Live-Action Films / Sleeper Hit

The film adaptation of 21 Jump Street had plenty going against: rebooting the property was seen as a creatively-bankrupt move at a time where the backlash against Hollywood's reboots and sequels of nostalgic '80s properties was growing, early trailers didn't have the best reception, and doing an irreverant and R-rated take on the property was seen as disrespectful since the source material's co-creator Stephen J. Cannell had died two years prior to the movie's release. Yet the film ended up having good word-of-mouth and did great at the box office. An early scene in the sequel even comments on it:
"Ladies, nobody cared about the Jump Street reboot, but you got lucky."
47 Meters Down. This article talks about how the movie was financed for less than $6 million, and was intended to go straight to DVD and video-on-demand. However, on Aug 2, 2016, the exact day the DVDs were released (under the title In the Deep), Entertainment Studios made a deal with Dimension Films to release the movie to theaters the next year, and the DVDs were recalled the next day (becoming collectors items). The movie was released on June 16, 2017, and debuted at #5 with $11.5 million. Better than expected, but still a modest number. However, the film went on to have strong legs, and fell only 34% the next week. It finished its North American run with an unexpected $42.4 million domestically, and almost $50 million worldwide, becoming the horror hit of Summer 2017.
Anyone but You opened with a $8 million domestic gross over the long Christmas 2023 weekend, a figure Variety called "softer-than-anticipated", but buoyed by strong word of mouth it played strongly over the holidays and increased its box office for two weekends and was the only wide release to improve in the post-New Year's frame and climbed to #1 by its 18th day in release. It saw similar gains worldwide and hit $60 million after its first three weeks, earning back its $25 million budget. By the third weekend of 2024 it had crossed the $100 million dollar mark worldwide.
Arthur (1981) was not Orion Pictures' first priority for the summer of 1981 (that was the much more expensive Under the Rainbow), and it opened in a July where Superman II and Raiders of the Lost Ark were dominating the box office, and thus didn't have a strong first weekend. But fantastic word of mouth meant it stuck around in cinemas long enough to find both major commercial success and even awards buzz that took (it won the Supporting Actor and Original Song Oscars, and was nominated for Actor and Original Screenplay as well). It was the fourth highest-grossing film of the year in the United States, only outdrawn by those two films and On Golden Pond, also making it the year's biggest pure comedy, edging out Stripes. Its sole weekend at number one was two months into its run, and in larger U.S. cities it was still running in December!
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was considered a throwaway project for New Line Cinema as Mike Myers had not had a successful project post-Saturday Night Live and the film had the worst test screening in the history of the studio. Expected to die quickly in the heat of summer 1997 against films such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park and The Fifth Element, it opened decently but kept on going to a respectable final US gross of $50 million. When it came out on home video, it became such a phenomenon that led it to be the most rented film in 1997 (and still in the top 10 a year later) and two sequels have been produced since. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me made more in its opening weekend than the first film did in its entire theatrical run and become one of the top-grossing pictures of 1999.
Babe was a $30 million Australian/US co-production with no stars and a Talking Animal lead that wasn't expected to make its budget back in the summer of 1995. After a decent $9 million opening, near-unanimous critical and audience acclaim got to finish with a $64 million gross and an additional $190 million overseas. The film also got seven Academy Award nominations, including a Best Picture nomination (winning for Best Visual Effects), a sequel, and a long life on VHS and DVD.
Back to the Future: No one expected it to become as big as it did. Director/co-writer Robert Zemeckis openly admitted he was just hoping it would break even and the final bit with the DeLorean flying and "something's got to be done about your kids!" was meant as a Last-Second Joke Problem. Michael J. Fox recalled getting a call from his agent telling him the movie was a hit and he was pleased, but his agent had to reiterate that it was a BIG hit. Cue two sequels, an animated series and a stage musical adaptation.
Bad Moms had at least three serious factors working against it: it was released in 2016 during a very brutal summer box office season; multiple R-rated comedies had already underperformed or outright bombed earlier that year (including Ride Along 2, Zoolander 2, Dirty Grandpa, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, The Nice Guys, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates); and Mila Kunis' previous leading role was the major flop Jupiter Ascending less than eighteen months earlier. This film wasn't expected to do any better, and it opened to a modest $23.8 million, but positive word of mouth helped keep its audience week after week, and it eventually grossed over $110 million domestically and $179 million total worldwide on a light $20 million budget. The recently formed STX Entertainment, which had released the bomb Free State of Jones earlier in the year, got its biggest (and only?) hit to date and it led to a 2017 sequel, A Bad Moms Christmas, with at least one more spinoff on the way.
