10 Awful Movies That Embarrassingly Made A Fortune

Collective Worldwide Box Office Gross: Approximately $500 million

Madea, a comedy creation ('comedy' being a loose definition in this context) by Tyler Perry, who also portrays the character (yes, shocking as it may seem, that's a man in women's clothes) in eight films, all of which have collectively grossed approximately $500 million, if we ignore the films in which the character has merely had a cameo.

Now that might not sound like a huge number when divided by eight, but keep in mind two points. Firstly, the films are not expensive to produce, with the most expensive being 2013's A Madea Christmas, which cost $25 million. Whoever received that DVD in their stocking must have been very naughty that year, because all of Madea's films are plagued with jokes without punchlines, an abundance of cliches and stereotypes, and the barest of narratives.

The second point is more important though, and it's the simple fact that as soon as Tyler Perry leaves the United States he stops being famous. He's big in the US, but his films are hardly ever distributed anywhere else, and most people in the United Kingdom haven't even heard of him let alone seen his films.

Not many film franchises would exist for this long if they didn't have at least the smallest bit of international appeal. We would like to think this is because we Brits are above unfunny gags that primarily revolve around a man in women's clothing, but judging by the success of Mrs. Brown's Boys that definitely isn't true. Perhaps we just prefer our cross-dressers with an Irish accent.