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The Rocky Horror Picture Show had a budget of $1.2 million, and its opening weekend brought in just over $21,000 from two theaters, as per The Numbers. In industry terms, it was a flop. Some accounts put the budget closer to $1.4 million, but all agree it was a commercial disaster. Fifty years later, Rocky Horror has earned roughly $170 million and holds the record for the longest-running theatrical release of any film, per the BBC.
How Tim Deegan Used Midnight Screenings To Save Rocky Horror
According to reports, the person who rescued it was a 20th Century Fox advertising executive. Tim Deegan, then in his early 20s, didn’t even like the film. He had seen marketing help turn around 2001: A Space Odyssey, though, and he believed he could do the same here. Few of his colleagues wanted the job anyway, since many at the studio were busy dealing with Star Wars and its huge budget overrun.
The early run went badly. The studio tried the college market in Ohio, and the film flopped there too. But Deegan and producer Lou Adler noticed something at a Los Angeles theater, and that was the same faces kept coming back. Students in Austin, Texas, liked it as well, but Fox was ready to drop the movie.
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Rather than deliver the bad news, Deegan pitched the idea of midnight screenings. The studio fired him on the spot, but he talked his way back in by pointing out that Fox could face lawsuits if it walked away. The film opened at New York’s Waverly Theater at midnight on April Fool’s Day, 1976, with only a tiny ad in the Village Voice.
Well, that was on purpose. “My strategy is one word, discovery,” Deegan told NZ Marketing magazine. And it worked. That night there was a line around the block, and the show sold out, and the Waverly’s operator said he would keep the film running indefinitely. Austin became the second midnight site, and it remains the second-longest-running market.
How The Rocky Horror Picture Show Built Its Cult Following
What happened next became pop-culture legend. Audiences started talking back to the screen, dressing up as the characters, throwing props, and eventually acting out the film along with it. Amateur theater groups formed to stage their own shows next to each midnight screening.
The film is still a haven for many people. One recent account calls it a “safe space” for theater kids, goths, drag queens, nerds, and weirdos of every kind. Deegan, who has since written a book about how the film was saved, said he was “very happy for the fans.” He added that he was glad the LGBT community had made the film a home.
The anniversary celebrations were also in full swing. A “Rocky Horror Picture Show Spectacular” tour, featuring Barry Bostwick, Patricia Quinn, and Nell Campbell, was set to visit 55 cities in the US and Canada. Disney has also restored and remastered the film in 4K Ultra HD. Sphere in Las Vegas is preparing a new cinematic experience of the film for 2027.
For a movie that failed in daylight, the night shift has been very good to it.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show Trailer
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