10 Awesome Recent Movies Nobody Saw Coming

Though the Latvian animated film Flow has received near-universal acclaim since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, nothing about this wordless, low-budget animation created entirely in the free, open-source software Blender suggested it'd make a dent with the mainstream.

But Flow's rep only grew throughout 2024 as it played at more film festivals and became not only a serious awards contender but a genuine must-see animated film on a wider level.

Ultimately Flow went on to win the Best Animated Film Oscar earlier this year, triumphing over decidedly more high-profile competition such as Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

And beyond that, it also ended up grossing more than €50M at the global box office - a frankly astonishing return-on-investment for a dialogue-free animated film made for just €3.5 million.

Back when Flow premiered at Cannes, few could've ever expected that it'd break out of the festival bubble and become a bonafide hit in its own right. What a result.