Which Movie's Success Suprised You? [Archive]

Ekko

09-09-2006, 09:13 AM

So I was checking IMDb, and the number three highest grossing movie of ALL TIME world wide is: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (http://imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=world-wide).

I remember when the first Pirates movie came out, I was excited to see it, and after I did watch it I really enjoyed it, especially Johnny Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow. As much as I enjoyed it however, I never would have guessed that movie would have generated the following it did. Call me crazy, but I just didn't see that big an audience for a pirate movie, even one as good as I thought that one was. And yet the first Pirates and second Pirates movies have both outdone the first two Matrix movies, by more than $200 million each, the Matrix series being the series of movies which I though would define this generation the way Star Wars defined the 70s. Not that I'm complaining, I've always liked Johnny Depp, and I'm glad he's finally part of such a successful franchise, and I did like the first movie (haven't gotten around to seeing the second one yet).

So am I just blind, did anyone else see this coming, and what other movie's had huge success that you didn't see coming?

DonC

09-09-2006, 09:24 AM

I didn't think anybody would be interested in Passion of the Christ. It's an anti-semetic snuff film in Aramaeic.

Chiasm

09-09-2006, 10:31 AM

Titanic - I figured it would be lucky to break $100 million.

LordEd1976

09-09-2006, 10:34 AM

My Big Fat Greek Wedding surpirised me in a good way. It made smile to see a well done indie flick make tons of money.

DennyK

09-09-2006, 10:38 AM

I was very pleasantly suprised at what a smash hit The Fourty-Year Old Virgin was.

the_big_billbowski

09-09-2006, 11:12 AM

Ekko

09-09-2006, 11:21 AM

Titanic - I figured it would be lucky to break $100 million.

I think it had all the elements that would make mainstream America swoon (myself NOT included): A young good looking lead male actor, a tragic love story, a huge spectale with the boat sinking, lots of cheesiness (the band playing on), and Celine Dione doing a song on the soundtrack. So I wasn't so much suprised that the movie did well, but to become the highest grossing movie of all time??!! Didn't see that coming at all.

Buzz Dixon

09-09-2006, 11:28 AM

I didn't think anybody would be interested in Passion of the Christ. It's an anti-semetic snuff film in Aramaeic.Well, if that's what you thought it was, no wonder you were surprised.

EZMOHR

09-09-2006, 12:35 PM

The Sixth Sense

Bruce Willis was getting a reputation as being a bit of a BO dud in the late 90's. No one ever heard of M. Night Shymalan. And actually if you remember correctlly, from the commercials, no one was quite sure what the movie was supposed to be about. In fact, it had little fanfare coming out. Blair Witch was supposed to be the horror event of 1999. Then boom, the Sixth Sense hit, and made careers blossom again.

The Mirrorball Man

09-09-2006, 12:46 PM

The Fantastic Four. Apparently it did very well, and although I thought it was a terrible movie and that probably influenced my point of view, I never imagined people would get excited over this.

Legato

09-09-2006, 12:58 PM

The Transporter: I just figured it as one of those typical action movies. Not only was that movie successful enough to produce a equally successful sequal but it launched Jason Statham's action movie career in a big way.

CaptainAwesome

09-09-2006, 01:09 PM

Like Ekko, I was surprised by Pirates 2. I guess everyone was. I mean, regardless of my personal feelings of it, I dont think anyone could have predicted that it would make so much of an impact on the world market.

Another one was Snakes on a Plane. Wasnt that the #1 movie last week or the week before? I dont think anyone could say with a straight face that it was a good movie, wheather they enjoyed it or not. Its just surprising that a movie that was marketed on how bad it is would actually do what it did.

Legato

09-09-2006, 01:15 PM

Like Ekko, I was surprised by Pirates 2. I guess everyone was. I mean, regardless of my personal feelings of it, I dont think anyone could have predicted that it would make so much of an impact on the world market.

Im mostly on the bandwagon with those who say that Pirates 2 was a surprisingly successful movie. Most critics even went so far as to compare Dead Man's Chest to Empire Strikes Back.

