Your Favourite "Cult" Movie

[Guest Rog]

I could watch American Psycho every night.

[The Icon 152]

So you think True Romance and Donnie Darko are cult films now,strange.........

 

Muh you can only debate for so long before you give up and join the crowd. I still don't particually but since everybody else does.

[Guest Jung]

IMO, Star Wars goes against that idea, as that made a fair bit of money and is incredibly wide-spread, but is considered a cult movie by many different people.

 

Also, The Blair Witch Project is another that falls outwith your reasoning, and that is considered a cult movie too.

 

I agree that most cult films fall into your ideology, but not all of them do.

 

Thing is though they are only slightly different from my idea of a cult film. The similar thing that ties Blair Witch and Star Wars with the films I mentioned were they were small budget and not expected to do well, yet they did really well.

 

Thus they still developed, where as something like Pirates or Spiderman, big budget, made a lot of money, it did exactly what was expected.

 

A cult film for me, has to have had a journey if you see what I mean. Has to develop, be it positive or negative.

[DC 536]

To me I don't think a massive money making movie can ever be a cult one, its nothing to do with it being mainstream, just too widespread.

The bolded part kinda says that, IYO, a movie that makes a lot of money can never be a cult movie, but concede below that Star Wars is, in a way, a cult movie. Unless you've missed a comma between the words massive and money making, which changes the comment from being massive movies and money making movies to only talking about movies that were both huge AND made money.

 

Thing is though they are only slightly different from my idea of a cult film. The similar thing that ties Blair Witch and Star Wars with the films I mentioned were they were small budget and not expected to do well, yet they did really well.

 

Thus they still developed, where as something like Pirates or Spiderman, big budget, made a lot of money, it did exactly what was expected.

 

A cult film for me, has to have had a journey if you see what I mean. Has to develop, be it positive or negative.

Since when was Star Wars ever a low-budget movie? The budget for the movie was US$11million, and that was in 1976-77.

 

The small budget idea doesn't hold all the time either, with Heaven's Gate being considered a cult movie (due to the so-bad-it's-good ideology, which is another measure of a cult movie at times), yet it cost United Artists US$40million in 1980 and effectively ended that company as a stand-alone production house (it was sold to MGM, and was left dormant until they revived it years later) within a year.

 

I agree with the whole "journey" idea though.

[Guest Aholda]

any early Kevin Smith flicks.

[Guest Sparrow]

From that list as I don't really know that many cult movies my favs are:

 

 

Tremors

Reservoir Dogs

Groundhog Day

Clerks

Pulp Fiction

The Shawshank Redemption

The Usual Suspects

Fargo

Fight Club

[Guest Proudy]

Would people class "The Lost Boys" as a cult movie?

[DC 536]

Would people class "The Lost Boys" as a cult movie?

I would say that it could be considered as such, but Near Dark (released around the same time) is more of a cult movie of the two.

[Guest Jung]

The bolded part kinda says that, IYO, a movie that makes a lot of money can never be a cult movie, but concede below that Star Wars is, in a way, a cult movie. Unless you've missed a comma between the words massive and money making, which changes the comment from being massive movies and money making movies to only talking about movies that were both huge AND made money.

 

Since when was Star Wars ever a low-budget movie? The budget for the movie was US$11million, and that was in 1976-77.

 

The small budget idea doesn't hold all the time either, with Heaven's Gate being considered a cult movie (due to the so-bad-it's-good ideology, which is another measure of a cult movie at times), yet it cost United Artists US$40million in 1980 and effectively ended that company as a stand-alone production house (it was sold to MGM, and was left dormant until they revived it years later) within a year.

 

I agree with the whole "journey" idea though.

 

Okay I think a movie which makes a lot of money can be a cult movie, but it cannot be one which expected to make a lot of money, if you see what I mean? Star Wars is an example. Studio expected it to flop and not many theatres wanted to even screen it. Thus it developed.

 

But no I do think your probably right, that a big budget film can be a cult, but only if it doesnt do as expected, thus in a big film's case, not very well.

 

So I suppose there has to be an element of the unexpected to be a cult movie.

 

I still stand by Star Wars being a low budget movie, 11 million dollars is tiny, even in 1977, well for a big action blockbuster anyway. Carrie Fisher agrees http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=5978

 

I mean Raiders of the Lost Ark was 3 years later, cost 20 million and that was even considered quite low budget.

