Nicolas Cage’s movies seem to get better and better every year, and his 2021 release has all the signs of a cult classic with lasting appeal. Cage has had several stages in his career, which remains one of the most interesting in Hollywood history. He started out in smaller movies in the 1980s when he was in his late teens and early 20s. However, by the 1990s, Cage was one of the biggest action stars in the world with films like The Rock, Face/Off, and Con-Air. However, things changed for Cage in the 2000s.

After a period of making more and more DTV movies and poorly reviewed low-budget films, he began to slip in status for many film fans. That changed again, though, in the 2010s, when Cage began to take on more interesting roles. Many of Cage’s choices were still DTV and low-budget movies, but they allowed him to make creative choices and appear in unique and memorable films. This includes his 2021 release, Pig, a box-office disappointment with everything it takes to become his next beloved cult classic since arriving on streaming services.

Pig Is The Perfect Kind Of Cult Classic

Nicolas Cage Subverts Fans’ Expectations With Pig

Pig has all the makings of a Nicolas Cage cult classic. However, one thing that fans have to understand is that the movie is not what the trailer might suggest. Cage plays Robin “Rob” Feld, a truffle farmer who lives off the grid with his beloved truffle pig. He sells his truffles to a young man named Amir (Alex Wolff), and little is known about Rob until one day, two men show up, attack him, and steal his beloved pig. Rob then sets out to find his pet.

The entire setup is eerily similar to John Wick. Both Wick and Rob had their wives die, and they now live in retirement and want to be left alone with their only real companion, a beloved animal. When someone takes their pet from them, they set out to do something about it. However, Rob goes on a more contemplative journey instead of killing everyone who killed his dog, as John Wick did. There are violent moments in Pig, but Rob is someone who will kill with words rather than guns.

Rob isn’t a former ᴀssᴀssin, he is a former chef. The finale of John Wick had major gun battles and a brutal fight scene with the father of the man responsible. In Pig, the final scene is also against the father of the man responsible, but this is not a brutal fight; it is a meal Rob makes that devastates everyone, including himself. It is a moment that leaves the viewer rethinking everything that happened in the film. John Wick is an action extravaganza. Pig is a thoughtful movie that is destined to be a cult classic.

Nicolas Cage Is Already A Cult Classic King

Longlegs, The Surfer, Dream Scenario, & More Prove His Cult Status

Nicolas Cage has become a master of cult classics, and as he gets older, his movies are becoming more interesting. 2025’s The Surfer is one that has a similar setup to Pig. It’s about a man who seeks solace, but this time with his son. When a group of bad guys humiliate him in front of his son and torment him, he doesn’t use violence as an answer, but the trailers make it seem like he does. That is likely why The Surfer has a high 86% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a low 46% score from audience members.

However, like Pig, there is a good chance that The Surfer will become a cult classic when it hits streaming, and people will know more about what to expect from the story. Over the last few years, his filmography has been littered with these brilliant and subversive movies. Longlegs is a horror thriller in which Cage is barely seen. Dream Scenario is a look at fame for someone who doesn’t want it. Renfield lets Cage play out his mᴀssive love of Bela Lugosi. Willy’s Wonderland is a wonderful take on Five Nights At Freddy’s.

The Unbearable Weight of Mᴀssive Talent is probably his most famous and successful of these cult classics. He plays Nick Cage, a fictional version of himself, as he ends up fighting for his life alongside a South American billionaire played by Pedro Pascal, a self-professed Nick Cage fan. The film winks at the audience and allows Cage to make fun of his public persona, and it might be the best movie of its type. Through these films, Cage has been able to erase some of his biggest disappointments (The Wicker Man) from fans’ collective minds.

Why Pig Wasn’t A Big Hit Upon Release

Pig Is Not The Action Movie The Trailers Teased

There are two reasons Pig wasn’t a big hit when it was released in theaters. The first is that Nicolas Cage movies are still an acquired taste, and many people still ᴀssociate him with bad DTV releases. The other problem was audience reviews after seeing Pig. On Rotten Tomatoes, critics highly praised Pig, awarding it a 97% fresh rating, while the audience score is also high, at 83%. However, it’s easy to see from the people who reviewed it early on why they left the theater disappointed.

Many people went into Pig and expected it to be like John Wick but that is not what this movie is about. Anyone wanting violent action, with Nicolas Cage destroying everyone responsible for taking his truffle pig, was in for a huge shock. There were some moments of intense violence, but they were only small parts of the movie. The rest of the film sees Cage seeking answers. He talks a lot more than he throws punches. The movie is a meditative look at depression and isolation, and that is what makes it work so well.

This is also why it will be a cult classic. Once people got past the idea that this was an action movie with Nicolas Cage searching for his pig, they saw the brilliance in the story. Reviews from the audience show that there are plenty of fans. However, there are still people who hate the idea of Cage talking instead of fighting and the entire ending being a foodie moment that parallels tragedy and depression. Pig was a movie that would never do well in theaters but is perfectly set up to remain a cult classic for years to come.