SnowTrooper

09-09-2006, 02:10 PM

I dont really have a movie thats success surprises me but I was surprised at how big of a box-office flop Poseidon was. They promoted it really well and movies about boats sinking usually make a good amount of money but I dont think Poseidon earned half as much as it cost, did it?

Athena Bast

09-09-2006, 02:29 PM

SUPERECWFAN1

09-09-2006, 04:53 PM

the first Austin Powers for me. I went opening night, and the theater was not very full at all. it was a very small budget movied for today, almost zero promotion and it starred a SNL guy and So I Married an Ax Murder which wasnt huge success if i remeber, plus it spoofed James Bond, which I cant see being a huge deal to your average person, yet the movied blew up and spawned 2 sequels, made Mike Meyers a huge star. Plus it was a huge pop culture, thing with countless merchandise and everyone doing crappy impressions.

Austin Powers did decent as a movie but when it went to Home Video it exploded. The same thing happened for Lethal Weapon and The Punisher. They all got sequels due to Home Video success.

The movie that shocked me was Titanic. That film was written about as a $ 200 milliuon dud in the water. The studio was getting nervous and James Cameron gave up his salary til the film was made. But there for awhile....many predicted a $ 200 million dollar Ishtar.

Ekko

09-09-2006, 05:32 PM

I think you'll enjoy this:D
What a ninja thinks about Pirates 2 (http://askaninja.com/node/1175)

HA! I guess he's on the bandwagon of people who didn't think Pirates would be a big hit either! :D

Greg Hatcher

09-09-2006, 06:22 PM

Count me in as yet another one completely befuddled by the success of Titanic. Especially with all the buzz about the budget craziness beforehand, it seemed like Hollywood was gunning for it to fail, same as Heaven's Gate or Waterworld. When I finally saw it on a friend's video, it struck me as a TV-movie with good effects... I still don't get why anyone would go pay to see it in the theater. I mean, you know how it's going to end almost before you walk in the theater, and there's NOTHING in the first half hour that even hints at a twist. It plays out almost exactly as expected.

I have a private hunch that Cameron could have dumped the actors and marketed a half-hour short of just the ship sinking and done almost as well. There's a morbid streak in audiences that likes watching big stuff get blown up or wrecked. I think that's the same reason Independence Day did so well... which is, by the way, another one I didn't expect to make its money back.

J. Robb

09-09-2006, 07:44 PM

Yeah, I think "Titanic" shocked everyone. I remember trying to go see it on a Wednesday night well over a month after it opened- and it was sold out!

I knew "Pirates 2" would be big, but I'm really surprised at how big. Especially since I didn't think it was a very good movie, but that's obviously just my opinion.

Corrina

09-09-2006, 08:52 PM

I have a private hunch that Cameron could have dumped the actors and marketed a half-hour short of just the ship sinking and done almost as well. There's a morbid streak in audiences that likes watching big stuff get blown up or wrecked.

Titanic was a success because:

1. It was a well-done female coming of age story, much like the first Terminator. Very similar hero's journey for both Sarah Conner and Rose Dawson. That appealed to the female audience and teenage girls in particular. The teenagers were the repeat business.

2. The spectacle brought in the guys or at least made them not ashamed to see it as a date movie.

3. There was tremendous interest in the Titantic since it was found again by Ballard.

I'd also say there's an element of the mythic in there, too, especially with the framing of some of those scenes. That shot of Jack & Rose at the bow of the Titantic that fades into the same part of the ship at the bottom of the ocean is fantastic. And the ghosts at the end really sealed the deal, offering hope after death.

It's not the best movie of all time, certainly, but it did some things really well, and those were things that appealed to a big audience.

blackdragon6

09-09-2006, 09:40 PM

The Fantastic Four. Apparently it did very well, and although I thought it was a terrible movie and that probably influenced my point of view, I never imagined people would get excited over this.co-sign...i would also like to add.

8-mile (i can't belive this was huge but nobody saw get rich or die trying :confused: ).

J. Robb

09-09-2006, 09:42 PM

2. The spectacle brought in the guys or at least made them not ashamed to see it as a date movie.
Naked Kate Winslet helped too! :)

Buzz Dixon

09-09-2006, 10:02 PM

Propellor Guy helped sell a lot of tickets, too.

