20 HUGE Hit Movies NOBODY Saw Coming

15. The Greatest Showman

The Greatest Showman truly is one of the leggiest films of all time in terms of box office, because after a soft opening weekend which saw it launch behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Pitch Perfect 3, many analysts understandably assumed the Hugh Jackman-starring musical would underperform.

But in its second weekend the film enjoyed a historic weekend-on-weekend improvement, driven by a glowing audience reception and the success of the film's soundtrack.

The Greatest Showman continued to hold strong in the weeks that followed, enough that it ended up grossing $471.9 million on a $84 million budget, making it far more of a success than anyone anticipated when those early numbers started coming in.

In an era where most films, even really great ones, enjoy their strong opening weekend and fizzle out after a few more weeks, The Greatest Showman was a massive outlier that just kept chugging for the long haul.