musical play to a box office flop to the title that"[defines] what we mean by a ‘cult’ movie,“as well as its importance to LGBTQ+ individuals and communities. Ivan-Zadeh also notes thatRocky Horrorfaced some challenges during the pandemic when it could not be screened at traditional cinemas. However,it is unlikely thatRocky Horrorwill ever fadeinto obscurity.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Originally based on a stage play, The Rocky Horror Picture show is considered one of the most significant countercultural films of all time and maintains a wide cult following to this day. The film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick, and follows Brad and Janet, a young couple who, after experiencing car trouble on a stormy night, are taken in by scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter, an alien transvestite who lives in a nearby castle with his equally colorful servants.
7Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Domestic Gross: $93.3 Million | Worldwide Total: $208.2 Million
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thievesbecame a Netflix favoriteafter its box office failure, demonstrating a just as tumultuous setting for fantasy movies in the modern day. It is definitely meant to be a comedic, enjoyable action movie that was never going to win any awards, with stars like Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Regé-Jean Page thrown in for good measure. However,Honor Among Thievesproves that pure enjoyability isn’t likely to turn a profitnowadays.
With many people expecting thatHonor Among Thieveswould be available streaming before too long, they likely wrote it off as not important enough to go see in theaters. With so many bad movies based on IP coming out, potential audiences had reason to believe thatHonor Among Thieveswouldn’t be anything special. Yet the movie has shockingly high ratings; once the price of a ticket was no longer standing in the way,Honor Among Thievesbecame a fan-favorite romp of D&D players and the actors' fans.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves follows a cunning thief and a group of unlikely adventurers on a quest to recover a lost relic. The film details their epic heist, which takes a perilous turn as they encounter formidable adversaries, adding complexity to their mission.
6The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Domestic Gross: $87.6 Million | Worldwide Total: $101.7 Million
The Nightmare Before Christmaswas technically not a box office flop, just a disappointment to the Disney executives. With a budget of $24 million and needing to gross two and a half times that much to break even,The Nightmare Before Christmasturned a modest profit.Netflix’s documentaryThe Movies That Made Usstill characterizes this as an unremarkable opening, while widespread adoration ofThe Nightmare Before Christmas’aeshetics and music came later.
Disney’s working relationship with Tim Burton had long been fluctuating, as executives never understood his spooky visions and shelvedThe Nightmare Before Christmasuntil Burton became very successful working with other studios. The results ofThe Nightmare Before Christmasarguably come down on both sides of the argument. The movie was not the massive box office hit Disney was hoping for, but they have doubtlessly made all this money back over the years through merchandise because of its incredible legacy.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Henry Selick directs The Nightmare Before Christmas, a stop-motion fairytale from the mind of Tim Burton. Jack Skellington is the king of Halloween and one of Halloweentown’s most beloved citizens, but he longs for something more. When he stumbles across a magical door that leads him to discover Christmas, he makes it his mission to replace Santa Claus and bring festive cheer to his perpetually spooky hamlet.
10 Children’s Animations That Adults Find Terrifying
Children’s animations are normally fun for family movie nights. But here are 10 children’s animations that are considered terrifying for adults.
5Stardust (2007)
Domestic Gross: $38.6 Million | Worldwide Total: $137.5 Million
Stardustis nowhere near as composed or sophisticated asCoraline, the other major movie adaptation of one of fantasy legend Neil Gaiman’s novels.The bookStardustis also a lot darker than the movie,delving more into the violent and sexual aspects of the story. Die-hard fans of the novel would have been disappointed by the unfaithful adaptation, while those who knew nothing about the source material probably found it cheap. At this point, high-quality CGI was present in Hollywood, butStardust’s effects look like cartoon slapstick.
Once one gets past the cheesiest parts ofStardust, it is an immensely enjoyable and even romantic movie. Robert De Niro’s performance as Captain Shakespeare is a highlight that no one remembers him for, while the narrative plays with the conventions of the fairy tale romance in a surprisingly good way.Stardustshowcases an idealized romance that is false against one that is based on unconditional love,with some beautiful settings and costumes as a backdrop.
Stardust
Stardust is a fantasy-based romantic adventure-comedy by director Matthew Vaughn and based on the original novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. In the film, Tristan, a young man who lives in an English town near a magical border wall, decides to catch a fallen star to win the affection of a woman named Yvaine. However, Tristan soon learns what - or who - the star is, and a grand adventure back to England begins.
4Hugo (2011)
Domestic Gross: $73.8 Million | Worldwide Total: $185.8 Million
The idea of Martin Scorsese directingHugomight have raised some eyebrows at the time. The legendary creator of crime sagas suddenly opting to adapt a whimsical classic children’s novel about the history of a groundbreaking French filmmaker would have been news.It’s not as thoughHugo’s"failure"would last for long,as once it came back around with Scorsese’s usual sweep of Oscar nominations, everyone started paying attention to it.
