
Box Office Poison
Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops
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Narrated by:
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Tim Robey
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By:
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Tim Robey
About this listen
A riotous and revealing story of Hollywood’s most spectacular flops and how they ended careers, bankrupted studios and changed film history.
"Failure fascinates, for all the reasons that success is a drag…”
From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, Box Office Poison tells a hugely entertaining alternative history of Hollywood, through a century of its most notable flops. What can these films tell us about the Hollywood system, the public’s appetite–or lack of it–and the circumstances that saw such flops actually made? Away from the canon, this is the definitive take on these ill-fated, but essential celluloid failures.
Robey covers a vast century of flops, including: Intolerance; Queen Kelly; Freaks; Sylvia Scarlett; The Magnificent Ambersons; Land of the Pharoahs; Doctor Dolittle; Sorcerer; Dune; The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; Nothing But Trouble; The Hudsucker Proxy; Cutthroat Island; Speed 2: Cruise Control; Babe: Pig in the City; Supernova; Rollerball; The Adventures of Pluto Nash; Gigli; Alexander; Catwoman; A Sound of Thunder; Speed Racer; Synecdoche, New York; Pan; and Cats.
From Daily Telegraph film critic Tim Robey, this is a brilliantly fun exploration of human nature and stupidity in some of the greatest film flops throughout history.
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Fantastic!
- By Alan on 07-17-23
By: Nick de Semlyen
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Pictures at a Revolution
- Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood
- By: Mark Harris
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the epic human drama behind the making of the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Doctor Dolittle, and Bonnie and Clyde - and through them, the larger story of the cultural revolution that transformed Hollywood and America forever.
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Would It Be Too Much To Ask?
- By Casey Keller on 12-31-08
By: Mark Harris
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With Love, Mommie Dearest
- The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic
- By: A. Ashley Hoff, Bruce Vilanch - foreword
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Christina Crawford's book was an immediate bestseller, addressing the infrequently discussed topic of child abuse. When Paramount Pictures released the film, starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford, it was critically panned, and remains one of the most legendary critical bombs in film history. The lavish, big-screen adaptation drew unexpected laughter in the scenes depicting life in the Crawford household. Rarely have such good intentions been met with such ridicule.
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AMAZING narrator for a wonderful book!
- By A. Diozzi on 06-16-24
By: A. Ashley Hoff, and others
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The Ultimate History of the '80s Teen Movie
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sixteen Candles, Revenge of the Nerds, The Karate Kid, The Breakfast Club, Dead Poets Society, and Everything in Between
- By: James King
- Narrated by: Mike Cooper
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The Ultimate History of the '80s Teen Movie goes behind the scenes of a genre where cult hits mingled with studio blockbusters, where giants like Spielberg and Coppola rubbed shoulders with baby-faced first-timers, and where future superstars Sean, Demi, and Tom all got their big break. Music, comedy, and politics all play a part in the surprisingly complex history of the '80s teen movie. And while the films might have been aimed primarily at adolescents, the best tackle universal issues and remain relevant to all ages.
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inaccurate as all get out
- By Richard E. Meier on 05-22-22
By: James King
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Dark City (Revised and Expanded Edition)
- The Lost World of Film Noir
- By: Eddie Muller
- Narrated by: Eddie Muller, Erin Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Dark City expands with new chapters and a fresh collection of restored photos that illustrate the mythic landscape of the imagination. It's a place where the men and women who created film noir often find themselves dangling from the same sinister heights as the silver-screen avatars to whom they gave life.
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Good overview, summary of the genre
- By Buretto on 03-31-22
By: Eddie Muller
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The Devil’s Candy
- The Anatomy of a Hollywood Fiasco
- By: Julie Salamon
- Narrated by: Julie Salamon
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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When Brian De Palma agreed to allow Julie Salamon unlimited access to the film production of Tom Wolfe's best-selling book The Bonfire of the Vanities, both director and journalist must have felt like they were on to something big. How could it lose? But instead Salamon got a front-row seat at the Hollywood disaster of the decade.
