MovieChat Forums > The Misfits (1961) Discussion > Why do people say the film was a flop?

Why do people say the film was a flop?


I heard it made 32 Million at the box office on a show that was talking about Marilyn's career. I know 32 Million doesn't seem like a lot today, but back then it was. When "Freddy vs. Jason" came out they said "Friday the 13th" had made 39 Million in 1980 and that it would have been 90 Million by today's standards, thus those 32 Million that "The Misfits" made is most likely close to or over 90 Million if it had been released today.

"A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night." - Marilyn Monroe

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People didn't understand this movie. It had all the best talents of it's day and it was not a Marilyn picture, nor a Gable picture, nor a Clift or Wallach picture and not even a Huston picture. This movie was an Arthur Miller picture. Miller wrote plays! For me the star of this film was actually Thelma Ritter. She upstaged Monroe in my opinion.

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[deleted]

.......this film is more appreciated today than it was in 1961. If you read those movie review books, it is hard to find any negative reviews.

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I heard it made 32 Million at the box office on a show that was talking about Marilyn's career. I know 32 Million doesn't seem like a lot today, but back then it was. When "Freddy vs. Jason" came out they said "Friday the 13th" had made 39 Million in 1980 and that it would have been 90 Million by today's standards, thus those 32 Million that "The Misfits" made is most likely close to or over 90 Million if it had been released today.


Be more critical of your sources: The Misfits grossed $8.2M and returned $4.1M in rentals at the domestic box-office, healthy totals but also disappointing ones given the cast and hype. There's a reason why the film wasn't a blockbuster, for its fatalism and uncompromised pain subverted audience expectations. The Misfits wasn't a flop, but it wasn't the spectacular success that some people anticipated from a Clark Gable-Marilyn Monroe pairing.

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/index1961.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055184/business

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[deleted]

I think this movie was ahead of it's time. This was the beginning of the 60's and 70's and the era of gritty, experimental films, like "Five Easy Pieces" and "The Graduate" that were introspective and explored human emotions and uncharted realms of the human condition.

Also, "The Godfather", "Chinatown", "Easy Rider", "American Graffiti", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Bonnie and Clyde", "McCabe and Mrs Miller" and "Lilith" to name a few.

Granted, some of these are crime and gangster dramas, but still radical departures from the norm for their genres.

Movies that take chances and depart from standard formulas, even if they feature big stars, usually don't fare that well when first released. Sometimes, however, they have staying power. "The Misfits", of course, has become an enduring classic.

John Huston started out in the Hollywood studio system, survived all the changes and upheavals in the industry and flourished as a director well into the 1980's. He was definitely a visionary filmmaker and transcended every genre he worked in. You can see foreshadowing's of "The Misfits", (and Hollywood for the next three decades for that matter) in "Night of the Iguana", "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and "The Asphalt Jungle" (featuring a young Marilyn Monroe). All these films explored human emotions and failings decades before this one, and all of them were about "Misfits".


We got a job.
What kind?
...The Forever Kind.

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It simply didn't make enough money back to warrant what was then the most expensive black and white movie ever made. Combined with the failure of "Let's Make Love" and another subsequent year away from movie-making, by the spring/summer of '62, Monroe's career was in serious trouble.

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It was a dull movie with a difficult shoot about a bunch of losers. Star power clearly wasn't enough for what Producer Frank E. Taylor had heralded as "the ultimate motion picture".

By now since your original post, you'll know that it only recouped it's budget, was regarded as a big commercial flop, though getting a bit more money in later years through video and dvd rentals more for its curiosity value, than any thing else I'd suspect.

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