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Cost $15 Million, Earned Half as Much: Now This Lynch Film is a Cult Classic, But at First It Was a Huge Failure

David Lynch

Viewers were in no hurry to spend their money to see the new product.

Even legendary directors have films that initially fail and remain misunderstood by viewers, but later gain recognition. And the late David Lynch is no exception. We tell you which of the master's films was initially a failure, but then became very popular with viewers.

The film Mulholland Drive (2001) turned out to be a failure. According to the plot, after an accident on Mulholland Drive, a mysterious woman who has lost her memory ends up in the house of an aspiring actress, Betty. Together, they try to reconstruct the stranger's past, but as they search, the answers only raise more questions, and Hollywood appears in all its dark, mysterious and illusory essence.

Now the film has quite decent ratings - 7.9 on IMDb and 84% on RT. But at the time of its release, the film failed to recoup its costs in the American box office, having collected only $7 million with a budget of $15 million. The main reason was that the intricate plot turned out to be too complicated for the audience, and they perceived it ambiguously. However, over time, the film won loyal fans, began to appear in lists of the best films of all time and was recognized as one of the most significant works in Lynch's career. As a result, the film gave Lynch an Oscar for Best Director, and Naomi Watts, who played Betty, gained worldwide fame.

Mulholland Dr still
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