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WHAT A GEM!!!
- By Momofour on 07-04-21
By: Julie Salamon
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You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried
- The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation
- By: Susannah Gora
- Narrated by: Kelli Tager
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The landscape that the Brat Pack memorialized is rich with cultural themes and significance, and has influenced an entire generation who still believe that life always turns out like an '80s movie. You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried takes us back to that era, through Susannah Gora's interviews with key players such as Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy, and John Cusack, and mines all the material from the movies to the music to the way the films were made to show how they helped shape our visions for romance, friendship, society, and success.
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Brings me back to my teenage years! Fantastic Narration! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- By Amazmama on 06-24-22
By: Susannah Gora
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A Disturbance in the Force
- How and Why the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened
- By: Steve Kozak
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Even by the standards of the 1970s, even compared to Jar-Jar Binks, the legendary 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special is a peerlessly cringeworthy pop-culture artifact.
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Padded with Information Unrelated to the Special
- By Alan on 12-28-23
By: Steve Kozak
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Down and Dirty Pictures
- Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film
- By: Peter Biskind
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 23 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Down and Dirty Pictures chronicles the rise of independent filmmakers and of the twin engines - the Sundance Film Festival and Miramax Films - that have powered them. Peter Biskind profiles the people who took the independent movement from obscurity to the Oscars, most notably Sundance founder Robert Redford and Harvey Weinstein, who with his brother, Bob, made Miramax an indie powerhouse.
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For the independent film lover!
- By natalie on 08-26-14
By: Peter Biskind
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The Friedkin Connection
- A Memoir
- By: William Friedkin
- Narrated by: William Friedkin
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Friedkin Connection takes listeners from the streets of Chicago to the suites of Hollywood and from the sixties to today. William Friedkin offers a candid look at a thrilling era of Hollywood cinema, when traditional storytelling gave way to the rebellious and alternative; when filmmakers like him captured the paranoia and fear of a nation undergoing a cultural nervous breakdown.
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Thank you, William Friedkin
- By L. Robertson on 04-30-25
By: William Friedkin
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Wild and Crazy Guys
- How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever
- By: Nick de Semlyen
- Narrated by: Curtis Armstrong
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The behind-the-scenes story of the iconic funnymen who ruled '80s Hollywood - Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Eddie Murphy - and the beloved films that made them stars, including Animal House, Caddyshack, and Ghostbusters.
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Side-Alley Stroll Down Memory Lane of SNL/SCTV Comedians
- By Eirekitten on 02-23-21
By: Nick de Semlyen
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Surely You Can't Be Serious
- The True Story of Airplane!
- By: David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker
- Narrated by: "Weird Al" Yankovic, Arne Schmidt, Barry Diller, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Surely You Can’t Be Serious is the first-ever oral history of the making of Airplane! by the creators, and of the beginnings of the ZAZ trio (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker) – charting the rise of their comedy troupe Kentucky Fried Theater in Madison, Wisconsin all the way to premiere night. The directors explain what drew them to filmmaking and in particular, comedy.
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Absolutely fantastic
- By A. Soergel on 10-11-23
By: David Zucker, and others
What listeners say about Box Office Poison
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kareem
- 01-27-25
The Best Book on the Worst Movies
Box Office Poison is a clever and insightful exploration of a subject movie buffs never knew they needed. I’ve never felt such morbid curiosity over a list of movie casualties.
This book dives deep into the biggest box office disasters in American cinema. It’s the film buff’s equivalent of watching one car crash after another—you can’t look away! You’ll be told who was behind the wheel, what caused the collision, who walked away unscathed, and who didn’t survive the wreck. The factors leading to each crash are as interesting as the crashes themselves.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-13-25
The ending
I was really hoping that it would come full circle, and it did. The author even used that exact phrase at the end. Wrapped up perfectly.
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