No one could've expected Black Swan to be as big a hit as it was. An extremely disturbing Mind Screw released around Christmas lead many to think that it would only appeal to artsy and in-the-know cinephiles. However, thanks to the critical acclaim, the shoo-in-for-Oscar performance of Natalie Portman, and of course, the people just there for the sexual content, it wound up grossing over $100 million in the US alone, had a tally of over $300 million worldwide, and earned Portman a Best Actress Oscar win.
Blade was not only a sleeper hit, it probably resurrected the comic book movie genre after Batman & Robin killed it a year earlier. When Blade came out in 1998, it was thought to be a niche, genre-bending action/horror flick, and in fact the advertising never even mentioned it was a comic-based movie. But all of the elements came together under Wesley Snipes' steely performance, and word-of-mouth made the film into a hit, spawning two sequels and convincing Marvel to pull X-Men out of some 20 years of Development Hell to get it out two years later. After that, the floodgates opened and comic book movies have been a staple of the summer action season ever since.
The Blair Witch Project was a small, independent horror flick, made with just three no-name actors and a few handheld cameras for $25,000. It turned out to be a monstrous success; not only did it help jumpstart the found-footage horror movie, it grossed nearly $250 million, or ten-thousand times its budget, and still holds the world record for highest cost-to-profit margin of a film, ever.
Bonnie and Clyde. Jack Warner regretted his decision to put the film into production the moment he read the script, as he felt that the audience wouldn't cheer for the outlaws. Warner Bros. had so little faith in the film that they tried to bury it with a release in the doldrums of August 1967, and offered star and producer Warren Beatty 40% of the gross instead of a minimal fee. Despite a glowing reception at the Montreal Film Festival, it received mixed reviews from American critics — while Roger Ebert gave it four stars, many others were put off by its juxtaposition of comedy and (for the time) gratuitous violence. Young Baby Boomers, however, loved it, turning it into a blockbuster and a pop culture sensation that was nominated for ten Oscars (winning two). Beatty became a very wealthy man as a result of his 40% gross, allowing him to do pretty much anything he wanted, while Faye Dunaway became one of the hottest leading ladies in Hollywood. Time magazine, which originally panned the film, featured it on its cover that December. The New York Times even fired its staff critic Bosley Crowther over his panning of the film, feeling him to be out of touch with the modern moviegoing public, and replaced him with Pauline Kael, who had praised the film in an op-ed in The New Yorker. Now, it's recognized as one of the foundational films of the New Hollywood era.
The Bourne Identity tested horribly for Universal and its Summer 2001 release date was pushed back in order to do extensive reshoots. When it opened, it was expected to flop against rival studio tentpole films Scooby-Doo and Windtalkers. Then reviews and word-of-mouth were surprisingly good and became a Long Runner in theatres, grossing over $100 million in the process. The success spawned four sequels.
Boyz n the Hood was a low-budget urban film intended for a small release until two events happened: 1. The film premiering to mass acclaim at Cannes, and 2. Columbia's big Summer 1991 film Radio Flyer getting pushed back due to reshoots, which led Columbia to slot the small production it is place. Even against strong blockbusters Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and violence breaking out at some screenings, the film grossed over $50 million, made director John Singleton the youngest Best Director nominee in the history of the Academy Awards, launched the film careers of Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding Jr. and almost single-handedly popularized the African-American "hood film" genre in the 1990s.
Bring It On was made with a rather paltry $10 million budget, and had a pretty under-the-radar production.^note When it was released in 2000, the highest expectations the cast and crew had was that it might take second place at the box-office to the still-popular-at-the-time Wesley Snipes film The Art of War. To everybody's surprise, the movie topped the box office (moving star Kirsten Dunst to tears), has had a long life on DVD, and spawned a franchise that includes several direct-to-DVD sequels and a Broadway adaptation.
Opening against Apollo 13, Clueless managed to make back its budget several times over and received critical acclaim.
