In the mid-1970s, legendary director William Friedkin—fresh off The Exorcist (1973)—helicoptered into South America with tens of millions of dollars…and emerged with malaria and a bleak, thrilling masterpiece: Sorcerer (1977). The only problem was the competition, a little movie called Star Wars (1977).
Host Rico Gagliano tells the story of how Sorcerer (1977) crashed and burned at the box office—with help from the film’s screenwriter, Walon Green (The Wild Bunch, 1969), Oscar-winning producer Mark Johnson (The Holdovers, 2023), and more.
The latest season of the MUBI Podcast, Box Office Poison, dives into six visionary films...that were also notorious flops. Inspired by the new book of the same name by Tim Robey, film critic for The Telegraph, each episode takes a wild ride through a great movie’s rise, fall, and rise.
Listen to episode one below or wherever you get your podcasts:
After listening, check out the latest “MUBI Podcast Expanded” piece which features an excerpt from Tim Robey’s book, Box Office Poison. Read the article here.