Failed cult classic: The Big Lebowski

13:15, November 29

By Norayr Nazaryan

In the film industry, it often happens some films during the rental in cinemas do not even go to zero. But it happens that after such a failure, films win the audience's love and get the status of a cult. Note that according to Hollywood "rules", a film project must collect 3 times more than its budget.

NEWS.am STYLE presents the Coen brothers' feature film "The Big Lebowski" based on the book by Raymond Chandler "Deep Sleep".

The budget is $15 million.

Fees - 46 million dollars.

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The film was shot in 1998 and tells about a hero nicknamed Dude. His life consists of bowling and drinking. But suddenly his happiness is disrupted, gangsters mistake him for a millionaire with the same name, demand money that he does not suspect, and, among other things, kidnap the millionaire's wife, being sure that the "husband" will pay any amount for her.

The film was unlucky from the very beginning, its premiere took place on January 18, 1998, at the Sundance Festival. As the press later reported, many of those attendants openly expressed their dissatisfaction.

The Coen brothers, who were recently awarded an Oscar for the film "Fargo", received a lot of criticism for their new project after the premiere of "The Big Lebowski".

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In particular, Peter Howell wrote in his review for the Toronto Star newspaper: "I can't believe that a team of people who won an Oscar last year for the plot for Fargo is responsible for this. There is just a huge amount of swearing in the film, it looks like a pathetic attempt to cover up the gaps in the dialogues."

The box office at home also lacked stars from heaven, for the entire period of distribution, the film grossed only $ 17 million. The situation was a little saved by the world rental by adding another 28 million dollars to the total piggy bank, but still, the picture has already failed financially.

But since the time when the Internet began to take over the world, the opinion of the film has changed radically.

The film did not just find its audience, it became a cultural phenomenon and received a cult status.

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"The Big Lebowski" gathered a huge number of fans around him and, thanks to the abundance of humor, became (as The Independent newspaper would later write about him) "the first cult film of the Internet era."

Books have been written on it, websites have been created, festivals named after Lebowski are held annually, a whole philosophical doctrine based on the image of the main character is being distributed. Many of the characters' lines have become catchphrases.

And some scenes of the film, in general, have become the crown of meme culture.