The Conjuring was released in a jam-packed summer that had already cannibalized several blockbuster films, without much fanfare or promotion and a teen-unfriendly R rating. Despite all of that, it went on to take $41.5 million during the opening weekend, breaking The Purge's previous record as the biggest opening for an original R-rated horror film. Thanks to rave reviews from both critics (over 80% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences, the film had an abnormally strong second-week hold for a horror film, and ultimately wound up with $137 million domestically and over $300 million internationally. To put its success in context, The Conjuring opened with $41 million on a $20 million budget; the same week, fellow newcomers R.I.P.D. and Turbo had a combined opening weekend of $33 million... on a combined budget of $265 million. A successful franchise followed the movie.
The Craft unexpectedly managed to earn $55.7 million on a budget of only $15 million. Such a dark film for teens hadn't really been done before, and Urban Fantasy hadn't quite broken into the mainstream at the time (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed weren't airing yet). The Craft was both a horror/fantasy film and primarily aimed at teenage girls, with the creators not even being entirely certain who to market the film to; it didn't help that the movie was given an R-rating due to its premise despite the creators' efforts to meet the guidelines for PG-13. It ended up being an suprisingly big hit, especially amongst young women (and was particularly popular in the goth and punk scene) and retains a cult following to this day.
"Crocodile" Dundee was only expected to be a modest hit, but it ended earning over $300 million worldwide and becoming both the second-highest grossing film of 1986 (only behind Top Gun) and the highest grossing Australian film of all time.
The 2015 Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy's Home did much better than anyone was expecting. It had mixed reviews going in, and opened on Christmas Day, going up against The Force Awakens in its sophomore weekend, and yet it still did remarkably well for itself. It had surprisingly good staying power as well, only decreasing 24.6% in its second weekend. By the end of its domestic run, it had made $150 million, which was surprising for what was thought to just be a throwaway comedy.
Dirty Dancing was a surprise hit. Vestron had only planned to release the film in theaters for only a weekend, and then send it straight to home video, since they had originally been in the video distribution business long before entering film production. Instead, it became a sensation upon release, with reports of people supposedly viewing the film, then immediately returning to the theater to watch it a second time, becoming one of the highest grossing films of 1987. The unexpected successes for this and Ghost (mentioned later on this very page) got Patrick Swayze nicknamed "King of the Sleepers" for a period.
District 9 was not expected to be a major blockbuster considering that it was released in August 2009 with a $30 million budget, but great critical acclaim and positive word-of-mouth resulted in a box office performance of over $200 million.
Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars are two young-adult novel adaptations, both starring Shailene Woodley. Ever since The Hunger Games came out, other young-adult adaptations flopped, and these two were expected to follow suit. They didn't, and proved to be profitable films with big $50 million openings and helped strongly boost sales. It's saying something when a movie based on one of the most lucrative children's franchises in history and an action movie starring one of the most bankable actors of all time, respectively, flopped just by going against them, at least in America.
Dog opened up against Uncharted, a major blockbuster based on a very popular video game franchise, and was at most exepected to make about $6-11 million in its opening weekend. It made $5 million on its first day and $15 million that weekend, finishing second at the box office. It went on to gross $80 million worldwide, making its budget back about five times and becoming a surprise box office success at a time when small, non-IP based films were having a hard time making their money back.
Considering that most films that adapt edutainment shows don't bring in much box office, many weren't expecting Dora and the Lost City of Gold to be much of a success. However, good reviews and word-of-mouth made it dethrone every single edutainment adaptation, beating the previous record set by Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie in 2002.
Edge of Tomorrow stumbled at its opening, grossing $28.7M, and was quickly written off by many as a box office bomb (largely due to its inability to draw a female audience against the release of The Fault in Our Stars — see below). However, thanks to Tom Cruise's international appeal and good word of mouth, it managed to show its worth throughout the summer and became a sleeper hit, grossing over $364M worldwide, making it the 12th highest grossing film of 2014 thus far. It also helps that fans of the source material considered it a surprisingly well-done adaptation, considering the low track record of Western-made adaptations of Eastern media. A sequel is even scheduled.
Elf was made on a mid-tier budget and was released when more tentpole fare were around. It got to #2 on its opening weekend, behind The Matrix Revolutions, but it had great legs at the box office, dropping only 15% on the next weekend. It grossed $220 million, higher then some of the blockbusters it was competing with, established Will Ferrell as a leading actor, and was a Breakthrough Hit for Jon Favreau.
