History Main / CriticProof

* French critics generally despised most of the films Creator/JeanPaulBelmondo played in in TheSeventies and TheEighties (mostly action comedies and [[CowboyCop maverick cop]] films) and preferred his UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave vehicles. The man still attracted big crowds nationally on his name alone. Critics actually ganged up against him in 1982 for ''Film/AceOfAces'' (which was a big box office success) as a very acclaimed film, Creator/JacquesDemy's ''Film/ARoomInTown'' (''Une Chambre en Ville''), came out at the same time and flopped. 23 critics published an article in ''Telerama'' magazine in which they panned ''Ace of Aces'', accusing it of being "engineered for success" and of "stealing tickets" to ''A Room in Town''. Belmondo answered to them that he didn't accuse Film/JamesBond of stealing his movie tickets when ''Stavisky'' underperformed against ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' in 1974.

* Almost anything on the Belgian television network [[UsefulNotes/FlemishTVStations VTM]] could qualify. Critics despise the network due to it being the first commercial Belgian network, which allows room for more commercial fare that critics just will absolutely hate (such as ''Wedden, dat...?'', ''Walters Verjaardagsshow'', ''Rad van Fortuin'', ''Blind Date'', ''Bompa'', ''Nonkel Jef'' etc.) with only the rare TV show on it (such as ''Moeder, waarom leven wij?'', ''Ons geluk'' and ''The Raf and Ronny Show'') being exempt from this fate and blame it for making society dumber due to the fact that they permanently give shows on there low ratings, but the network was so successful that Medialaan, the creator of that network, started publishing four more networks in Belgium in addition to that one.

* Music/BillyJoel has been known to have been savaged critically, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks at least at the height of his success]], but according to Website/{{Wikipedia}} has sold 150 million albums worldwide as of 2013. His 1978 album ''52nd Street'' (which bears the distinction of being the first album mass-manufactured for UsefulNotes/CompactDisc in 1982) won the MediaNotes/GrammyAward for Album of the Year, he's a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and many of his hits have become standards.

* The remake of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|2019}}'' was widely perceived as unnecessary and misguided even compared with [[Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes Disney's other attempts]], and indeed reviewers and American audiences were not positive about [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks telling the same story again only with new graphics]]. Audiences in China and Europe still made it a billion dollar behemoth.

** Both Creator/DrSeuss adaptations, ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheGrinch2018'', received tepid reviews from critics, complaining in both cases that stretching short and sweet children's picture books into feature-length movies bloated the stories while adding little of actual worth. Audiences were more entertained, however, and both films grossed several times their budgets.

** Both Creator/DrSeuss adaptations, ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheGrinch2018'', received tepid reviews from critics, complaining in both cases that stretching a short and sweet children's picture book into a feature-length movie bloated the story while adding nothing of actual worth, but audiences were more entertained, and both films grossed several times their budgets.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' received middling reviews from critics, who mostly considered it unexceptional and simplistic with little substance outside of references to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros the video games it's based on]]. As expected from its connection to a massively popular series, though, it was an absolute smash hit, raking in nearly $400 million in its first weekend alone, giving it the biggest opening weekend gross of any animated movie ''ever''; it has since displaced the original ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'' as Illumination's highest-grossing film, raking in well over a billion dollars worldwide.

** ''Film/FiveNightsAtFreddys2023'' got largely negative reviews from critics and audiences not familiar with the source material. But as expected from its connection to [[Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys a popular and successful video game franchise]], [[CriticalDissonance die-hard fans heaped praise on it]], and it had the best opening weekend of any film fromCreator/BlumhouseProductions (despite also releasing simultaneously on Creator/{{Peacock}}!), with the second-best opening weekend domestic gross ''ever'' (only slightly behind ''Film/BlackWidow2021'').

** ''Film/FiveNightsAtFreddys2023'' got largely negative reviews from critics and audiences not familiar with the source material, but as expected by being based on [[Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys a popular and successful video game franchise]], [[CriticalDissonance Die-hard fans were much more positive]] and it had the best opening weekend of any film by Creator/BlumhouseProductions, in spite of also releasing simultaneously on Creator/{{Peacock}} to boot, and had the second-best opening weekend domestic gross ''ever'' (only slightly behind ''Film/BlackWidow2021'').

* ''VideoGame/BackyardSports''. There are new editions every year and the games keep selling. IGN and G4 continue to hate the series, though (they both thought it was average at the beginning, then they considered it one of the worst game series of all time).

