But First, What Qualifies a Movie as a Bomb?

We’re defining a movie as a bomb if it failed to make double its budget back in worldwide box office returns. Why double? Well, studios don’t get all that box office back, as theaters take a cut. Also, a movie’s budget does not include marketing.

Oftentimes, the rule of thumb industry reporters will use is that a movie needs to make at least double its listed budget to turn a profit (and sometimes more for the blockbusters that get a ton of advertising, like Marvel movies). We’re going to go with that as well.

And as for what makes a movie a classic — that’s entirely subjective. But we tried to find films around which there’s a wide general consensus.