10 Iconic Movies With Weird Concepts That Shouldn’t Have Worked

Behind the doors of Hollywood’s biggest studios, Filmmakers come up with concepts that sound too weird to become something substantial – but lead to their iconic movies. Some movies with seriously wasted potential also have a weird premise, but they aren’t as skillfully executed. However, these strange ideas are the best material for directors and producers, when they at least lead to unique movies, hopefully showing important themes.

Out-of-this-world experiences and surreal imaginations have resulted in some of the best fantasy movie performances ever, while strange new worlds and magic systems mean fascinating visuals. Yet movies with queer source material succeed when they leverage their basic concepts in the service of powerful metaphors. Foreign movies often become iconic when their nature means they are memorable, With quotes and images that stay in people’s heads.

10

Gremlins (1984)

Young man gets a cute new pet and the city is overrun with monster clones

The origins of Mogwai in Gremlins It may have been elaborated later, but in the original movie, the most important part is that Gizmo is a cute, mysterious animal that has the potential to spawn an army of evil gremlins. Gizmo is a strange creature, but as cute and portable as a teddy bear. Gremlins Goes into more arbitrary territory when it introduces its list of highly specific, not very well-explained rules For keeping a mogwai.

Then Gizmo’s clones turn into gremlins and the movie spirals into chaos as the evil minions destroy the city and do a lot of wacky things along the way. Meanwhile, Gremlins Trying to achieve some thematic balance with Kate’s tragic Christmas story, But this famously ends up in a movie scene intended to be serious that is actually funny. Gremlins is a crazy movie, but that’s what makes it a favorite Christmas staple, combined with Gizmo’s pure cuteness.

9

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Star-crossed lovers in a psychedelic nightclub with the sound of music and Madonna

The idea of A jukebox musical is not unheard of before Moulin Rouge! Movies hit theaters, but Baz Luhrmann took the concept to a new level. The juxtaposition of songs from a wide range of genres and periods of the 20th century showcased in Moulin Rouge! Makes it something indescribably magical. “The Hills Are Alive” accompanies visions of the Green Fairy, set against “Your Song” used for a moment of falling in love in the glittering rain.

Meanwhile, The staging and storyboarding of Moulin Rouge! is nothing but chaos, capturing the feeling of being inside a circus tent where taboo thrives. Following Romeo + Juliet In 1996, Hollywood must have known that any pitch coming from Luhrmann would be weird, but would be delightful nonetheless.

Underneath all this, Moulin Rouge! Actually has a fairly simple story, of star-crossed lovers torn apart by concerns of money and survival. However, the style of the musical numbers, set pieces and characteristics that went into it are otherworldly. Moulin Rouge! Proved the concept of a patchwork jukebox musical, which is now taking over Broadway.

8

Donnie Darko (2001)

After surviving a plane crash, a teenager is haunted by an angry rabbit

The early 2000s were the time for metaphysical, outside-the-box movies, with the world going through Y2K and finding itself in a strange new philosophical space. Donnie Darko Notable did not have a good run at the box office, partly due to its element of a plane crashing into the protagonist’s bedroom and its release date being only a month after 9/11. however, Donnie Darko Later achieved cult classic status.

Danny’s relationship with a creepy human-sized rabbit leads him to go on a crime spree and ponder some bigger questions about the world before it ends in 28 days. The image of the most memorable character captures the strangeness of Donnie Darko, Which fans would come to appreciate in subsequent years. It’s a shocking concept, however Donnie DarkoIt’s philosophical and teenage angst that has no real answer eventually shaped the selling point of the movie.

7

Back to the Future (1985)

High school student time travels in a car and has awkward encounters with his parents

John Mulaney did a stand-up bit on the hypothetical process of pitching Back to the futureThat says it all. Releasing on the corners of The TerminatorA time travel movie that takes itself more seriously, Back to the future Exhibits a lot of story elements that are goofy on inspection. This includes the likelihood that Marty is friends with a former nuclear physicist and the fact that the time machine is a machine.

Of course, there’s the notoriously embarrassing subplot of Marty’s young mother being attracted to him, which all would have been a hard sell. Back to the future is a messy amalgamation of pop culture references and slapstick bits with outrageous characters which have been ingrained in Hollywood history for so long that they are rarely questioned. The movie just somehow managed to achieve the perfect recipe for these elements so that they are appealing to audiences.

6

Being John Malkovich (1999)

A disgruntled married couple finds a literal door in the head of a movie star

Being John Malkovich Also has a premise that will leave people wondering how they came up with it – Possibly due to the cooperation of the real John Malkovich. After a puppeteer, fed up and bored by his corporate job, discovers a small door behind a filing cabinet that is a gateway to Malkovich’s mind, the world is at his feet. He, his wife and a colleague are launched into a moral and philosophical conundrum when they ponder the reason for the existing gate and what they want to gain from it.