Everything Everywhere All at Once: The film opened in only ten theaters, but played strongly in limited release. It went wide two weeks later and remained in the domestic box office top ten for three months^note, buoyed by strong reviews and word of mouth, and eventually became indie distributor A24's highest grossing film ever. It grossed over $60 million domestically, which was more than every major Oscar contender from 2021, save for Dune.
Universal had such a low opinion of Fast Times at Ridgemont High that the film didn't even open in the East Coast initially and instead mostly opened regionally in mall theatres and drive-ins. After strong opening weekend numbers came in, Universal prepared a wide expansion three weeks later and ended up having one of the big word-of-mouth hits of 1982. Since then, the film continues to be a popular title on home formats and many careers were launched because of it (such as director Amy Heckerling, writer Cameron Crowe and actors such as Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker and Phoebe Cates).
Back in the summer of 1986, many people expected Ferris Bueller's Day Off to be very successful. However, it didn't do as well as Back to School did, thanks to the good word of mouth the latter got, grossing $20 million more than Ferris Bueller did. The ironic part? Unlike Ferris Bueller, Back to School rarely gets referenced at all in modern pop culture, only ever being parodied on certain animated shows.
The Fly was not initially a high-priority release for Fox — of the five genre pictures they released over summer 1986, it was the one slated for August (SpaceCamp and The Manhattan Project got June while Big Trouble in Little China and Aliens got July). While modestly budgeted the producer had to secure initial financing from an independent production company because the studio suits weren't sure a movie about a Protagonist Journey to Villain would appeal to audiences, the filmmakers couldn't find an A-list actor to play that protagonist (and liked the character actor who DID want to play him more anyway, to the disappointment of the suits), the leading lady was a near-unknown, it was Christmas Rushed for the locked-in August release date — and it was a hard-R Body Horror. But once a rough cut was screened, the suits saw it had real breakout potential via its Genre-Busting and it received an excellent marketing campaign that quickly seized on the rave reviews it received from many critics. It ended up spending two weeks at the top of the North American box office, handily turning a profit even before it reached the video market. It provided star making roles for both of its lead actors, firmly secured writer-director David Cronenberg an Auteur License, won an Oscar for Best Makeup, yielded a B-Team Sequel in 1989, and remains one of the best-regarded horror films of its era if not all time.
Forrest Gump. Before release, it was only expected to be a modest hit at best and had a smaller than usual opening of 1,500 theatres (at the time, 2,000 theatres was the expected release for a big movie). Excellent word of mouth from sneak previews helped make the film a long runner.
Disney was busy pushing Hercules in the summer of 1997, culminating in a giant New York City premiere that included a parade, while their George of the Jungle adaptation opened the following month with a modest campaign by comparison. But the films ultimately ran neck-and-neck in U.S. box-office takes, both coming close to the $100 million mark, as George had good word-of-mouth and some unexpectedly (considering the track record of Live-Action Adaptation movies derived from cartoons) positive reviews. It received a Direct to Video sequel years later, but it didn't include the big screen George, Brendan Fraser — since his career got a bit of a boost from this sleeper success.
Get Out, a little horror film that cost $4.5 million and was a Black director's first-ever produced film, completely defied Minority Show Ghetto and "horror films don't have much staying power at the box office" conventional wisdom by opening at #1 with stellar word-of-mouth and having a series of incredible holds at the box office (ex: dropping only 15% in its second weekend in spite of Logan debuting on that same weekend) to ultimately gross over $170 million and make back its budget more than 30 times over.
Ghost was a notable example. Expected to do only modestly by competing against numerous summer titles as Total Recall, Die Hard 2 and Presumed Innocent, it went on to gross over $500 million worldwide (out of a $22 million budget), making bankable names out of Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, won two Academy Awards including Supporting Actress for Goldberg (and was nominated for Picture), making it the highest grosser of 1990 worldwide and the second biggest earner domestically behind Home Alone.
The Gods Must Be Crazy is a South African adventure/comedy starring a Namibian bush farmer as the lead. Even with the Afrikaans dialogue very obviously dubbed into English, it managed to charm international audiences with its exotic setting and slapstick humor, earning over $100 million and smashing all South African box office records.
Another American Godzilla after the derided Roland Emmerich product did not seem like a good idea. Yet Godzilla won over critics and audiences, and started a MonsterVerse, continued by Kong: Skull Island.
