20 HUGE Hit Movies NOBODY Saw Coming
These box office smashes caught EVERYONE off-guard.
The vast majority of films perform relatively predictably at the box office - it's usually easy to figure out ahead of time if a movie is going to be a smash hit or colossal flop and put a ballpark figure on how much money it'll rake in.
But every so often, a film soars so spectacularly past all sensible projections that we're simply left wondering how it happened.
And that's absolutely the case with these 20 films, each of which became colossal commercial hits the likes of which nobody could've expected pre-release.
While many of these movies were set to be at least modestly successful, they ultimately obliterated expectations so ferociously that box office analysts struggled to make sense of it.
From no-budget indie horrors that became global mega-franchises overnight to hit comedies you might not even realise had little hype, an astonishingly successful documentary, and everything else in between, these 20 films were mammoth hits in ways nobody could've predicted, not even the people who made them.
And so, though we might think we've got the box office game pegged, there's always the chance for a movie to connect with audiences in ways we never could've expected...
20. Obsession
Even accepting the sizable pre-release buzz for Curry Barker's new horror film Obsession, few could have ever anticipated that it would soar to such astronomical commercial heights.
On a budget of just $750,000, it blew past opening weekend expectations and enjoyed unprecedented growth in the weekends that followed due to positive word-of-mouth on social media.
By its fourth weekend, Obsession had become Focus Features' highest-grossing film ever worldwide, beating out Downton Abbey of all things.
At the time of press, box office analysts estimate it could end its run at around $350 million worldwide - more than 450 times its budget - wiping the floor with recent franchise blockbusters like Scream 7 and Mortal Kombat II.
That's a mind-bogglingly impressive, even downright historic performance for a low-budget horror film with no major stars, ensuring that Barker has basically become a household name overnight, while Hollywood starts eagerly combing YouTube to find the next content creator-turned-filmmaker.