The overall concept of Being John Malkovich is insane, but other awkward beats immerse the characters and the audience in a setting that just feels off. It showcases a highly specific and completely impossible scenario about human greed and its consequences. These topics could have been explored a lot more “normal” movie like Being John Malkovich, But the absurdity of it all creates better entertainment and more open-ended diatribes.

5

Barbie (2023)

A Barbie doll has a life crisis and journeys to the real world

The idea of The life-struggle Barbie Movie directed by Greta Gerwig and promising to be more than Shameless IP instantly captured the minds of Hollywood executives and worldwide audiences, Long before Barbenheimer arrived at the theater. Casting announcements and the earliest trailers for Barbie Only confirmed that it would be a movie experience unlike any other.

Barbie Embracing its melodramatic and superficial source material, with all of the 2001: A Space Odyssey Spoof opening sequence to the stated interactions and nightly parties that are the norm in Barbie Land. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling give extraordinary performances as Barbie and Ken, Underlining the concept.

Barbie is a wild movie from start to finish, But masterfully uses his concept as the medium to deliver on-point diaries about womanhood and mortality. Gerwig’s status as a well-known writer-director revealed a certain faith in the film from the beginning, which made people want to see what she would do with such a strange concept.

4

Star Wars (1977)

George Lucas started Star Wars with a lot of unexplained world-building in place

in truth, Star Wars Includes a lot of weird plot points and designs that simply exist without explanation, In the context of the first movie was released as an effective standalone without additional materials. Most of his material has been developed in the decades since; Die-hard fans know every detail about the world’s mechanics. However, at the time, Han Solo’s bear-like copilot, Darth Vader’s attire, and the concept of the Force were imaginative and flashy but demanded that the audience accept them as they were.

Star WarsLater given the subtitle A new hopeTranslated many well-used tropes into a space setting obviously inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey And Star Trek But with elements straight out of George Lucas’ imagination. The would-be blockbuster miraculously pulled off a game-changing event with its technical advancements and instantly beloved characters. The funny lines of Star WarsWhen they have no context, they quickly become widely quoted phrases.

3

The Green Knight

A metaphor-heavy feature-length film based on a medieval Arthurian poem

The Green Knight was an ambitious idea, bringing to life a source material that was never imagined as something that would be made into a movie. yet The Green Knight Brilliantly translates the medieval characters and space into a surrealistic adventure Which resonates with modern discussions. Rather than trying to make Lord Gawain and the Green Knight More palatable or comprehensible to today’s audiences, it embraces the symbolic nature of the one-off Arthurian adventure.

A lot of strange characters wander in and out of The Green Knight, Do or say one funny thing, and let the audience ponder the implications. There are many strange ideas in play, which would have taken work to convey in a script and trust in the audience to intuitively understand them. Some people did not understand The Green KnightBut it’s an entrancing movie that rewards those willing to research its meaning.

2

fight club (1999)

The first rule of fight club is you don’t talk about fight club

Action Club Describes an underground organization impossible, suddenly became a national threat Within a matter of weeks. The logistics do not matter, especially in light of Action Clubs ending twist. In his overblown attack on capitalism and consumer culture and deconstruction of toxic masculinity, Action Club Let Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter be weird nihilistic as the mission of the fight club spins out of control.

Action Club Also understands the taste of its time and leans on the existential crisis theme of the end of the millennium. The concept is deliberately trivial, where How exactly the narrator achieves what he does is a mystery and the rise of Fight Club has no explanation. While Action Club A box office flop, it became a commercial success through post-theatrical sales and an iconic cult movie.

1

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Michelle Yeoh visits many universes, each weirder than the last, promoting the multiverse trope

on the other hand, Everything everywhere all at once Published after many other queer cult classics found their audience, And shows how Gravity falls And Adventure Time took over the cartoon pipeline. This gave Daniels’ best picture-winning feature a strong foothold where his random nature would be appreciated, leading to box office success before it dominated the Oscars.

even so, Everything everywhere all at once Set out to undo assumptions about the multiverse genre. The depictions of Evelyn’s different lives in other universes are increasingly ridiculous, Yet each version is given enough screen time to come to an implied happy ending; It’s not even entirely clear what universe she’s in in the final scene.

Along the way, there are the outrageous sequences of Jobu Tupaki’s ever-changing costumes and Evelyn doing strange things to quickly acquire new skills. yet Everything everywhere all at once brings it all together to a poignant final point, Recent history has proven that funny movies are often the best.