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![\"Johnny](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/intro-1773855508.jpg\")
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Sony Pictures Releasing<\/p>\n
Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 action sci-fi movie “Starship Troopers” \u2014 which the worst “Planet of the Apes” movie stole tech from<\/a> \u2014 is the epitome of how a cult classic is born. Upon its release, Verhoeven’s film was completely misinterpreted by audiences, who simply weren’t ready for an unapologetically campy, scathingly sharp, and uncompromisingly violent satire that used a war between giant alien bugs and humans to deliver a fresh and innovative take on full-blown fascism.<\/p>\n Based on Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 novel, Verhoeven’s epic follows Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien), a young man enlisting in the Mobile Infantry instead of going to college, three of his close friends, and the unit of his fellow comrades under a stratocratic regime in the future of the\u00a023rd century. It’s a basic premise that somehow misled 1997 audiences into believing they were getting a classic space opera instead of the excessive, over-the-top, and outwardly dumb gorefest that “Starship Troopers” delivered with zealous flair.<\/p>\n There’s a reason many millennials growing up in the ’90s fell in love with this R-rated masterwork, even if they didn’t necessarily understand its greater ambitions as a full-on farce. It was pretty much a dream come true as far as bloody combat and aliens go, with an underlying message. Yet its bare and raw appeal wasn’t a big enough draw at the time, and the movie ended up failing commercially, making $121 million worldwide at the box office against an estimated $105-110 million budget. It took years until it gained much-deserved re-evaluation, becoming a lauded cult classic championed by both critics and viewers. That led to the movie spawning a long-running franchise (although without Verhoeven’s capable hands) of many sequels, which ironically turned into the kind of B-movie trash that the original so skillfully avoided becoming.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Starship Troopers knew exactly what it was doing, but the sequels failed to recapture its magic<\/p>\n
Sony Pictures Releasing<\/p>\n
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