It's a bit of trivia that you can use to stump friends at parties, especially those folks who fancy themselves a know-it-all about how the film industry works: doesn't a major motion picture based on a Marvel comic produced by "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" guru George Lucas during the peak of his filmmaking career sound like a sure-fire hit? Of course, it's a trick question, as the movie in question, 1986's "Howard the Duck," was a notorious flop, one which sent Lucas back to the "maybe I should think about making some 'Star Wars' prequels" drawing board and very likely helped keep more Marvel properties off the big screen for several years. Although the film was certainly not a complete waste of time -- its long research & development process regarding the title character eventually led to what became Pixar -- its status as a flop tarnished the careers of Lucas, director/co-writer Willard Huyck, and the Marvel characters.

As with most unfairly maligned movies, it turns out that "Howard the Duck" was more ahead of its time than hopelessly flawed. Its attempt to translate the comic character written and created by Steve Gerber to the screen resulted in a movie with a very subversive sense of humor, one which would've been better received in a post-"South Park" and "Adult Swim" world. As it is, the movie has steadily been reappraised and revisited since its release, and while elements of the film have kept it from being fully embraced as a hidden gem, there's no denying that it helped unwittingly pave the way for more daring television and cinematic fare, both in the comedy and comic book movie genres. Due to the movie being Lucas' biggest regret of his career, the filmmaker has tried to get some perspective on it over the years, and he's come up with an idea in hindsight that he feels would've been the sure-fire solution to have made "Howard the Duck" a hit. Yet, as we all know (or should know), there is no such thing as a sure-fire success in Hollywood.