Gravity: When released, it was on track to a $40 million debut at the U.S. box office. In the end, it made a whopping $55 million in its opening week. Experiencing a very light 23% drop in its second week, it had the best second-week hold for a movie opening above $50 million outside the holiday season.
The Greatest Showman was called a flop after it quietly debuted at #4 in the shadow of The Last Jedi and the equally surprising hit Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, but proceeded to stay in the top five for eight straight weeks, and played for nearly eight months, the longest theatrical run of any 2017 film. It grossed more than ten times its opening weekend of $14 million for a total of $175 million, and went on to become 2018's top-selling home video release, and its soundtrack was the only album to sell over a million copies in 2018.
The original Halloween was made on No Budget and the only name of note was Donald Pleasence, as PJ Soles would have been known only for Carrie and Jamie Lee Curtis had not made a film before. The film grossed $47 million, turned Jamie Lee Curtis into a star, and popularized the slasher genre.
The Hangover was seen by Warner Bros. as a lesser film between two of their summer blockbuster releases and wasn't expected to beat the higher-budgeted Up (on its second week) and Land of the Lost on its opening weekend. Instead, great word-of-mouth caused it to stay #1 at the box office for two weeks. The film grossed $467.5 million from a $35 million budget, spawned two sequels and won Best Comedy at the Golden Globes.
The Heat was released amidst several blockbusters during the summer and as such it was not expected to do more the modest business. However it wound up earning over $200 million, making it the highest grossing comedy of the year until...
Mainstream producers in the Philippines were initially skeptical about Heneral Luna, as they expected a historical film would be a niche title at best amongst audiences glued to so-called "love teams", chick flicks or comedies. It was proven otherwise when the film was released to critical acclaim, earning over ₱163 million for an independent production with a limited budget.
Hidden Figures's success was a huge surprise. It wasn't expected to flop, but it also wasn't expected to do any better than the other Oscar front-runners of 2016, and a total gross of $50 million was a safe guess (on par with Hacksaw Ridge, Fences and Manchester by the Sea). It ended up opening wide at #1 with $23 million, dethroning Rogue One, and made another $21 million in its second week (again at #1). It has gone on to make $120 million domestically and $150 worldwide on a modest $25 million budget, and is the highest grossing Best Picture nominee of 2016, beating even La La Land. In addition, while Octavia Spencer was always expected to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress, the film's Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations also came as a surprise to many.
Throughout production, Home Alone was considered a small family film only expected to put up modest box office numbers. In fact, Fox initially distributed it to the minimum number of theaters required for it to be considered a wide release. It went on to spend a whopping 12 weeks in the #1 box office slot, became one of the highest-grossing films of all time (and is still in the top fifty when adjusted for inflation), and a classic Christmas film alongside the likes of Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life.
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey was not expected to do well, yet upon its release it topped the box office two weeks in a row.
I Can Only Imagine was expected to have a moderate $4.4 million opening gross on its opening weekend, considering it was up against Tomb Raider and Black Panther as well as two other faith-based films (Paul, Apostle of Christ and God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness). Apart from Dennis Quaid and Cloris Leachman, none of the actors were well-known. However, due to strong word-of-mouth from early screenings, it earned $17.1 million, placing third in the box office and getting the fourth-best opening for a faith-based film. In its second week, it only had a 19% drop, finishing third again. It finally dropped a spot in its third week, but gained an impressive $83.5 million against a mere $7 million budget, making more money for Roadside Attractions than Manchester by the Sea (its previous record holder and an Oscar-winning film). It's currently the sixth-highest grossing music-based biopic ever (Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, Straight Outta Compton, Rocketman and Walk the Line are the other five), and is one of few films on CinemaScore to receive an A+ rating from audiences, as well as a 70% Fresh Rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
It Happened One Night is arguably the original example. Produced on a low $325k budget by a small studio and a director that had yet to make a name for himself. The studio had little faith, and spent almost nothing on advertising, while both of its stars wanted to distance themselves. Originally released to average box office, positive word-of-mouth eventually spread, and the film amassed a huge cult following, especially in rural areas. It later went on to sweep the Oscars in 1935, unheard of at the time for a smaller movie.
There was almost no buzz for John Wick when it was first announced, especially after star Keanu Reeves' last film became a massive flop both critically and commercially. With initial estimates of a soft $7-8 million opening, it seemed doomed to mediocrity. Then the surprisingly positive reviews and buzz came in and boosted the film to an impressive $14 million opening weekend. It finished its run with box office returns four times its budget, started a Career Resurrection for Reeves, and eventually spawned a whole franchise.
