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

Behind the doors of Hollywood’s biggest studios, filmmakers pitch concepts that sound too weird to become anything substantial — but lead to hugely iconic movies. Some movies with seriously wasted potential also have a bizarre premise, but they were not so skillfully executed. However, it is the weird ideas that are the best material for directors and producers, when they at least lead to unique movies, hopefully showcasing important themes.

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

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10 Gremlins (1984)

Young Man Gets A Cute New Pet & The Town Is Overrun With Monster Clones

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Gizmo’s a strange creature, but as adorable and portable as a teddy bear.

The Mogwai’s origins in Gremlins may have been elaborated upon later, but in the original movie, the most important part is that Gizmo is a cute, mysterious animal who has the potential to spawn an army of evil Gremlins. Gizmo’s a strange creature, but as adorable 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.

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7.1/10 Gremlins PGComedyFantasyHorror

When a father gives his son Billy a magical creature known as a Mogwai as a gift, the boy is given strict rules to follow regarding its care. When a lapse in judgment creates the mischievous Gremlins – creatures intent on destruction that threaten to ruin Christmas for the entire town of Kingston Falls – it’s up to Billy and his Mogwai companion Gizmo to save the town from the army of little monsters.

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*Availability in US Director Joe Dante Release Date June 7, 1984 Writers Chris Columbus Cast Phoebe Cates , Corey Feldman , Zach Galligan , Hoyt Axton , Polly Holliday , Howie Mandel Runtime 106 minutes

Then Gizmo’s clones turn into Gremlins and the movie spirals into chaos as the evil minions destroy the town and do a bunch of wacky things along the way. Meanwhile, Gremlins tries to achieve some thematic weight with Kate’s tragic Christmas story, but this famously ended up being a movie scene intended to be serious that is actually funny. Gremlins is a crazy movie, but that’s what makes it a beloved Christmas staple, combined with Gizmo’s pure cuteness.

9 Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Star-Crossed Lovers In A Psychedelic Nightclub With Sound Of Music & Madonna

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The idea of a jukebox musical was not unheard of before Moulin Rouge! hit movie theaters, but Baz Luhrmann took the concept to a new level. The juxtaposition of the 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.

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9/10 Moulin Rouge! PG-13MusicalDramaRomance

Moulin Rouge! follows Christian, a young writer in Paris, who falls in love with Satine, the star courtesan of the Moulin Rouge cabaret. As they begin a passionate affair, they must hide their love from the jealous Duke, who is funding Satine’s next show.

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*Availability in US Director Baz Luhrmann Release Date June 1, 2001 Writers Baz Luhrmann , Craig Pearce Cast Nicole Kidman , Ewan McGregor , John Leguizamo , Jim Broadbent , Richard Roxburgh , Garry McDonald Runtime 127 Minutes

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 a strange one, but would be delightful nonetheless.

Related Moulin Rouge! Soundtrack: Every Song & Where It Plays

Not just “Your Song,” Baz Luhrmann’s jukebox musical Moulin Rouge! has a tune for everybody in its vibrant, anachronistic, and multi-genre soundtrack.

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 characterizations 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 Evil Rabbit

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

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Donnie Darko RDramaDocumentaryFantasyMysterySci-Fi

After troubled teen Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes on a local golf course after a night of sleepwalking, he has a vision of a man in a rabbit suit telling him that the world will end in 28 days. Returning home, Donnie sees that a jet engine has fallen on his bedroom in the night, and begins to feel increasingly detached from reality. Scrambling to make sense of the bizarre and unexplainable events that have altered his life, Donnie finds himself unravelling a tangled web of disaster and fate.

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*Availability in US Director Richard Kelly Release Date October 26, 2001 Writers Richard Kelly Cast Jake Gyllenhaal , Holmes Osborne , Maggie Gyllenhaal , Daveigh Chase , Mary McDonnell , James Duval Runtime 113 minutes

Donnie’s relationship with a creepy human-sized rabbit causes 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 weirdness of Donnie Darko, which fans would come to appreciate in subsequent years. It is a shaky concept, but Donnie Darko‘s philosophical and teenage angst that has no real answer eventually shaped the movie’s selling point.

7 Back To The Future (1985)

High School Student Time Travels In A Car & Has Awkward Encounters With His Parents

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John Mulaney did a stand-up bit on the hypothetical process of pitching Back to the Future, which says it all. Releasing on the tails of The Terminator, a time travel movie that takes itself more seriously, Back to the Future exhibits a lot of story elements that are goofy upon scrutiny. This includes the likelihood of Marty being friends with a former nuclear physicist and the fact that the time machine is a car at all.

