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Post by lowtacks86 on Oct 1, 2020 18:06:47 GMT
At the time, I would imagine the success of Star Wars threw people off a bit (there was never really anything like it). At the time I don't think sci-fi-action produced a whole lot of commercial successes (Zardos was a huge flop) and there weren't any "huge" stars in it (Harrison was at the time an unknown, Alec Guiness is pretty well known but I wouldn't call him a "star")
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Post by kolchak92 on Oct 1, 2020 18:11:46 GMT
A lot of those indie movies that make it big, Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno etc.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Oct 1, 2020 18:14:47 GMT
The Blair Witch Project Paranormal Activity Slumdog Millionaire Napoleon Dynamite The King's Speech American Beauty Juno Jaws Saw
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Post by politicidal on Oct 1, 2020 18:55:21 GMT
The first Pirates of the Caribbean. I know the series gets a lot of hype backlash these days but I think people forgot just how huge the first one was in terms of reactions. People loved the hell out of it.
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Post by moviebuffbrad on Oct 1, 2020 18:58:58 GMT
The Blair Witch Project Paranormal Activity Slumdog Millionaire Napoleon Dynamite The King's Speech American Beauty Juno Jaws Saw Jaws was based on a huge best seller. And Blair Witch had a lot of hype and marketing tricks. I'd swap in Halloween and Scream.
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Post by lowtacks86 on Oct 1, 2020 19:00:06 GMT
The first Pirates of the Caribbean. I know the series gets a lot of hype backlash these days but I think people forgot just how huge the first one was in terms of reactions. People loved the hell out of it. That one was actually a huge risk at the time, prior to it "Cutthroat Island" was the biggest box office bomb at the time, studios didn't wanna touch pirate films.
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Post by vegalyra on Oct 1, 2020 22:18:13 GMT
The first Pirates of the Caribbean. I know the series gets a lot of hype backlash these days but I think people forgot just how huge the first one was in terms of reactions. People loved the hell out of it. That one was actually a huge risk at the time, prior to it "Cutthroat Island" was the biggest box office bomb at the time, studios didn't wanna touch pirate films. Yes, I remember reading about the risk involved in this film. No one really knew how the general public would react to "another pirate film". I actually liked Cutthroat Island but apparently I was way in the minority on that one. Needless to say I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean and enjoyed it a lot. I can't say the same for the sequels though. The CGI wasn't as pervasive in the first film, but it seemed the sequels were more effects driven than story driven. People tend to overlook it since Star Wars came out the same year but I doubt too many people thought Smokey and the Bandit would hit so big (No. 2 at the box office that year). It was just another 1970s car chase and trucker film if you think about it. It ended up making around $300 million on a budget of only $4.3 million.
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Post by Archelaus on Oct 1, 2020 22:30:40 GMT
It's called a "sleeper hit".
My Big Fat Greek Wedding Gravity Ghost Home Alone The Sixth Sense
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Post by ck100 on Oct 1, 2020 22:51:42 GMT
My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
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Post by ck100 on Oct 1, 2020 22:59:06 GMT
I don't know if I'd call it a huge hit, but Crazy Rich Asians.
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maxwellperfect
Junior Member
@maxwellperfect
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Post by maxwellperfect on Oct 2, 2020 4:28:31 GMT
Alien and Mad Max. Both not only spawned massive franchises, not only inspired tons of copycats, but each pretty much established a new movie aesthetic taken for granted today. 'Alien' was Ridley Scott's second movie as a director, but his first commercial hit, and Sigourney Weaver was an unknown. 'Mad Max' was the debut feature-length movie of George Miller, starred the then-unknown Mel Gibson, and was a very unlikely hit coming from the Land Down Under.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Oct 2, 2020 6:23:49 GMT
I don't know if I'd call it a huge hit, but Crazy Rich Asians. North America it was, because the Asian community celebrated seeing their stars on screen. China I don't think it did much, because, well, China sees Chinese ppl on their screens nearly 24/7 already.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 2, 2020 7:45:11 GMT
None of them really came out of nowhere. They all have to go through the gates of distribution, and those that check off the boxes are going to get more media press than others. District 9 for example not only had Peter Jackson as executive producer but got the cover of Entertainment Weekly before it came out, and it was described as a sleeper hit. Sleepers don't usually get an EW cover before the movie's release. Robocop was a sleeper hit. It didn't open to much fanfare and stayed in theaters for months. "He's still not stopping for donuts" was the poster line (the original was "He doesn't stop for donuts.").
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Post by lowtacks86 on Oct 2, 2020 18:01:17 GMT
Terminator? Kinda the same situation as Star Wars, there were no huge "stars" (Schwarzenneger wasn't anywhere near as known at the time), James Cameron was a relative nobody, and again sci-fi action is pretty hit or miss (Blade Runner came out a couple years before and tanked)
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Post by politicidal on Oct 2, 2020 18:03:07 GMT
That one was actually a huge risk at the time, prior to it "Cutthroat Island" was the biggest box office bomb at the time, studios didn't wanna touch pirate films. Yes, I remember reading about the risk involved in this film. No one really knew how the general public would react to "another pirate film". I actually liked Cutthroat Island but apparently I was way in the minority on that one. Needless to say I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean and enjoyed it a lot. I can't say the same for the sequels though. The CGI wasn't as pervasive in the first film, but it seemed the sequels were more effects driven than story driven. No, I saw Cutthroat Island several times. I like it.
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Post by bravomailer on Oct 2, 2020 18:10:59 GMT
Easy Rider, though coming out of a slew of so-so biker flicks, was a surprise hit.
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Post by thisguy4000 on Oct 2, 2020 18:55:59 GMT
Wasn’t Titanic expected to be a massive flop?
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Post by lowtacks86 on Oct 2, 2020 18:58:18 GMT
Wasn’t Titanic expected to be a massive flop? A heavily promoted movie directed by James Cameron, starring Leonardo Dicaprio and a huge hit song by Celine Dione? I don't see why anyone would have thought that.
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Post by thisguy4000 on Oct 2, 2020 19:03:16 GMT
Wasn’t Titanic expected to be a massive flop? A heavily promoted movie directed by James Cameron, starring Leonardo Dicaprio and a huge hit song by Celine Dione? I don't see why anyone would have thought that. The song was released less than two weeks before the movie. Edit: I did stumble across this NYT article about the film getting delayed. It doesn’t exactly predict the movie flopping, but it does make for an interesting time capsule.
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Post by bravomailer on Oct 2, 2020 19:26:35 GMT
Wasn’t Titanic expected to be a massive flop? A heavily promoted movie directed by James Cameron, starring Leonardo Dicaprio and a huge hit song by Celine Dione? I don't see why anyone would have thought that. My recollection is that there was concern, though not expectation, that the film would not so well. After all, the backers sunk (sorry) a lot of money into it. It might have been the most expensive film ever made back then.
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