How Fight Club Became a Hit Despite Being Booed At First
Everyone deserves a second chance. This rule also applies to movies.
There is no doubt that Fight Club is one of the first movies that comes to mind when you hear the phrase "iconic movie." And it's no wonder when you consider how many fans it has around the world and the impact it's had on our generation.
From thousands of secret underground fight clubs opening to hundreds of people radically changing their lives to be like their beloved characters.
Well, of course, the movie's storyline isn't the best one to follow in real life, but it's always the story of the bad guys that gets everyone excited.
Well, this is the situation we have now. But David Fincher's cult classic actually underperformed at the box office upon its initial release.
It was only thanks to strong DVD sales and enduring word-of-mouth about its insane plot twist that it was given a second life and a lasting legacy in the movie world.
At the Venice Film Festival, after the movie's premiere, it received very controversial reviews.
The main stars of Fight Club, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and the brilliant Helena Bonham Carter, remember being almost the only ones who actually laughed at the premiere, as the book Best. Movie. Year. Ever. mentioned.
"It gets to one of Helena's scandalous lines — 'I haven't been f***ed like that since grade school!' — and literally, the guy running the festival got up and left," Pitt shared.
The audience as a whole was not very impressed with the plot or the characters. In fact, they booed the movie at the premiere, and only Pitt and Norton were having fun and enjoying the movie they created.
Now, you might think that all this would lead to a disaster. With the audience in shock and the critics making unpleasant comments about the director's work, there was almost nothing that could have helped the movie become a hit.
But well, miracles happen all the time.
The movie actually split the audience in two, still giving it a huge fan base. The ones who appreciate any of Chuck Palahniuk's novels or other controversial David Fincher's pictures.
Hardcore fans all over the world started to slowly realize the value of the movie and how iconic it actually was.
The violent scenes along with the not so proper sex scenes were no longer described as disgusting, but became a well appreciated approach of the director.
And needless to say that the main characters received only as much love as they could have.