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9.4/10 Back to the Future PGAdventureComedyFamilySci-Fi

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown. In 1955, he meets his parents when they were his age, and must step in to make sure they wind up together before he gets back to 1985.

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*Availability in US Director Robert Zemeckis Release Date July 3, 1985 Writers Robert Zemeckis , Bob Gale Cast Claudia Wells , Christopher Lloyd , James Tolkan , Thomas F. Wilson , Michael J. Fox , Wendie Jo Sperber , Crispin Glover , Marc McClure , Lea Thompson Runtime 116 minutes

Of course, there is the notoriously embarrassing subplot of Marty’s young mother being attracted to him, all of which would have been a hard sell. Back to the Future is a messy amalgamation of pop culture references and slapstick bits with outrageous characters that 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 were appealing to audiences.

6 Being John Malkovich (1999)

A Discontent Married Couple Finds A Literal Door Into The Head Of A Movie Star

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Being John Malkovich also has a premise that will leave people wondering how they came up with it — possibly because of the cooperation of the real John Malkovich. After a puppeteer fazed and bored by his corporate job discovers a small door behind a filing cabinet that is a portal to Malkovich’s mind, the world is at his feet. He, his wife, and a co-worker are launched into a moral and philosophical conundrum as they ponder the reason for the portal existing and what they stand to gain from it.

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Being John Malkovich R

Being John Malkovich is a 1999 surreal comedy that tells the story of puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack), who discovers a portal that leads directly into the mind of real-life actor John Malkovich. Directed by Spike Jonze and featuring an all-star cast that includes Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener, the film explores themes of identity, obsession, and the blurred lines between reality and fiction.

Director Spike Jonze Release Date October 29, 1999 Cast John Cusack , John Malkovich , Cameron Diaz , Catherine Keener Runtime 113 Mins

The overall concept of Being John Malkovich is insane, but other awkward beets 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 themes could have been explored in a much more “normal” movie than Being John Malkovich, but the absurdity of it all creates better entertainment and more open diatribes.

5 Barbie (2023)

A Barbie Doll Has A Life Crisis & Journeys To The Real World

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Casting announcements and the earliest trailers for Barbie only confirmed that it would be a movie experience unlike any other.

The idea of the live-action 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 in theaters. Casting announcements and the earliest trailers for Barbie only confirmed that it would be a movie experience unlike any other.

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9.1/10 Barbie PG-13ComedyAdventureFantasy

Barbie is a film adaptation of the generational iconic toy directed by Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the script with Noah Baumbach. The film centers on Margot Robbie’s Barbie who is expelled from Barbieland and travels with Ken (Ryan Gosling) to the real world in search of happiness. The film also stars Simu Liu, Will Ferrell, and several other famous celebrities in cameo roles.

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*Availability in US Director Greta Gerwig Release Date July 21, 2023 Writers Noah Baumbach , Greta Gerwig Cast Margot Robbie , Ryan Gosling , Simu Liu , Ariana Greenblatt , Helen Mirren , Nicola Coughlan , John Cena , Will Ferrell , Ritu Arya , Michael Cera , America Ferrera , Alexandra Shipp , Kate McKinnon Runtime 114 Minutes

Barbie embraces its melodramatic and superficial source material, with everything from the 2001: A Space Odyssey spoof opening sequence to the stilted interactions and parties every night that are the norm in Barbie Land. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling give outlandish performances as Barbie and Ken, underlining the concept.

Related 10 Harsh Realties Of Rewatching Barbie, 1 Year Later

The Barbie movie has been fondly remembered a year after its release, but on a rewatch, there are some elements that don’t hold up very well.

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Barbie is a wild movie from start to finish, but masterfully uses its concept as the means to deliver on-point diatribes about womanhood and mortality. Gerwig’s status as an acclaimed writer-director established some faith in the movie from the beginning, making people eager to see what she would do with such a bizarre concept.

4 Star Wars (1977)

George Lucas Started Star Wars With A Lot Of Unexplained World-Building In Space

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At face value, Star Wars includes a lot of strange plot points and designs that simply exist without explanation, in the context of the first movie being released as an effective standalone with no additional materials. Most of its material has been elaborated on 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 is.

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8.6/10 Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope PGActionAdventure Sci-FiFantasy

The film that began the Star Wars franchise, Episode IV – A New Hope tells the story of wistful Force-sensitive Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who longs to leave his home planet of Tatooine to fight the evil Empire. After inheriting his Jedi father’s weapon, a lightsaber, Luke sets off under the tutelage of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) with smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to join the Rebellion and face the evil Darth Vader.