The King's Speech was normally expected to be your basic UK-based period film that would be liked by the big cities and do nothing everywhere else. Then the film won the People's Choice Award (the grand prize) at the Toronto International Film Festival and with a holiday season opening as well as heaps of acclaim, grossed over $400 million worldwide on just a $15 million budget. It also won four Academy Awards (including Picture and Actor).
Lights Out was based on a two-minute short film, directed by newcomer David F. Sandberg, and made for $4.9 million. Within one week of its premiere, it had gained back 12 times its budget around the world and has already been greenlit to have a sequel.
In 2014, the month of May was jam-packed with numerous high-profile blockbuster films: The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Godzilla and X-Men: Days of Future Past. The ultimate highest-grossing May-debuting film? Maleficent, which came in relatively under the radar compared to the aforementioned films but ended up having longer staying power.
Mandy was a revenge thriller with a strong touch of Surreal Horror, starring Nicolas Cage, who had been a target of Internet mockery for years. The film became an unexpected critical darling at festival appearances, with many praising Cage's performance as a return to form, yet no one expected the film to blow up quite like the way it did. For example, its night time only showings in September went from just a couple of weeks to nearly two months, something that distributor RLJ Entertainment did not expect, with the film's box office haul actually succeeding what the company thought the film would have. This surprise success has actually caused the company to rethink its release strategy for future releases.
M*A*S*H. Based on an obscure novel about an unpopular war, and also a comedy about said war, starring a bunch of character actors that the public vaguely recognized but probably didn't know, and directed by a guy who'd barely moved into feature films from television, so Fox didn't expect it to do much business, and focused their attention on the higher profile war movies shot alongside it, Patton and Tora! Tora! Tora!. Instead, the film's deft mix of irreverent comedy and moments of drama, freewheeling approach, and obvious use of The Vietnam War, then a dominant part of American life, as a subtext, was an immediate crowd-pleaser, turning it into one of the most profitable films of its era, giving a Star-Making Role to Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, among others, and turning Robert Altman into a big-name director overnight, and, of course, spawning an even more successful TV adapation.
Moonlight, is an example of this. The movie had a budget of $1.5 million and contained no big stars, with the lead roles being played by unknown actors. It also has an entirely black cast and deals with poverty and LGBT themes. It managed to make 50 times its budget and win three Oscars (Picture, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay), becoming both the first LGBT film and the first film with an all-black cast to take the Best Picture honor.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is the gold standard example of a sleeper hit film. It was a low-budget indie with no bankable actors (John Corbett, known for a stint on Sex and the City, and *NSYNC's Joey Fatone were the film's biggest names) and almost no marketing budget, and opened in only about a hundred theaters, but strong performance and positive word-of-mouth allowed it to expand, eventually reaching wide release (600+ theaters) in its sixteenth week. Its box office returns defied industry gravity, increasing for six consecutive weekends, and then barely dropping week after week. It grossed $241 million domestically and was the fifth highest grossing film of the year, beating several big-budget summer tentpoles. It finally left theaters after a run of 52 weeks, 28 in which were in wide release, marking one of the longest runs ever for a film in the home video era. It set a few impressive domestic box office records: the highest-grossing film to never spend a weekend at #1 ^note, and the the highest grossing film without major studio backing.
Napoleon Dynamite was produced for a paltry $400,000 by a first time director, with all unknown actors. It opened in only six theaters and strong word of mouth kept it performing strongly week after week, finally reaching wide release after twelve weeks, and earned $44 million during its run, an extraordinary gross for a film that was essentially a no-budget passion project.
One Cut of the Dead was a No Budget Horror Comedy made by a cast and crew of unknowns for $25,000, but its overwhelmingly positive reception caused it to earn $30 million, over 1,000 times its budget.
Paranormal Activity was picked up by Steven Spielberg after seeing a screener copy in 2007 with the intent to remake the film. After two years on the shelf, Paramount cancelled the remake and released the original in a few markets as a midnight movie. After excellent word of mouth and demand for more showings, the studio first allowed it to be shown all day and then went wide in the fourth week after reaching the Top 5 in its third week (doing so in just 160 theatres, a record for the fewest theatres for a film to reach the Top 5). The film grossed over $100 million and the sequels keep on coming.
