- Mike Judge’s film “Idiocracy” became a cult hit despite initial studio neglect.
- Like Judge’s previous film “Office Space,” DVD rentals helped “Idiocracy” gain popularity.
- Luke Wilson told Business Insider he has a sequel idea he’s pitched to Judge.
Since its release almost two decades ago, Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy” has become a beloved comedy, even and perhaps especially as people have begun drawing similarities between its plot and real-life events.
Though star Luke Wilson says it’s the movie that fans still bring up to him the most, he calls its eventual success “the biggest surprise.” When the film was initially released by 20th Century Fox in 2006, the studio had no faith in it.
“I’ll never forget I was reading the LA Times before the movie opened, and I saw a small ad that said ‘Idiocracy,’ and only three theaters were listed,” Wilson told Business Insider in his interview for our Role Play series. “So I called Mike Judge, and he told me the studio dumped the movie. I was bummed out.”
The movie went on to only make $440,000 at the domestic box office.
Judge had been through this before. His previous movie, “Office Space,” opened in 1999 with zero notice, though it would go on to become a pop-culture sensation once it hit DVD and cable in the early 2000s.
“Idiocracy” had the same post-theatrical success. In 2007, it took in $9 million in DVD rentals, 20 times its domestic gross.
20th Century Fox
In the comedy, Wilson plays Joe, who agrees to an experiment that, due to unforeseen events, results in him being in hibernation for 500 years. He awakes in a future where the population is illiterate and obsessed with big-box stores and the president is a former professional wrestler.
The movie gained pop-culture notoriety during Donald Trump’s first run for president. At the time, “Idiocracy” screenwriter Etan Cohen tweeted, “I never expected #idiocracy to become a documentary.”
Wilson has always been game to do a sequel, and told BI he often pitches Judge on the idea.
“I’ve always told him, how about me and Terry Crews and Dax Shepard coming back to the present day,” Wilson said. “We see Terry’s Camacho character become president, Dax’s character runs a movie studio. I’m always pitching that to Mike. He gets a kick out of it.”
Business Insider contacted Mike Judge for comment but didn’t receive a response.
