It could be one of the last great cult sensations
Most cult films do not open at #1 at the U.S. box office, like Fight Club did fifteen Octobers ago. However, most people do not even know what a cult film is. When a journalist or critic states that a film on the cusp of its release stands a chance of being a cult classic, it feels forced. Any film stands a chance of being a cult classic – as long as it falters in its initial run, builds a steady stream of fans over the years and becomes a big part of popular culture despite little preliminary fanfare.
Fight Club is a cult film in the same way The Big Lebowski is. Both were quirky, misunderstood films with good casts that were hard to market but eventually found their admirers on video and DVD. The critical and cultural response to Fight Club was so malicious, and the marketing campaign so focused on the film’s more machismo elements, that the millions who would have found the film engaging and enlightening stayed at home.
The few who did go to the movie theater and eventually told their friends about Fight Club would lead a renaissance of midnight showings at repertory movie houses early the next year. Meanwhile, with Internet forums becoming a place for film fans to discuss the movies, the Web proliferated much debate about the title, creating a buzz that would not have caught on a decade earlier. In the years since, no major studio release of that scope or mass release has achieved close to the cult status that Fight Club bears. That’s a unique factor that should not be lost on the film’s fans. For once, the audience defeated the warnings of the press and certain studio executives, who worried that the film was too uncompromising to release. In fact, it was just the release its fans needed.