Sometimes it is difficult to tell what movie is going to do well just by looking at the script, or hearing the idea for the first time.
But, here are 10 movies that were not supposed to do well in the box office but ended up being box office success stories.
10.The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense was written by the same writer of “Stuart Little” and although the script was purchased by Disney, may did not believe the movie was going to well and sold it to another production company. However, when the movie was released it was an instant success at the US box office and was the top movie for five weeks straight and nominated for six Academy Awards.
9. Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings is now a hit trilogy bringing in millions of dollars and producing the Hobbit trilogy sequel. But, when Peter Jacksonw anted to start the project in 1995, several other productions got in the way. The plan was to have two films with Miramax, but due to budget constraints producers at Miramax wanted to only make one movie.
Peter Jackson was so upset at the idea of having only one ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie that he left Miramax and signed a deal with New Line Cinema to produce the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
8. The King’s Speech
The King’s Speech movie was a huge success. It won Colin Firth an Oscar. But, when the movie was first released it was not generally believed that it was going to do well and it was given a limited release and earned only $9 million dollars. but, it was not until after people saw the movie did the word of mouth help skyrocket the movie to fame. The King’s Speech ended up spending ten weeks reigning in the top ten after its release.
7. Slumdog Millionaire
Few people thought this movie was going to be a success when it was released. Many producers consider a film about ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ something that people would want to watch. But, it did amazingly well. The budget of 15 million dollars put the movie to a Box Office Total of $378 million dollars.
6. Juno
When filmmaker Jason Reitman started the movie Juno, he did not have a single theatrical relase in his resume. Not only that but the movie had an extremely low budget and the script was not even fully developed. However, the amazing performances of Ellen page and Michael Cera went above and beyond expectations and allowed for the movie to earn over $200,000,000
5.Paranormal Activity
This ‘found footage’ movie cost next to nothing for the movie to make. But, people found this movie extremely haunting. The word of mouth stories of people fainting in the theaters helped sell MORE tickets and put Paranormal activity with a box office earnings of $190 million.
4. The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project was one of the first few movies that started the “found footage” era of cinema. Their viral marketing campaign included making people wonder if it was real or if it was fake. Were these group of teenagers actually killed by the hands of a witch?
All of the scenes were pretty much improvied and although the filmmakers wanted it to become a television movie, they ended up making $248 million dollars in the box office.
3. Napoleon Dynamite
Filmmakers Jared and Jerusha Hess only paid their lead actor a $1,000 dollars for his work on the movie. It was filmed in 22 days and debuted at Sundance. The movie was such a hit that Fox won the rights, and the movie made over $46 million dolllars.
2. Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine was a comedy that premiered at the 2006 Sundance festival and was later picked up by Fox Searchlight, but many producers were scared to make the movie.
But, like most movies, the word of mouth and high critical reception helped make an $8,000,000 investment turn into $100 million.
1. The Lion King
The Lion King may just be one of the biggest and greatest animated films of all time. It was the highest grossing movie the year it was released but, several animators at Disney thought it was not going to do well, and they doubted the success of the project. Some of the animators even left Lion King to work on Pocahontas instead. Unfortunately for them, Lion King did better than their expectations.
Hi, I'm Megan Browne, the Head of Partnerships at Project Casting - a job board for the entertainment industry. As Head of Partnerships, I help businesses find the best talent for their influencer campaigns, photo shoots, and film productions.
Creating these partnerships has enabled me to help businesses scale and reach their true potential.
I'm excited to continue driving growth by connecting people with projects they're passionate about.
