When it comes to movies, a sleeper hit is a film that takes longer than usual to achieve its ultimate glory and success. This can manifest itself in different ways, but, ultimately, they develop a fan following that garners it media attention, which in turn increases its public exposure and public interest in the movie.
Sometimes movies with smaller budgets might not have the huge marketing options as others in order to achieve record-breaking grossing numbers in their opening weekends, but strong reviews or word of mouth can help the movie remain a steady performer at the box office over prolonged periods of times, ultimately achieving huge numbers.
Other times, a movie could be considered a flop upon its initial release, either commercially or critically or both, but later be reappraised and achieve its success later down the line (sometimes week, months, or even years later). Below are 10 great movies that are all considered to be successful in their own right, but did not go down the typical blockbuster release avenue.
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10 Rocky
MGM
Rocky is quite possibly the most well-known and highly revered sporting movie of all time. Made on a shoestring budget of under $1 million, it eventually grossed an eye-watering $225 million, and this was in the 70s! Adjusted for inflation, that would put it at the $1 billion mark, making Sylvester Stallone’s boxing epic one of Hollywood’s greatest success stories of all time.
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The project had a “rocky” start, with many producers liking Stallone’s script, but wanting to cast a more established actor in the lead (at this point he was relatively unknown, with only a couple of small supporting roles under his belt). Stallone stood firm, and, eventually, United Artists agreed to make the movie with him as the lead, so long as the budget was kept to a minimum to avoid risk. Thanks to positive feedback from critics and word-of-mouth, the movie consistently performed strongly at the box office over a staggering eight-month period.
9 Pulp Fiction
Miramax
Whilst Quentin Tarantino had already made a name for himself in the indie scene with his ground-breaking directorial debut Reservoir Dogs, no one could have predicted just how successful his follow-up would be. Pulp Fiction was made on the modest budget of around $8 million; its extreme violence and nonlinear storytelling would have normally confined such a project to the realms of indie obscurity or cult status at most. While, by today’s standards, it features arguably one of the greatest casts ever assembled, at the time, it would have appeared as a rather odd mis-match, one that included an 80s action star (Bruce Willis), a past-his-prime has-been (John Travolta), and a few unknowns (Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, both of whom obviously went on to become genuine superstars in their own rights).
However, under Tarantino’s watchful eye, it was masterfully put together, and the buzz around the movie quickly started to grow. And while admittedly it did have a strong opening in theaters, it surpassed all expectations as it went from strength to strength, eventually becoming the first indie movie to exceed $100 million at the box office. This success continued when it was released to video, where it achieved cult status.
8 The Rocky Horror Picture Show
20th Century Fox
This hilariously twisted tale about a “sweet transvestite from transexual, Transylvania” starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, and Meat Loaf — and based on The Rocky Horror Show musical stage show (which was also a sleeper hit in its industry) starring Curry as well — was considered a flop when it was first released to theaters. Perhaps ahead of its time, many were put off by the campy nature of its humor and horror.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show later developed a following six months after its initial run at midnight screenings, during which fans would dress up as characters and interact with the movie with their own “counter-point dialogue.” As word got around, this small cult following grew in numbers. Late-night screenings are still held to this day from which the movie has reportedly made hundreds of millions of dollars and become entrenched in popular culture forever.
7 Clerks
Miramax Films
Shot in black and white and starring unknown actors and friends of director Kevin Smith, due to its miniscule budget of around $25,000 dollars (paid for by Smith himself), Clerks has since become a beloved and iconic movie in the comedy genre. Full of engaging, quotable dialogue and an array of weird and wonderful characters, it managed to go on to gross over $3 million (more than 100 times its budget) over its extended run despite never appearing in over 50 cinemas at the same time.