Parasite received rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, eventually winning the Golden Palm. What no one expected was that it would gross over $260 million worldwide, become the third highest grossing foreign language film in the US ($53.4 million), end up in the IMDB Top 50, win 4 Academy Awards (namely, Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and International Feature), and inspire a HBO miniseries.
Pokémon Detective Pikachu was initially expected to perform just modestly; with many unsure how the film would perform opening in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. The film was also the first Pokémon movie to get a wide release since Pokémon 3 in 2001; and the first live-action adaptation of any Nintendo game since the infamous Super Mario Bros. in 1993. There's also the fact the film was adapting a little-known spinoff game rather than the main video games or the anime. The film ultimately ended up getting positive reception from critics, fans and audiences; becoming the highest-grossing Pokémon film domestically and eventually surpassing Warcraft as the most-successful video game movie worldwide ($433.2 million).
Purple Hearts was a low-budget romantic drama whose two leading stars were relative unknowns, but debuted at the #2 spot on Netflix's Top Ten charts and at #1 the very next day, stealing it away from The Gray Man, a $200 million blockbuster with an All-Star Cast that Netflix had spent months hyping up. It would end up becoming Netflix's seventh most popular movie within its first month of release, with about 220 million viewing hours.
The Ring earned a modest $15 million during its opening weekend but positive word-of-mouth encouraged DreamWorks SKG to expand and its box office actually increased in its second weekend, almost unheard of for horror films and films playing during non-holiday frames. The film held well for the next two months and earned over $129 million in the US. The film's success caused the Japanese horror remake craze back in the 2000s.
The Denzel Washington/Ryan Reynolds vehicle Safe House was released in the January/February dumping ground and wasn't expected to do much business, but surprisingly the film stayed in theaters for 3 months and made well over $200 million worldwide.
Scream was initially dismissed as yet another entry into the beaten-like-a-dead-horse slasher genre, and it made only $6 million on its domestic opening weekend. Audiences generally liked the film, which played on many of the genre's cliches, incorporated mystery and humor, and was generally enjoyable for a mass audience and pulled in many more demographics. Word of mouth eventually pushed its theatrical take to $103 million, leading to numerous sequels and a wave of copycats.
Se7en had tested poorly with audiences and was slotted into the dumping ground of September against the higher-publicized Showgirls with the hope that the film's star power would allow it to break even. Then the critics responded in praise and with audiences agreeing, the film managed to spend four weeks at the top spot. The film went on to gross $327 million worldwide and launched David Fincher's directing career.
Sharknado gained an unexpected amount of buzz for a Syfy Original Movie from social media posts about the ridiculous premise. And while the original premiere was written off as a ratings failure, the film saw a significant boost in viewership with encore showings in the following weeks. Equally outlandish sequels followed.
The Sixth Sense is another famous case. It was created by a then-unknown director, released in the doldrums of August, and stunned everyone by riding a tidal wave of "You HAVE to see this movie's twist!" word of mouth to come in second to only The Phantom Menace in 1999 box office grosses.
Smile was initially considered to go straight to Paramount+, but great test screenings made the studio attempt a theatrical release. It earned great reviews, opened at #1 with a strong $22.6 million that barely fell on the second weekend (the 18% drop was the best for a 2022 wide release, and is the second lowest for a horror movie after Get Out) and kept strong through two months, even outclassing the latest in an estabilished horror franchise in Halloween Ends, on the way to $100 million.
Sonic the Hedgehog, despite its time in Development Hell, problems in its production timeline, outright public rejection of the original Sonic design and the clichés present in similar family films such as Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs and Peter Rabbit, the film managed to become the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time in North America ($149 million), and seemingly also managed to break the associated Video Game Movie Curse. A combination of Sonic's design retool, genuine love for the source material being noticed upon release, the movie being released for Valentine's Day weekend 2020, and its lucky timing of being released before the brunt of the COVID-19 Pandemic hit the United States all contributed to its newfound popularity.
Split was produced for $9 million, and was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, whose career was recovering from the flops The Last Airbender and After Earth. It was scheduled for mid-January, usually a dumping ground for expected flops, and also opened during a period of mostly hit-or-miss horror films at the box office (The Bye Bye Man bombed just a week earlier). Split opened to surprisingly strong reviews and grossed $40 million in its opening weekend, and stayed at #1 for three weeks. It grossed $100 million domestically, and $150 million worldwide, over 15 times its budget.
