4 items
Stallone in a Versace-designed uniform, a real hydraulic robot, and the streets of Mega-City One built at Shepperton. The 1995 adaptation of the 2000 AD comic took Dredd's helmet off, set its director against its star, and flopped in America; the sets and robots found their admirers later.
Ben Stiller's Mr. Furious, Hank Azaria's cutlery-flinging Blue Raja and William H. Macy's Shoveler: a team of third-rate superheroes with dubious powers, out to save Champion City. It bombed in the summer of 1999 and left behind a cult and the Smash Mouth "All Star" video.
Lori Petty as a punk rebel with a tank in a drought-ravaged 2033, fighting the corporation that owns the water. The studio recut it, the comic's creators disowned it, and it bombed — then became a cult classic anyway on pure riot-grrrl attitude.
Brandon Lee in black-and-white face paint, a crow on his shoulder, Detroit on Devil's Night. The 1994 gothic revenge film became a legend for the saddest reason: Lee was killed by a prop gun with days of shooting left, and the movie was finished without him. The soundtrack topped the charts.