Just learned that Showgirls actually made money at the box office

I was digging through some old Box Office Mojo numbers last night, and it turns out Showgirls grossed over $37 million domestically in 1995. That surprised me because everyone I know acts like it was a total flop that killed careers. Yes, it had a $45 million budget so technically it lost money, but it wasn't the disaster people remember. Plus the home video rental market was huge for it - apparently it became one of MGM's top renting titles that year. Anyone else find a supposedly 'terrible' movie that secretly did okay financially?

3 comments

3 Comments

felix8242mo ago

The whole "Showgirls was a massive bomb" thing is one of those movie myths that just won't die... people love a good failure story I guess. Funny how it basically broke even in theaters and then cleaned up on video rentals while everyone was busy calling it the worst thing ever. Kinda makes you wonder how many other "flops" are just exaggerated because they didn't make Avengers money...

christopher_sullivan27d ago

Haha yeah no kidding! I swear people just love piling on a movie because it's trendy to hate it. Showgirls was basically the poster child for that whole "so bad it's good" crowd before that was even a thing online, lol. And it's hilarious how the same folks who call it the worst movie ever probably rented it three times from Blockbuster back in the day. Guess the joke's on them for feeding the machine while they were busy laughing at it, right?

piperwhite2mo ago

That "broke even then cleaned up on video" thing happens way more than people realize, take it from someone who worked at Blockbuster.