It’s Astounding, Time Is Fleeting: 50 Years of ‘Rocky Horror’ Coverage In Our Back Pages

It’s astounding, clip is fleeting: 50 years ago, The Rocky Horror Picture Show — a sci-fi/horror/musical-comedy adapted from a signifier play by Richard O’Brien that opened connected London’s West End successful 1973 — premiered connected U.S. movie screens. At first, its box-office gross was flatter than Brad and Janet’s tyre connected that stormy night. But each flops should bounce backmost similar this one: The Jim Sharman-directed film is inactive playing successful constricted theatrical showings astir the United States, making it the longest big-screen tally for a movie successful history. To toast a half-century of Horror, Billboard is doing the clip warp, again. It’s conscionable a leap to the left…

‘Show’ and Hell

Thanks to an concern from Ode Records president (and Carole King producer) Lou Adler, the Rocky Horror Show signifier accumulation jumped to the near seashore to unfastened astatine Adler’s Roxy successful Los Angeles. The April 13, 1974, Billboard hailed its “outrageously decadent humor” and recognized Tim Curry arsenic “a large endowment discovery” for his campy portrayal of the gender-bending huffy scientist: “How galore antheral performers could spell done an full play costumed successful a Marlene Dietrich chorus miss outfit and inactive travel crossed with Mick Jagger macho?”

‘Rocky’ Start

The pursuing year, The Rocky Horror Picture Show — starring Curry and Susan Sarandon — made its big-screen bow, past fizzled, but beamed into the underground movie circuit. The June 3, 1978, Billboard predicted that the soundtrack, which had conscionable made its Billboard 200 debut that April, “may good go the sleeper soundtrack of the year.” “It’s not a wide item,” 1 statement enforcement told Billboard, “but it is simply a wide cult item.”

There’s a Light

By 1980, summons buyers were doing the clip warp, again, astatine call-and-response screenings. An Aug. 2 portion astir however stone euphony could boost a movie’s endurance reported that “the frenzied Rock ‘n’ Roll High School [and the] laughably ghoulish Rocky Horror Picture Show” could inactive “pack successful audiences with the champion of them.” Slowly and steadily, it paid off. The movie “quietly marked its 10th day past period by topping $60 million,” according to the Nov. 9, 1985, Billboard. “But beyond the numbers, the astir important taste publication made by Rocky Horror whitethorn person been establishing the improvement of midnight play screenings of cult films.”

Rent-a, Rent-a, Rent Me

“E.T., Rocky Horror Picture Show Top Some Lists,” according to a header successful the Aug. 22, 1987, issue, which described the video titles stores wanted most. Looking astatine “feedback connected catalog releases from peculiar petition sheets successful each store,” video merchants were anxious to sensation Curry’s Dr. Frank-N-Furter. By 1990, their desires were fulfilled. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1 of the astir eagerly awaited titles successful manufacture history, volition marque its belated debut connected video Nov. 8 astatine $89.98,” reported the Sept. 22 issue. By then, the movie had grossed “$150 cardinal astatine the home container office.” At the time, “it inactive plays midnight shows successful astatine slightest 200 theaters.” It’s inactive showing.

This communicative appears successful the Oct. 11, 2025, contented of Billboard.