1999 Comedy, Originally a Major Flop, Is Now a Cult Favorite Movie for Office Workers Everywhere
Anyone who has worked in a cubicle or for a memo-pushing boss at a bureaucratic job where nothing gets done in a generic office park somewhere probably recognizes their workplace in the iconic 1999 comedy, Office Space.
The movie is so beloved that its best lines are immortalized in movie lists. Bill Lumbergh: "So, if you could do that, that would be great..." And Milton Waddams: "Y-- Excuse me. You-- I believe you have my stapler?" Bob Slydell: "What would ya say...ya do here?"
And who can forget the TPS reports or the fact that one of the office workers is named Michael Bolton? Bill Lumbergh: "I'm going to need those TPS reports... ASAP."
Classic. How could such a movie possibly be a flop? After all, Office Space had a deeper point: That modern work is about accomplishing nothing, avoiding risk, and drowning in paperwork, while losing one's humanity and being micromanaged and treated like a number. And that was before AI.
The Movie 'Office Space' Was a 'Bonafide Box Office Flop' in 1999
Was Office Space really a flop? Yes. The movie "was a bona fide box office flop when it grossed a measly $10.8 million in 1999," Variety reported.According to Vice, the movie "was pulled from distribution after a very short run" in theaters.
However, according to Variety, the "workplace satire" was rediscovered through DVDs, Blockbuster, and then streaming shows. Over time, word of mouth spread, and it became a "cult sensation."
The film was creation of Mike Judge, who was best known for animated comedies like Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill.
The protagonist is Initech programmer Peter Gibbons, played by Ron Livingston, who hates his job, in part because of his micromanaging boss, Bill Lumbergh, played by Gary Cole, who won't leave him alone, Variety explained. The movie pioneered the word "as*clown," to refer to the singer Michael Bolton, with whom a character shares his name, Vice reported, and a major restaurant chain stopped asking its employees to wear "flair."
Why Was 'Office Space' a Flop?
Judge theorized to Variety that the movie flopped because "it was a hard movie to make a trailer for - hard to market in general. And the trailer wasn't great. I mean, it was a weird movie at the time."
Fans weighed in on a Reddit thread. "Even before streaming, some movies were box office movies, and some movies were dvd sales movies. Office Space was definitely a sell dvds movie. Nothing about it made me feel like I lost something from not watching it on a giant screen even though it's a fantastic movie," wrote one.
"Some of the best films are just ahead of their audience," a fan wrote. "Because the world wasn't ready for another Michael Bolton," wrote another.
One reason the movie flopped originally is because 1999 was quite a year for movies. The film had stiff competition from movies like Fight Club, American Beauty, Toy Story 2, and The Green Mile.
Livingston told Variety: "People come and tell me that the movie changed their life. It's like after seeing the movie, it gave them the confidence to get out of whatever it was they were doing that was making them miserable and move on to something else. I only hear from the people for whom that worked out, but hopefully there's not too many that regret it."
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 9:05 PM.