Empire Records
One chaotic day at an indie record store, a crew of lovable misfits, and a washed-up '80s pop star named Rex Manning. It bombed in theaters — then home video made it a cult classic, and fans still celebrate Rex Manning Day every April 8. Damn the Man. Save the Empire.
Released September 22, 1995, directed by Allan Moyle and written by Carol Heikkinen, Empire Records packed one eventful day into an independent record store: employees played by Liv Tyler, Renée Zellweger, Anthony LaPaglia, Rory Cochrane, Robin Tunney, and Ethan Embry race to stop a corporate takeover while washed-up '80s pop star Rex Manning (Maxwell Caulfield) arrives for an autograph signing. Made for $10 million, it felt like a love letter to record-store culture — and almost nobody saw it.
It flopped, hard: about $304,000 at the US box office. Roger Ebert gave it 1.5 stars; Variety called it "a soundtrack in search of a movie." But on home video, something clicked. Fans latched onto "Damn the Man! Save the Empire!" and the fantasy of working the counter with your friends. The soundtrack outdid the film by miles — roughly 2 million copies sold, with Gin Blossoms' "Til I Hear It from You" reaching #9, the band's first Top 20 hit — and a 2003 "Remix: Special Fan Edition" DVD added 17 minutes of footage for the faithful.
Every April 8, fans still celebrate "Rex Manning Day," and London's Prince Charles Cinema screens the film annually on that date. A movie that couldn't find an audience in 1995 turned out to have been waiting for one all along: everyone who ever loved a record store enough to wish they worked there.
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