25 Great Movies That Flopped
5. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
“Big Trouble in Little China” is both great and bizarre and features Kurt Russell stomping around doing a shockingly bad impression of John Wayne.
However, there are some wonderful effects and good solid action scenes. John Carpenter has made a career out of directing low budget genre fair that goes on to become cult classics.
In addition to “Big Trouble in Little China,” Carpenter also directed Kurt Russell in four other movies. One was a television film based on the life of Elvis, one included “The Thing” and two more were part of the same franchise “Escape from New York” and “Escape from L.A.”
Kurt Russell stars as Jack Burton, a tough guy who intervenes in an attempted kidnapping at an airport. After Jack manages to save the girl, the kidnappers instead snatch the girlfriend of Jack’s friend Wang Chi. The men then embark upon a frantic search for the girl in the seedy underbelly of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Despite failing to reclaim its production costs at the box office, the movie became a huge hit after being released on DVD.