The Mirrorball Man

09-10-2006, 01:04 AM

8-mile (i can't belive this was huge but nobody saw get rich or die trying :confused: ).
"8-Mile" is your standard "underdog wants to escape his shitty life", "Rocky with rap battles" kind of movie, while "Get Rich or Die Trying" sounded like a movie about a guy who really likes money, made by a guy who really likes money.

Ontir

09-22-2006, 12:40 PM

Shortbus

After Baisé Moi, Anatomy of Hell, Intimacy, etc., I was expecting a bleak film, about people immersing themselves in degradation. Instead, I found an optimistic film, about people searching for, and generally finding personal fulfillment and a sort of communal connection, albeit sexually, to the world around them. This is the Feel Up Good film of the year!

OK, I missed the "success" bit when I posted this originally, but it got distribution in America - that alone is amazing - and can be considered a success!

nosferUATU

05-09-2007, 12:17 AM

Titanic was a success because:

1. It was a well-done female coming of age story, much like the first Terminator. Very similar hero's journey for both Sarah Conner and Rose Dawson. That appealed to the female audience and teenage girls in particular. The teenagers were the repeat business.

2. The spectacle brought in the guys or at least made them not ashamed to see it as a date movie.

3. There was tremendous interest in the Titantic since it was found again by Ballard.

I'd also say there's an element of the mythic in there, too, especially with the framing of some of those scenes. That shot of Jack & Rose at the bow of the Titantic that fades into the same part of the ship at the bottom of the ocean is fantastic. And the ghosts at the end really sealed the deal, offering hope after death.

It's not the best movie of all time, certainly, but it did some things really well, and those were things that appealed to a big audience.

Spot on.
I agree 100 %

Jmacq1

05-09-2007, 05:07 AM

I agree that the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise ended up far more successful than I ever thought it'd be...heck I didn't even think it'd be a "franchise." I remember laughing the first time I heard about it and having visions of "Cutthroat Island." But part two breaking as many records as it did was even more surprising, until I sat down and realized that it's got a perfect cast to attract teenage girls (Depp and Bloom), and enough action and adventure (and Kiera Knightley) to attract the guys, so yeah, like "Titanic" it's got that "near-universal appeal" thing going for it.

Both X3 and FF surprised (and disappointed) me with their success (particularly the latter). Nobody I knew thought they were any good (I've never seen 'em myself), yet somehow they pulled in beaucoup B.O. takes. I guess I just underestimated the power of Jessica Alba in a near skin-tight suit (at least in the case of FF).

Erik Lehnsherr

05-09-2007, 05:11 AM

Pirates of the Carribean 2 making the kind of money it did last year. I really didn't believe it. Apparently the female/kid fanbase for Bloom and Depp is much higher than I ever gave it credit for.

KenK

05-09-2007, 05:47 AM

"8-Mile" is your standard "underdog wants to escape his shitty life", "Rocky with rap battles" kind of movie, while "Get Rich or Die Trying" sounded like a movie about a guy who really likes money, made by a guy who really likes money.

Basically. 8 Mile was about Eminem's character proving something to himself, and didn't have the cliche of rising to fame and having to deal with being a celebrity. After he wins the rap battles, he takes his garbage bag full of clothes, and goes home. Life goes on.

Get Rich or Die Tryin' wanted to be a ghetto crime drama, and was just riddled with cliches. Not to mention a ridiculous ending where someone shoots a guy backstage at a club, and NO ONE in the audience hears the shots! I don't care how loud the music is! A gunshot, without a silencer, is a loud freakin' noise, that usually has people scattering from the second they hear it!

Thorlief

05-09-2007, 06:28 AM

POTC really surprised me as well, the movie was one of the worst, most offensive, christian delirium-driven gorefests I've ever seen

Casino Royale: after all the bad talk abou Craig I thought it was going to bomb

Chiasm

05-09-2007, 06:36 AM

A recent movie that shocked me was 300. I figured $50 million tops if it was lucky. Guess it goes to show just how much a kick ass trailer "THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!!" can help a movie overachieve. That one scene in the trailer was the deciding factor for me and imagine quite a few others as well.