Star Wars is a really notorious case. It's hard to believe now, but hardly anyone thought that a Space Opera from the director of American Graffiti was going to stir much interest, and it was expected to tank. 20th Century Fox had such little faith that they gave a mild surplus to Damnation Alley instead. Famously, George Lucas got the merchandising rights with little trouble because Fox assumed they were worthless. And nor was Lucas himself far-sighted enough to realize how valuable those merchandising rights would be — he just wanted a way to promote the movie on his own in the event that Fox gave it Invisible Advertising. Star Wars only opened in 37 theaters. Word of mouth convinced to give it a proper release:
Mark Hamill: We didn't even have a poster. [Beat] There was no poster!
Ted was only expected to be a modest hit at best, but it surprised everyone by opening with $54 million — the second highest ever opening for an R-rated comedy. It continued on to make more then $218 million domestically and over $500 million worldwide, dethroning The Hangover Part II as the highest-grossing R-rated comedy film of all time.
Teen Wolf was designed expressly to be quick and cheap to make, hoping to imitate the success of Valley Girl. Michael J. Fox took the role simply because he could fit the brief film shoot into a break in his Family Ties schedule. The film far exceeded its inspiration, earning $80 million off of a $1.2 million budget. It launched a quick cash-in sequel Teen Wolf Too, a Distaff Counterpart film Teen Witch and a 2011 TV series.
The Terminator was made on a $6.4 million budget; despite a post-Conan the Barbarian Arnold Schwarzenegger's starring role in the production, its distributor Orion Pictures saw it as a cheap genre picture and gave its 1984 release only a modest amount of advertising. It topped the domestic box office for two weeks straight, made back many times its investment and eventually launched a Cash-Cow Franchise.
Terrifier 2, a sequel to the Cult Classic Terrifier, was so violent that it wound up getting an unrated release with limited marketing. As noted by The New York Times, the film only cost $250,000 and didn't have any well-known actors, but earned back over 40x its budget. Its predecessor wasn't very well known, received mixed reviews and never received a wide release. Terrifier 2, however, earned much stronger reviews and opened in the top ten, and managed to increase its box office over three weekends despite not expanding into many new theaters. Its strongest weekend was its fourth, after it doubled its theatre count. It had earned nearly $10 million by early November.
There's Something About Mary wasn't a huge hit at first, and only got a small release, but positive word of mouth shot it to the top of the box office in its 8th week of release, making back its $23 million budget more than 15 times over, as well as catapulting Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz into the limelight.
The film adaption of Think Like a Man was projected for a $15 million opening, but surprisingly, the opening weekend tally was over $30 million, double what analysts predicted (analysts are rarely ever this off the mark), mostly thanks to positive word of mouth from preview screenings and marketing it well to its demographic. It opened up at number #1 at the box-office, finally knocking The Hunger Games down from the top spot that it had held for 4 weeks straight.
The highest-grossing film of 1987 domestically? Not Lethal Weapon or Beverly Hills Cop II or other big-budget action extravaganzas, but Three Men and a Baby, which took in $167 million, the equivalent of over $300 million today, on just a $11 million budget.
When the first Twilight went into production, no one realized how big the fanbase was. This is plenty evidenced by the fact that it was produced by independent film studio Summit Entertainment, with a then-unknown cast and cheap special effects. As the release approached, however, it became steadily more and more obvious that the books' fangirls were going to turn the movie into a hit and the media quickly picked up on it. This resulted in a weird situation in which essentially a low-budget indie was being being hyped as a blockbuster. Of course, after the first one came out, Summit realized what a profitable franchise they had on their hands and the sequels were budgeted accordingly, hence bigger actors for roles not already cast and better effects.
Valley Girl was intended to be a cheap teen exploitation film to cash in on the Valley Girl stereotype that had become a fad due to Frank Zappa's 1982 song "Valley Girl". The film cost $350,000 but was far more popular with audiences than anticipated. It earned $17.5 million at the box office and launched Nicolas Cage's career.
We're the Millers was released in the dumping ground of mid-August and as such wasn't expected to be a hit. It opened to a decent $26 million domestically and played strongly through the late summer, earning $150 million domestic and $270 million worldwide, more than seven times its production cost.

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