6 Easy Rider
Columbia Pictures
1969’s independent road drama Easy Rider tells the story of two bikers who embark on a journey through the American Southwest and South, transporting the proceeds of a cocaine deal. Starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as the lead bikers and with a memorable, star-making performance from Jack Nicholson as a boozy lawyer they pick up along the way, the film received critical praise upon its release. Easy Rider is credited with helping spark the New Hollywood era in the 1970s and helped further propel the leads’ careers. The true definition of sleeper hit, it went from making $40,422 in its first week, to slowly climbing the box office chart, finally reaching number one, 14 weeks later, a position it retained for a further 3 weeks.
5 My Big Fat Greek Wedding
IFC Films
One of the biggest surprise hits of the 2000s has got to be My Big Fat Greek Wedding. With a relatively unknown cast and a humble budget of just $5 million, it went on to gross a massive $368.7 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing romantic comedy domestically of all time, a distinction it held onto for 14 years. Not only did audiences love it, but its story of the Portokalos family and how they deal with coming to terms with the fact that their daughter, after years of singlehood, has fallen for a man who happens to be non-Greek (and vegetarian!!) still enchants them to this day. A wonderful sweet-hearted romp that captured the hearts of millions, it went on to spawn a short-lived TV spin-off and a sequel, with another reportedly in the works.
4 Dirty Dancing
Vestron Pictures
A film whose reputation has only strengthened with time, this low budget romantic dance drama won the hearts of the nation at the time and made its star Patrick Swayze a household name. Dirty Dancing particularly struck a chord with the female demographic, who attended in droves, as the positive word of mouth spread. As the years have passed, fondness has continued to grow, with its sales performance in the video and, later, DVD market being particularly impressive, with Live Entertainment vice president Jeff Fink claiming they were still selling 10,000 to 12,000 copies a month, 10 years after its initial release (per Tampa Bay Times).
3 The Thing
Universal Pictures
Director John Carpenter teamed up with an ensemble cast including frequent collaborator Kurt Russell to remake 1951’s The Thing or The Thing from the Other World (full title). It tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the “Thing,” a vicious bloodthirsty alien creature which can imitate other organisms. Carpenter’s remake of The Thing, while still rooted firmly in the sci-fi genre, contained far more elements of horror and was a masterclass in both suspense and tension and also outright blood and gore.
The movie was a minor hit at the time, but has since been acknowledged as one of the most important and influential movies in the sci-fi and horror genres. Receiving particular praise for its use of practical effects (which reportedly took up $1.5 million of the movie’s budget), and its combination of breathtaking cinematography and creating intense feelings of claustrophobia, its middling box office return was more than compensated for with strong video and DVD sales over the following decades.
2 The Shawshank Redemption
Despite being widely regarded as one of the all-time greatest movies in the history of cinema, upon its initial release, The Shawshank Redemption was a commercial flop, not being even able to recuperate its budget. This could have been down to poor marketing or strong competition from the likes of the mega hit Forrest Gump or Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, which was already well on its way to becoming the surprise hit of the year. With strong positive critical reception and multiple Oscar nominations now under its belt, the studio re-released The Shawshank Redemption to theaters several months later, where it was able to gross a further $12 million, an impressive number for a previously released film. Over the years its reputation has grown, with many people discovering the movie later in its lifetime, which has been reflected in home media sales.
1 The Sixth Sense
Buena Vista Pictures
Prior to The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan had just written and directed Wide Awake, a comedy starring Denis Leary and Rosie O’Donnell, which was panned by critics and bombed at the box office, making back only $282,175 on its $6 million budget. Shyamalan turned his attention to the thriller/horror genre — an area he is obviously far more suited to and comfortable in. What really set The Sixth Sense aside from others in the genre was its final shocking and unexpected twist, a trope Shyamalan has now become synonymous with.
Upon the movie’s release, audiences quickly learned of this twist and were eager to find out what it was and why it had everyone so in awe of the movie’s ending. Word traveled fast, and it seemed that a never-ending stream of people began hitting the theater to discover this twist, resulting in the movie spending five weeks as the number 1 film at the U.S. box office, becoming only the second film, after Titanic (1997), to have grossed more than $20 million a weekend for five weekends (via The Atlantic).