The Mirrorball Man

05-09-2007, 06:39 AM

POTC really surprised me as well, the movie was one of the worst, most offensive, christian delirium-driven gorefests I've ever seen
Come on! What's so Christian about Pirates of the Caribbean?

Thorlief

05-09-2007, 07:27 AM

Come on! What's so Christian about Pirates of the Caribbean?

LOL, ok ok

nervmeister

05-09-2007, 08:29 AM

Napoleon Dynamite. Seriously, how the f%$k did that happen?!

Scott Evil

05-09-2007, 09:06 AM

Pirates of the Carribean 2 making the kind of money it did last year. I really didn't believe it. Apparently the female/kid fanbase for Bloom and Depp is much higher than I ever gave it credit for.

Same 'female/kid fanbase' that make John Cena the champ? :D I keed I keed..

Adding to the convo.; when I was buying Spidey 3 tickets online, I noticed that "Disturbia" was #1 for three weeks in a row? Three?!? Not that its unprecedented, but how does a Shia La Bouf vehicle get three weeks? I know there was critical success but wasn't there anything else on that week? I haven't seen the movie myself, and neither have my peers - so maybe we're the demographic it wasn't shooting for, but that was a surprise for me.

EZMOHR

05-09-2007, 09:29 AM

Napoleon Dynamite. Seriously, how the f%$k did that happen?!

For some reason, the movie appealed not to only dorky awkward kids, but cool kids and very, very, very good marketing made it a huge hit. Plus, it's kind of one of those movies you either love it or loathe it (no middle ground) and those movies tend to do pretty well for some reason.

nervmeister

05-09-2007, 11:09 AM

For some reason, the movie appealed not to only dorky awkward kids, but cool kids and very, very, very good marketing made it a huge hit. Plus, it's kind of one of those movies you either love it or loathe it (no middle ground) and those movies tend to do pretty well for some reason.I dont knowwhat "cool kids" saw in it, but whatever.

Jared

05-09-2007, 11:48 AM

Disturbia's success reminds me of my surprise when Swimfan was a hit. My only assumption that the teen audiences for these movies have never even heard of Rear Window or Fatal Attraction, so they're just blown away by the concepts.

brundlefly

05-09-2007, 11:49 AM

Charlie's Angels. I thought this would either bomb or do middling business. Or maybe I was just hoping that it would, with it's shameless rip-offs of the Matrix slo mo effects and its massively irritating stars. Then it ended up being this big hit that spawned a sequel and launched the film career of the insufferable McG. I suppose I underestimated the collective bad taste of the moviegoing public at the time; won't make that mistake again.

JohnPopa

05-09-2007, 11:52 AM

I wasn't remotely surprised by the success of Pirates 2. The original did around $300 million, the movie did gangbusters on DVD, Depp scored an Oscar nomination and it became a big marketing/merchandising monster for adults and kids.

The sequel was guaranteed money in the bank, long before they even finished shooting the thing.

Black Atom

05-09-2007, 12:07 PM

Someone convinced me to see Disturbia and it actually turned out to be pretty decent. It funny, suprisingly clever and turns of few genre cliches on their ear. It's also been well-reviewed, so imagine a good bit of it's success is due to word of mouth and the fact that it really hasn't had much competition.

Titanic still amazes me, however. Only a pact with Satan can explain that one.

Pirates, on the other hand, seems like a no-brainer.

Erik Lehnsherr

05-09-2007, 12:22 PM

Your Imaginary Pal

05-09-2007, 12:34 PM

NApoleon Dynamite stayed in theaters way longer than most films were at the time. It opened quietly in arthouse theaters and stayed there until everybody in America saw it twice. Persistance won the day.

Now Scary Movie was way more successful than anyone expected it to be. I don't think the producers expected a franchise on their hands, just for it to make it's money back. I'm glad it did well because a friend was in it. And if anybody at all paid money to see Little Man that's a surprising success.