[DC 536]

Okay I think a movie which makes a lot of money can be a cult movie, but it cannot be one which expected to make a lot of money, if you see what I mean? Star Wars is an example. Studio expected it to flop and not many theatres wanted to even screen it. Thus it developed.

 

But no I do think your probably right, that a big budget film can be a cult, but only if it doesnt do as expected, thus in a big film's case, not very well.

 

So I suppose there has to be an element of the unexpected to be a cult movie.

 

I still stand by Star Wars being a low budget movie, 11 million dollars is tiny, even in 1977, well for a big action blockbuster anyway. Carrie Fisher agrees http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=5978

 

I mean Raiders of the Lost Ark was 3 years later, cost 20 million and that was even considered quite low budget.

US$11million in 1977 is around US$55-60million today, which is a big budget movie. Obviously it's not a mega-blockbuster like Pirates or Spider-man, but that is not low-budget. Ms. Fisher is allowed her opinion, but that amount of money is not in the low-budget range. Even now, low-budget movies obviously vary by genre (a comedy costing US$20million would be classed differently from an action/effects heavy movie at the same price), but I can't see that amount being low-budget by the standards of the day or against today's prices with inflation.

 

Carrie Fisher may be talking about the buget spent on treating the cast and crew, as that comes across as low-budget, but all the effects shots added in post would add to the cost in a way she wouldn't have seen when making the film.

Edited June 6, 2007 by DC

[Guest Jung]

US$11million in 1977 is around US$55-60million today, which is a big budget movie. Obviously it's not a mega-blockbuster like Pirates or Spider-man, but that is not low-budget.

 

Thing is though I tend to look at the mega blockbusters as the bid budget films. I mean if it was only like 1 film with like 3 figure costs then fair enough, but there are loads of films which are well into the 3 figures, so even 55 million is definitely not a big budget, more of a paltry, in relative terms budget.

 

And by low budget I mostly mean in comparison and relative terms, to other big action films, which is what Star Wars is.

 

Plus is 11 seriously like 55 mill? Thats not like a mocking question btw, I'm actually just wondering, and if thats right, then well amazing how times change and all.

[DC 536]

Thing is though I tend to look at the mega blockbusters as the bid budget films. I mean if it was only like 1 film with like 3 figure costs then fair enough, but there are loads of films which are well into the 3 figures, so even 55 million is definitely not a big budget, more of a paltry, in relative terms budget.

 

And by low budget I mostly mean in comparison and relative terms, to other big action films, which is what Star Wars is.

 

Plus is 11 seriously like 55 mill? Thats not like a mocking question btw, I'm actually just wondering, and if thats right, then well amazing how times change and all.

US$11million hovers in that range. I'm basing it on inflation from other films that I do know the budgets for from around that era (like Heaven's Gate that I mentioned in the thread. That was US$40million in 1980, which is close to US$180-200million today, which is mental), so if it's not exact, it's not far off.

 

The amount you're quoting as big-budget is a skewed opinion because they are usually the only budgets that are reported as being newsworthy. To be truthful, three-figure budgets account for less than 6% off all the movies made.

[Guest Steve O]

Sandlot kids, true classic.

[Guest Reno]

From that list as I don't really know that many cult movies my favs are:

 

 

Tremors

Reservoir Dogs

Groundhog Day

Clerks

Pulp Fiction

The Shawshank Redemption

The Usual Suspects

Fargo

Fight Club

 

You hardley saw any of Reservoir Dogs, and you said it wans't that good. And you haven't seen Clerks...

 

Someone is telling porkies. ;)

 

My favourite are:

Reservoir Dogs

Clerks

the highly underrated, Mallrats.

 

And with some contraversy, the best film series ever made...

 

STAR WARS.

Edited June 6, 2007 by Reno

[Guest Jung]

US$11million hovers in that range. I'm basing it on inflation from other films that I do know the budgets for from around that era (like Heaven's Gate that I mentioned in the thread. That was US$40million in 1980, which is close to US$180-200million today, which is mental), so if it's not exact, it's not far off.

 

The amount you're quoting as big-budget is a skewed opinion because they are usually the only budgets that are reported as being newsworthy. To be truthful, three-figure budgets account for less than 6% off all the movies made.