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*Availability in US Director George Lucas Release Date May 25, 1977 Writers George Lucas Cast Mark Hamill , Harrison Ford , Carrie Fisher , Alec Guinness , David Prowse , James Earl Jones , Frank Oz , Anthony Daniels , Kenny Baker , Peter Mayhew , Peter Cushing Runtime 121 Minutes

Star Wars, later given the subtitle A New Hope, translated many well-used tropes into a space setting obviously inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Trek but with elements straight from George Lucas’ imagination. The would-be blockbuster miraculously pulled off a game-changing event with its technical advancements and instantly beloved characters. The strangest lines from Star Wars, when they have no context, quickly became widely quoted phrases.

3 The Green Knight

A Metaphor-Heavy Feature-Length Movie Based On A Medieval Arthurian Poem

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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 plots into a surrealistic adventure that resonates with modern discussions. Rather than trying to make Sir Gawain and the Green Knight more palatable or comprehensible for today’s audiences, it embraces the symbolic nature of the one-off Arthurian adventure.

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8.5/10 The Green Knight RAdventureDramaFantasy

An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in a more profound journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom by facing the ultimate challenger. 

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*Availability in US Director David Lowery Release Date July 30, 2021 Writers David Lowery Cast Dev Patel , Emilie Hetland , Ralph Ineson , Helena Browne , Alicia Vikander , Joel Edgerton , Erin Kellyman , Barry Keoghan , Anthony Morris , Sean Harris , Kate Dickie , Sarita Choudhury Runtime 125 minutes

A lot of strange characters wander in and out of The Green Knight, do or say one peculiar thing, and leave the audience pondering the implications. There are many weird ideas at play, which would have taken work to convey in a script and trust in the audience to intuitively understand them. Some people didn’t understand The Green Knight, but it is an entrancing movie that rewards those willing to research its meaning.

2 Fight Club (1999)

The First Rule Of Fight Club Is You Do Not Talk About Fight Club

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Fight Club depicts an underground organization impossibly, suddenly becoming a national threat within a matter of weeks. The logistics do not matter, especially in light of Fight Club‘s ending twist. In its overblown attack on capitalism and consumer culture and deconstruction of toxic masculinity, Fight Club lets Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter be weirdly nihilistic as the mission of the Fight Club spins out of control.

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9/10 Fight Club RDrama

Fight Club, David Fincher’s 1999 thriller starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter, is the cinematic adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s eponymous 1996 novel. In it, reckless soapmaker Tyler Durden helps the desolate Narrator find meaning in his monotonous life by creating an underground fight club where dejected men release their frustration in the form of fistfights.

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*Availability in US Director David Fincher Release Date October 15, 1999 Writers Jim Uhls Cast Brad Pitt , Meat Loaf , Edward Norton , Jared Leto , Helena Bonham Carter Runtime 139 minutes

Fight Club also understands the tastes of its time and leans into the end-of-the-millennium existential crisis theme. The concept is intentionally flimsy, where how exactly the Narrator accomplishes what he does is a mystery and the rise of Fight Club has no explanation. While Fight Club flopped at the box office, 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, & Upends The Multiverse Trope

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On the other hand, Everything Everywhere All at Once came out after many other weird cult classics had found their audiences, and shows like Gravity Falls and Adventure Time had taken over the cartoon pipeline. This gave the Daniels’ Best Picture-winning feature a strong foothold where its random nature would be appreciated, leading to a box office success before it dominated the Oscars.

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9.2/10 Everything Everywhere All at Once RAdventureComedyAction

In Everything Everywhere All at Once, a middle-aged laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) is distracted from her financial and family issues by a multiversal crisis. With just her husband (Ke Huy Quan) to support her through the confusion, she must contend with her overbearing traditional father (James Hong), a pencil-pushing auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her emotionally-distant daughter (Stephanie Hsu). 

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*Availability in US Director Daniel Kwan , Daniel Scheinert Release Date March 25, 2022 Writers Daniel Scheinert , Daniel Kwan Cast Jenny Slate , Ke Huy Quan , Stephanie Hsu , Harry Shum Jr. , Jamie Lee Curtis , James Hong , Michelle Yeoh Runtime 132 minutes

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 ludicrous, yet each version is given enough screen time to come to an implied happy ending; it’s not even completely clear which universe she is in at the ending scene.

Related 1 Bizarre Everything Everywhere All At Once Universe Is Subtly Foreshadowed By The Movie’s Opening Shot

The multiverse came as a shock to Evelyn in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but there were clues about the universes she would travel to.

Along the way, there are the outrageous sequences of Jobu Tupaki’s ever-changing costumes and Evelyn doing weird stuff to quickly acquire new skills. Yet Everything Everywhere All at Once brings it all together to a heartrending final point, proving in recent history that weird movies are often the best ones.

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