Black Atom

05-09-2007, 12:56 PM

No brainer to the point of "biggest grossing weekend" of that timeframe? Nah. It didn't seem THAT big. Potter, Spider-Man? I can see. Pirates 2? Maybe $80-90 million to kick off but $132? Mind boggling at the time.

I predict that record will be shattered anew ever year. Look at how dynamic that Top 10 grossers list has been recently. 6 of the 10 are from post-2000. This has more to do with inflation and the ever-rising cost of ticket sales. I mean, Shrek 2 is the second-highest grossing movie ever?

You have to look at gross adjusted for inflation for a real picture, and if you do you'll see that Titanic doubled Dead Man's Chest's total gross and made more than Spider-Man 1 and 2 combined, which seems unfathomable for a 3 hour date movie.

yayforyoga

05-09-2007, 02:43 PM

40 year old virgin!! It was funny but not as funny as I thought it would be.

Alex Dragon

05-09-2007, 06:11 PM

Both X3 and FF surprised (and disappointed) me with their success (particularly the latter). Nobody I knew thought they were any good (I've never seen 'em myself), yet somehow they pulled in beaucoup B.O. takes. I guess I just underestimated the power of Jessica Alba in a near skin-tight suit (at least in the case of FF).

X3 had the momentum of the first two X-movies and a bit of a cliffhanger from X2 to lure the crowds in. I wasn't surprised at all with the box office it made. I think the Fantastic Four movie was just lucky enough to open on a weekend when it didn't have any real competition from another family oriented movie and it was another in line of high profile comicbook movies.

nervmeister

05-09-2007, 06:43 PM

Ever since "Old School", anything that even remotely features Will Ferrel strikes box-office gold. Why are people so anxious to see Will naked again?

AmLap

05-09-2007, 06:49 PM

even tho Hot Fuzz surpassed Shaun of the Dead. i thought that it would do better. the reviews were great, and the movie was actually pretty awesome.

i just hope that the rental sales do better.

Erik Lehnsherr

05-09-2007, 07:42 PM

I predict that record will be shattered anew ever year. Look at how dynamic that Top 10 grossers list has been recently. 6 of the 10 are from post-2000. This has more to do with inflation and the ever-rising cost of ticket sales. I mean, Shrek 2 is the second-highest grossing movie ever?

You have to look at gross adjusted for inflation for a real picture, and if you do you'll see that Titanic doubled Dead Man's Chest's total gross and made more than Spider-Man 1 and 2 combined, which seems unfathomable for a 3 hour date movie.

I don't know. People aren't watching shows like they used to with everyone practically losing 40% of their viewership recently. DVDs and Downloadable movies also take chunks out. The big movies are gonna gross crazy numbers but everything else are gonna end up with mundane returns in the box office.

As for Titanic? That blew everything away in almost every catagory everyone can fathom.

mgs

05-12-2007, 08:07 PM

Basically. 8 Mile was about Eminem's character proving something to himself, and didn't have the cliche of rising to fame and having to deal with being a celebrity. After he wins the rap battles, he takes his garbage bag full of clothes, and goes home. Life goes on.

</p>
now, did the wife beatings start at this time or.....?

for me it was Titannic, Austin Powers, 40 Year Old Virgin and LoTR: The Return of the King.

I agree what was said about the former 3, but for Return of the King, even though I wasn't necessarily a fan of the books, never even read them all, till the movies. I thought Jackson left himself in a hole with so many plotlines to close for the 3rd movie that it had to bomb. It did not. :embarassed:

Eliseu Gouveia

05-12-2007, 08:18 PM

I think you'll enjoy this:D
What a ninja thinks about Pirates 2 (http://askaninja.com/node/1175)

"Ninjas of the Caribbean"

Oh, that would have been awesome.

GRANT!

05-12-2007, 10:24 PM

I agree what was said about the former 3, but for Return of the King, even though I wasn't necessarily a fan of the books, never even read them all, till the movies. I thought Jackson left himself in a hole with so many plotlines to close for the 3rd movie that it had to bomb. It did not. :embarassed:

6 Endings can wrap up a lot ;)

Deep_Sleeper

05-13-2007, 10:19 AM

I think I was as surprised as anyone that Pirates of the Carribean became the franchise that it did. It was a movie based on a theme-park ride. That's like below "video-game-to-movie" fare, no?

