How NYC turned ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show' into the greatest cult classic of all time

New York Post

3 days ago

It's astounding! Time is fleeting!
'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' has been doing the 'Time Warp' now for 50 filthy years.
The cult-classic film, a bawdy musical comedy that has its way with sci-fi, scares and sex, premiered in London on Aug. 14, 1975.
But the reason multiple generations are still yelling 'Dammit Janet!' today is thanks to New York City and a still-operational downtown movie theater.
5 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' turns 50 on Aug. 14.
Those mad midnight showings all over the world, in which super-fans arrive clad in fishnets, shout back at Brad, Janet and Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and perform in front of the screen, began at the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village — what is now the IFC Center.
Far from a sure thing, the 12 a.m. tickets were a last-ditch effort by 20th Century Fox to pump some life into a project they had little faith in.
'Rocky Horror' could have faded into obscurity or been shelved altogether. Instead, it became one of the best-selling movie musicals of all time — grossing $115 million off a $1 million budget.
'Rocky Horror' started out as a hit 1973 London stage musical at the Royal Court Theatre, written by Richard O'Brien and directed by Jim Sharman. Tim Curry and O'Brien both played the roles they'd make immortal on film, Frank-N-Furter and Riff Raff, respectively.
Producer Lou Adler brought the show to Los Angeles for a successful 10-month run at the Roxy.
5 The movie's first midnight screenings were at the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village.
Courtesy of Stephen Sclafani¿ via Cinema Treasures
Its Broadway production, though, was a big flop — closing after just 45 performances at the Belasco Theatre.
The movie, made for $1 million, debuted just four months later.
'Picture Show' packed 'em in when it played one theater in LA, but bombed when it expanded to eight cities. Fox was flummoxed.
The movie was supposed to open in New York on Halloween, but the studio scuttled that plan. And then Tim Deegan, the innovative Fox ad man, came up with his after-dark idea.
Midnight screenings weren't anything new. Actually, they were quite popular. But the time slot was held for repeats of cult classics ('Harold and Maude') and indies, not Fox musicals.
5 The midnight craze took over all around the world — including Canada.
Toronto Star via Getty Images
Deegan admitted to The Post at the time that there was 'no pressure within the company to release this picture.'
So he gave it a shot, living up to the musical's mantra: Don't dream it, be it.
'Rocky Horror' opened at the Waverly on April Fool's Day, 1976. It sold like gangbusters.
'It's the first time a major studio has ever opened a film here on such a small and eccentric scale,' wrote Post movie critic Frank Rich that July.
It took until Labor Day weekend for Louis Farese to become the person to holler out during the movie.
'Buy an umbrella, you cheap b—h,' he screamed at Susan Sarandon's Janet.
The audience participation was born.
5 Today the Waverly is the IFC Center.
The movie's director and co-writer, Sharman, first experienced a rowdy 'Rocky Horror' screening in New York in 1978, while he was visiting from Australia.
'I rolled up to the Waverly at midnight and bought a ticket, like any punter,' Sharman told The Post.
'The ritual was well established by then and the interplay between the movie, the audience, the cosplay and the party seemed fun. I was relieved that the movie had found its audience.
'A surreal homage to late-night movies was already on its way to becoming an ultimate late-night movie.'
Brad and Janet have been stuck in Dr. Frank's castle a long time now. 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' relocated to the 8th Street Theater in 1979, and then to the Village East on Second Avenue in 1996. It still plays every first and third Saturday there.
5 Richard O'Brien, left, wrote and co-starred in the movie.
©20thCentFox/courtesy Everett
Sharman says his subversive musical and movie was never meant to walk — or, rather, jump to the left — on the traditional path.
'The show began in abandoned cinemas and rock clubs,' Sharman said. 'It only faltered once, when it went mainstream, on Broadway. And the movie didn't catch fire in mainstream release either. But it did in late night. Why?'
'A mainstream version would have had celebrity rock stars and a big budget. We honored 'Rocky Horror Picture Show's B-movie premise. We confused A-and-B-movie tropes. We shot it fast and loose on low budgets, with tight schedules, in chilly studios, with iconic visuals. And we kept faith with a virtually unknown but brilliant, sexy cast that a cult audience could embrace and make their own,' he explained.
'I feel that's at least part of the reason why 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' is celebrating its 50th Anniversary.'