Whether we like it or not, most movies are made to follow the Hollywood blockbuster model - make lots of money, and quickly. Simply making the colossal epic is not going to put food on the table and pay those pesky bills. Even quality isnt necessarily indicative of quantifiable success. Simply convincing people to shell out cash is of the utmost importance for a project receiving a financial success stamp of approval. The result is that reaching as wide an audience as possible ends up playing a pivotal role and in some cases the turnover from failure to success. If not for international movie goers many projects would not even receive the gigantic budgets they often do. The international market acts as both a safety net and game changer. I present to you 10 films that only succeeded because they grossed gangbusters overseas...
10. The Expendables Franchise
While it is true neither Expendables films bombed per se, international audiences fancied seeing action heroes of past generations back on the big screen decisively more than in the States. The original Expendables film could arguably be considered a success making $100 million domestically on an $80 million budget. Internationally the film earned a whopping $274 million. The Expendables 2 not only saw a rise of more veteran action stars, action, and a ballooned budget to $100 million but a smaller box office return domestically. Internationally however it cracked $200 million besting its predecessor. While audience retention has been firmer overseas though it still also drew less than its predecessor. This makes the upcoming third iteration a fairy interesting production to watch over next year at the box office. It is very possible that we are all globally wearing thin on the gimmick of grizzled veterans taking down terrorists.