Then again, rarely do any video game base movies have as much fun with the movie as PotC did. I remember I wasn't interested in seeing the movie at all and a friend of mine wanted to go see it because he thought it "looked fun".

I came out thinking that I DIDN'T waste my time watching the movie, which I seem to do after coming seeing a lot of movies lately...including Spider-Man 3.

Toku King

05-14-2007, 09:53 AM

"Titanic". It doesn't deserve that much money, nor was there any impression that it would go past 60 million.
Same with "Dead Man's Chest". How did it do that much?

Black Atom

05-14-2007, 10:15 AM

"Titanic". It doesn't deserve that much money, nor was there any impression that it would go past 60 million.
Same with "Dead Man's Chest". How did it do that much?

Action, Adventure, Romance, Humor, and, most importantly, it's a family film.

Even if you attributing the first four to Titanic (fft), the last one certainly doesn't apply. I'm telling you: pact with Satan.

nosferUATU

05-29-2007, 06:36 AM

Action, Adventure, Romance, Humor, and, most importantly, it's a family film.

Even if you attributing the first four to Titanic (fft), the last one certainly doesn't apply. I'm telling you: pact with Satan.

TITANIC didn't need humor.
With romance/strong female perspective and action/adventure, amazing special effects it basically covered all its bases in terms of gender demographics.
Add the "teen hearthrob" factor, then add the "sweeping historical epic ala Gone With The Wind" and you get all the age-demo bases covered.
And as for race demo...?
Well, the film became a deafening-buzz Event film that everyone HAD to see...black, white, hispanic, you name it.
And the more money it made, the more free publicity it got and the more buzz it got.
But in the end, say all you want about pacts with Satan, the film was a heartbreaking, solidly made epic that captured people's imagination.
Period.

No, it wasn't the best written film and it didn't have the sharpest dialogue, but it didn't need it.
It was a film that did its job, and did it impeccably.
And it didn't surprise me one bit that it made all that money or got all those Oscars.

Gavin Higginbotham, BotF

05-29-2007, 06:49 AM

TITANIC didn't need humor.

I remember laughing at a few bits in TITANIC. Sure, it wasn't a laugh riot but some of the bits between Jack and Fabrizio was amusing and I'm sure there were others. I enjoyed the film a lot and don't really understand why so many people bitch about it. Quite often, it just seems to be because people resent the fact that it was so successful. Weird.

James Cameron + Bill Paxton + Billy Zane + King Theoden + Kate Winslet's breasts + big ship getting smacked around by an iceberg + mass death = a friggin' awesome movie.

Agent Helix

05-29-2007, 07:17 AM

To people that seem confused about Titanic making money...

You DO realize that women ARE allowed to go see movies these days, right?

Black Atom

05-29-2007, 09:10 AM

TITANIC didn't need humor.
With romance/strong female perspective and action/adventure, amazing special effects it basically covered all its bases in terms of gender demographics.
Add the "teen hearthrob" factor, then add the "sweeping historical epic ala Gone With The Wind" and you get all the age-demo bases covered.
And as for race demo...?
Well, the film became a deafening-buzz Event film that everyone HAD to see...black, white, hispanic, you name it.
And the more money it made, the more free publicity it got and the more buzz it got.
But in the end, say all you want about pacts with Satan, the film was a heartbreaking, solidly made epic that captured people's imagination.
Period.

No, it wasn't the best written film and it didn't have the sharpest dialogue, but it didn't need it.
It was a film that did its job, and did it impeccably.
And it didn't surprise me one bit that it made all that money or got all those Oscars.

Many movies have all the things you described (excepting, the hype juggernaut that TITANIC produced) and while they performed well, they didn't come close to making as much as TITANIC. It doesn't surprise me that it was succesful, it suprises me that it was as succesful as it was, becoming the top-grossing movie of all time. No one's taking anything away from the movie, but I'd be lying if I said I expected it to become the top grossing film ever around its release.