How did Blade Runner go from box office bomb to the most influential sci-fi film ever made?

The answer

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner opened on June 25, 1982, grossing only $33.8 million against a $28 million budget - considered a flop. Critics were mixed, and audiences found it too slow and bleak. However, its vision of dystopian Los Angeles in 2019 - rain-soaked neon streets, towering megacorporations, and existential AI - became the visual DNA of the entire cyberpunk genre. The film's influence pervades everything from Ghost in the Shell to Westworld to the aesthetic of modern sci-fi. Seven different cuts exist, with the 1992 Director's Cut finally earning critical acclaim. In 2007, Blade Runner was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as 'culturally significant.'