 

Yeah but surely thats why they are big budget?

 

Like why only 10 clubs or so in the world can afford to spend say 50 million quid in a transfer window. Doesn't make 5 million pounds a big spend then. Its a lot of money to some sure, but its hardly a big budget in the grand scheme of things.

[DC 536]

Triple-figures are actually classed as mega-budget, while really small movies (El Mariachi for example) are classed as micro-budget.

 

Here is an example of how a budget for a large-scale movie can be broken down.

 

Spider-Man 2

 

Story rights: $20 million

Screenplay: $10 million

Producers: $15 million

Director (Sam Raimi): $10 million

Cast: $30 million (Total amount)

Tobey Maguire: $17 million

Kirsten Dunst: $7 million

Alfred Molina: $3 million

Rest of cast: $3 million

Production costs (including distribution): $45 million

Visual effects: $65 million

Music: $5 million

Composer (Danny Elfman): $2 million.

Total: $200 million

 

Using that as a template, then when Carrie Fisher was talking about Star Wars, there would have been a lot of additional costs that she wouldn't have known about when it was being filmed. The movie may have had a low location budget, but overall it wasn't a low-budget movie.

Edited June 6, 2007 by DC

[King 277]

The Long Good Friday with Bob Hoskins is another classic.

[Guest Jung]

Triple-figures are actually classed as mega-budget, while really small movies (El Mariachi for example) are classed as micro-budget.

 

Here is an example of how a budget for a large-scale movie can be broken down.

 

Spider-Man 2

 

Story rights: $20 million

Screenplay: $10 million

Producers: $15 million

Director (Sam Raimi): $10 million

Cast: $30 million (Total amount)

Tobey Maguire: $17 million

Kirsten Dunst: $7 million

Alfred Molina: $3 million

Rest of cast: $3 million

Production costs (including distribution): $45 million

Visual effects: $65 million

Music: $5 million

Composer (Danny Elfman): $2 million.

Total: $200 million

 

Using that as a template, then when Carrie Fisher was talking about Star Wars, there would have been a lot of additional costs that she wouldn't have known about when it was being filmed. The movie may have had a low location budget, but overall it wasn't a low-budget movie.

 

But the whole thing, all those things you listed, still cost only 11 million. Thus it was surely low everything? Cause they didn't pay the actors much, the publicity was like 3 mill (which caused it to go overbudget from the original 8) and the location and effects wasn't much. Altogether then would that still make it a low budget?

 

EDIT: By the way King they are remaking LGF into an American bigger budget version shortly.

[King 277]

[quote=The Great Jungta;

 

EDIT: By the way King they are remaking LGF into an American bigger budget version shortly.

 

 

Yeah in 2009 I think,not sure who is suppose to be in though.

[Guest Anime Otaku]

El Mariachi is a good cult movie cost $7k to make. I dunno if it counts but Beetlejuice is excellent... Also the Bill and Ted movies.

[Guest The Genetic Jackhammer]

Oldboy.

[Guest Anime Otaku]

Oldboy is good, Prefered Sympathy for Mr Vengence though and want to see Lady Vengence right through too.

[DC 536]

But the whole thing, all those things you listed, still cost only 11 million. Thus it was surely low everything? Cause they didn't pay the actors much, the publicity was like 3 mill (which caused it to go overbudget from the original 8) and the location and effects wasn't much. Altogether then would that still make it a low budget?

It was US$11million in 1977, so comparing that to the price for Spider-man 2 is a little unfair.

 

We're never going to agree on this, so you believe what you believe and I'll believe the truth.:P

[King 277]

Just thought of another 2 with the great actor Ray Winston,

 

Sexy Beast

Scum.

[Guest Root]

My 4 fvourite films of all time are cult movies:

 

RoboCop

Dazed And Confused

Office Space

The Crow

 

Also, other cult movies I love would be Clerks, Mallrats, Friday, Deep Rising, Bill & Ted, The Breakfast Club, Glengarry Glen Ross, Memento, Cube, Bachelor Party, The Longest Yard (Burt Reynolds original). Top Secret, Roger Dodger, Requiem For A Dream, Go, Idle Hands, Grosse Pointe Blank, Empire Records, Dark City, The Paper and Serenity.

 

I'd class all of those as cult as, in my experience, they all have a strong following amongst those who are really aware of them.