Issues with marketing a movie that failed to appeal to all ages possibly contributed to its failure.Hugo’s box office flop has also been attributed to competition withThe MuppetsandThe Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1(viaThe Los Angeles Times).It was later established by movie critics and the Academy thatHugois a visually stunning masterpiecethat tells a strong story about found family and the history of cinema, making it a success in the long run.
Hugo
Based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Hugo follows the titular character, a young boy living alone in a train station in Paris. While working to restore an automaton found by his late father, Hugo becomes involved in a mystery surrounding the automaton and filmmaker Georges Méliès. Asa Butterfield stars as Hugo, with Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Jude Law as part of the main cast.
3Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)
Domestic Gross: $33.4 Million | Worldwide Total: $51.7 Million
Scott Pilgrim vs. the Worldflopped for all the reasons that might be expected: it was too campy and too weird, full of references that only a select number of people would get and stars that were not as famous then as they are now. Lisa Laman also argues (viaCollider) that marketing made the mistake of only advertising it to the nerd culture the movie most appeals to via Comic-Con rather than trying to get the word out to the rest of the public. YetScott Pilgrim vs. the Worldeventually became the emblem of nerd culturethat grew beyond this demographic.
Laman also argues that as things conservatively considered to be geeky became much more popular, more people were able to enjoy the movie’s references. The stars also became a lot more famous, allowing the movie to draw attention from the fans of Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Kieran Culkin, and Anna Kendrick.Scott Pilgrim vs. the Worldwas always loved by video game, anime, and Edgar Wright fans,which allowed it to amass its cult following after its initial release until even more people came to love it.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Based on Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World follows the titular slacker musician (Michael Cera) as he strives to earn a record deal by winning the Battle of the Bands organized by music mogul Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman). After meeting and falling in love with Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Scott learns that he must also defeat her seven evil exes. Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routh, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, and Brie Larson round out the film’s star-studded and quirky ensemble.
2Treasure Planet (2002)
Domestic Gross: $38.2 Million | Worldwide Total: $110 Million
Treasure Planetis one of Disney’s most expensive failuresthat exists in the same cult classic realm asThe Black Cauldron— but is arguably the better movie.Treasure Planethas a strong narrative,as it is essentiallyTreasure Islandwith a more uplifting ending. The visuals are beautifully dynamic, showcasing the cosmos through which the characters sail in a setting that is technically sci-fi but is still imbued with a bit of classic Disney fantasy.
These are all things people came to love aboutTreasure Planetin the years after its release. However, at the time, Treasure Planet was a major box office bomb due to the expensive production costs and competition with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.In the post-Disney Renaissance days, the traditional 2D cell animation of Disney’s regular animated movies was strugglingto keep up with Pixar turning out hit after hit, andTreasure Planetis one of the victims.
Treasure Planet
Treasure Planet is a 2002 animated adventure and Fantasy film from Walt Disney studios. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the story follows a young boy named Jim Hawkins as he attempts to find a fabled treasure and mend ways with his father who abandoned him.
10 Best Standalone Fantasy Films
While everyone loves big fantasy series, sometimes audiences just need a one-and-done for the day. Which standalone fantasy films are the best?
1The Princess Bride (1987)
Domestic Gross: $30.8 Million | Worldwide Total: $31 Million
Everyone lovesThe Princess Bride,still held in high regard as possibly the best fantasy cult classic of all time. The plot is not that of an epic fantasy and demonstrates some confusing motivations at some points, but this is not the type of movie that needs to adhere to strict logic. Robin Wright, Cary Elwes, and Mandy Patinkin’s performances are iconic, while all the superficial elements of the story — the costumes, the jokes, and definitely the action — are completely perfect.
It is hard to imagine that this classic adventure filled with some of the most quotable lines in cinematic history was ever considered a disappointment.
It is hard to imagine that this classic adventure filled with some of the most quotable lines in cinematic history was ever considered a disappointment. When it was first released,The Princess Bridegot strong reviews but was only a“modest”commercial success(viaBFI). Director Rob Reiner said:
“I think we had a real marketing problem with Princess Bride. It was hard to categorise, and I think the title also scared a lot of people. It sounds like a children’s fairytale or something.”
YetThe Princess Brideand many other fantasy movies rallied in years to come, when a typical theatrical release didn’t give movie fans enough time to appreciate all they had to offer.
The Princess Bride
Based on the 1973 novel by William Goldman, The Princess Bride is a comical fantasy adventure film that tells a swashbuckling tale of a hero and a princess, read to a young, sick boy in bed by his grandfather. The story itself follows farmhand Westley, who embarks on an epic journey to save his beloved princess from an evil prince as he meets strange but reliable companions along the way.