* This tends to be the case with nearly all Creator/IlluminationEntertainment movies, with critics repeatedly rating them as being [[SoAverageItsOkay muddled or mediocre, with nothing exceptional in terms of story, morals, or characters]], but nonetheless bringing in massive box office dollars.

** ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' is currently the worst-reviewed movie ever to earn $400 million at the U.S. box office. And it actually made over ''$800 million'' worldwide, the first movie of 2009 to do so (even beating at least one of ''Film/TheDarkKnight''[='=]s records), so it will take some beating. It also won the UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward for Worst Picture, becoming the highest-grossing movie to ever win the award.

* Music/BillyJoel has been known to have been savaged critically, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks at least at the height of his success]], but according to Website/{{Wikipedia}} has sold 150 million albums worldwide as of 2013. His 1978 album ''52nd Street'' (which bears the distinction of being the first album mass-manufactured for UsefulNotes/CompactDisc in 1982) won the UsefulNotes/GrammyAward for Album of the Year, he's a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and many of his hits have become standards.

* ''Webcomic/ThePrincesssJewels'': Despite the obvious lazy use of 3D imaging, the unlikable main character, and a story that teaches young girls that [[UnfortunateImplications it's okay to objectify and treat men like dirt]], a lot of teenage girls still love the webcomic, stating that it comes off as empowering and feminist.

** ''Film/FiveNightsAtFreddys2023'' got largely negative reviews from critics, but as expected by being based on [[Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys an extremely popular and successful video game franchise]], [[CriticalDissonance audiences were much more positive]] and it had the best opening weekend of any film by Creator/BlumhouseProductions, in spite of also releasing simultaneously on Creator/{{Peacock}} to boot, and had the second-best opening weekend domestic gross ''ever'' (only slightly behind ''Film/BlackWidow2021'').

* Gaming critics hated almost everything about the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, which eventually sold over 100 million units worldwide (the third home console to do so). It helped that the Wii predominantly targeted casual and non-gamers - who generally wouldn't bother defending it against the gaming crowd because they're not invested even if they did see it being bashed - rather than the typical console audience.[[note]]Those critics had a point though, as those casual fans weren't interested in the UsefulNotes/{{WiiU}}, which completely bombed. Though how much is that and how much is that so few people knew it wasn’t a new version like the Wii Mini is uncertain.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/NintendoSwitchSports'' received nigh overwhelming hatred from ''VideoGame/WiiSports'' fans since its initial reveal, and upon release, received extremely mixed reviews from both gamers and critics alike. But that didn't stop it from being one of the best selling UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch games, and it even was ''the most'' popular game on the Nintendo Eshop for a while.
* The UsefulNotes/Atari2600 port of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' is one of the most iconic examples of a PortingDisaster to both fans and critics, routinely placing on 'worst game ever' lists for its primitive graphics, poor sound quality, and sprite flickering making the game almost unplayable. Despite this, its heavy advertising campaign and the mere fact that it was a ''Pac-Man'' game on the 2600 ensured it became the bestselling game on the system by a wide margin (though it was still a failure due to Atari printing more copies of the game than consoles sold thinking it would boost console sales). It's often seen as a factor in UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983, as such a disastrous game reaching so much of Atari's audience didn't exactly reflect well on the company.

* The ''Creator/{{Terrytoons}}'' were critically panned during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, but the studio still managed to outlast its competition (save for Creator/WalterLantz Productions) [[ArchivePanic and has a cartoon library that put]] ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' [[ArchivePanic to shame]].

* The 2013 UsefulNotes/MetroManilaFilmFestival entry ''Film/MyLittleBossings'' was lambasted by critics as a cynical, in-your-face example of extreme ProductPlacement in a family film. Yet audiences didn't seem to care and it made ₱375.9 million (US$7.4 million) at the local box office. And it didn't deter lead actor Creator/VicSotto from releasing a sequel either.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook2'' was one of the worst Disney sequels as it replays a lot of the same scenes and character exchanges from the first film, especially considering there were plenty other elements of the novels' mythos or even just the original film that they could have expanded on. However, in spite of receiving a 18% on the Tomatometer, that didn't stop from being a success at the box office.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook2'' was one of the worst Disney sequels as it replays a lot of the same scenes and character exchanges from the first film, especially considering there were plenty other elements of the novels' mythos or even just the original film that they could have expanded on. However, that didn't stop from being a success at the box office.