Reception and Following
Flash Gordon had a mediocre box office performance, grossing $27,107,960 in North America (equal to $70 - 75 million in 2010 dollars). The notable exception is the United Kingdom, where the film was a huge success, grossing about £13,864,652. The film did find appreciation with a few critics, notably The New Yorker's Pauline Kael. Max von Sydow (Ming) received a good deal of praise for his performance, despite Jones (Gordon) being nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for worst lead actor. Before the film's run in theaters, a sequel was considered and according to Brian Blessed on the Region 2 DVD commentary for Flash Gordon - Silver Anniversary Edition, the sequel was going to be set on Mars, as a possible update of the Buster Crabbe serials.
The film received overall positive reviews, holding a 82% approval rating at the movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 33 reviews. The film is ranked #88 on the Rotten Tomatoes Journey Through Sci-Fi List (100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies).
Despite the commercial disappointment of the film, Flash Gordon has since become a cult classic with fans of science fiction and fantasy. It is a favorite of British director Edgar Wright, who used the film as one of the visual influences for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Acclaimed comic book artist Alex Ross names the film as his favorite movie of all time. He painted the cover of the 2007 "Saviour of the Universe Edition" DVD release of the movie, and starred in a featurette to talk extensively about his affection for the film. In Seth MacFarlane's 2012 comedy Ted, the characters of Ted (MacFarlane) and John (Mark Wahlberg) are fans of the film, and it is continually referenced. Sam J. Jones (playing himself) also appears in the film during a manic party sequence and in the film's conclusion.
Brian Blessed's performance as Prince Vultan lodged the veteran stage and screen actor into the collective consciousness for the utterance of a single line – "GORDON'S ALIVE?!" – which, more than 30 years later, remains the most repeated, reused, and recycled quotation from both the film and Blessed's career.
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Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)