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Some films that struggled with reviewers or audiences on release later became celebrated—but the stories differ. Blade Runner received mixed reviews and found a following through home video; The Thing drew sharply negative notices before its cult reputation grew; and Vertigo climbed over decades in a major critics’ poll. Those documented shifts make compelling cases for changing taste. They do not support a list of five films critics uniformly got wrong, so this article focuses on the three strongest examples and distinguishes criticism from box office, audience response and later recognition.
What does it mean for critics to “get a movie wrong”?
A later reputation cannot, by itself, prove that earlier critics were mistaken. A film can be commercially unsuccessful yet well reviewed, or popular with audiences while critics remain divided. Awards and later canon status are different measures again.
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Rotten Tomatoes makes one distinction explicit: its Tomatometer is the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive, while its Popcornmeter represents audience ratings. Neither score means every critic or viewer agreed. Rotten Tomatoes explains how its scores work.
Blade Runner (1982): a difficult release, then a growing following
Blade Runner did not meet with universal critical rejection. The British Film Institute describes its reviews as mixed, its initial crowds as lukewarm and its theatrical run as failing to recoup its reported $28 million budget. Home-video formats helped build a following, and the film’s reputation rose enough for Ridley Scott to revisit it in later cuts. The BFI’s account of the film’s changing reception traces that trajectory.
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The cut matters
The version audiences first saw in 1982 included voice-over narration and a romantic ending. Scott later removed both in the 2007 Final Cut. In his own recollection, he said the film had failed to strike a chord on release and credited MTV’s use of its visual language, as well as a screening incident in 1992, with renewing attention. Those are the director’s explanations, not independent measurements of the film’s influence. Scott discussed the changes and the film’s reception.
Scott’s succinct view of the ending: “The film should have ended with the elevator doors closing.” That later revision is part of the story: audiences reassessing the film were not always encountering precisely the same version that opened in theaters.
The Thing (1982): harsh notices, a long afterlife
John Carpenter’s The Thing received severe contemporary reviews and opened weakly, according to Esquire’s retrospective. The article reports a theatrical gross of roughly $19 million and describes a later reassessment helped by home video and cinephile advocacy. Esquire’s retrospective on the film’s critical reversal reports that New York Times critic Vincent Canby called it “a foolish, depressing, overproduced movie,” while Roger Ebert called it “a barf-bag movie.” These quotations are reproduced in Esquire’s account; they should not be mistaken for a complete survey of every contemporary review.
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The evidence supports a sharp contrast between those reported negative reviews and the film’s later cult standing. It does not make box-office performance a verdict on artistic quality. Carpenter also recalled that the reception hurt his career prospects, as reported in the same retrospective.
Vertigo (1958): a slow rise into the canon
Vertigo is the clearest case here of a long-term change in critical esteem. It initially received mixed reviews and did not enter the Sight and Sound critics’ poll until 1982. Its placements then rose before slipping one position in the latest poll:
| Poll year | Vertigo placement |
|---|---|
| 1982 | Seventh |
| 1992 | Fourth |
| 2002 | Second |
| 2012 | First |
| 2022 | Second |
The rankings come from BFI and Sight and Sound coverage of the poll’s history and 2022 results: the film’s rise in the poll and the 2022 results. They document changing critical consensus, not a unanimous judgment by critics at any one moment. Penelope Houston, then editor of Sight and Sound, captured an early reservation: “One is agreeably used to Hitchcock repeating his effects, but this time he is repeating himself in slow motion.”
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Why two familiar examples do not make this a five-film list
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) was not simply rejected by critics
Its later popularity and comparatively weak theatrical performance do not establish that critics dismissed it. Metacritic’s archive of contemporary reviews includes favorable notices: Gene Siskel called it “simply marvelous entertainment,” and New York Times critic Janet Maslin described it as “eloquently restrained.” Metacritic’s collection of contemporary reviews makes it a useful counterexample to the idea that a film’s later success proves critics were wrong.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) shows disagreement, not a clear correction
A Rotten Tomatoes feature reported an 85% audience score and a 60% Tomatometer at the time it was published; those are dated figures, not current scores. The same feature notes the film’s four Academy Awards at the 2019 ceremony and criticism of its editing and sanitized or inaccurate portrayal. The contrast demonstrates that critics, audiences and award voters can differ; it does not settle which response was right. Rotten Tomatoes’ discussion of the film’s divided reception reports those figures and awards.
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