10 Huge Movie Box Office Hits NOBODY Saw Coming

Over 20 years later, box office analysts are still scratching their heads over the mind-boggling commercial stamina of low-budget rom-com My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which ended up grossing an insane $368.7 million worldwide against a mere $5 million budget.

The film's initial limited release in April 2002 proved successful enough that IFC Films decided to give it a wide rollout in the summer, and as a testament to the power of positive word-of-mouth, this quirky rom-com without any major stars become a genuine global phenom. The most fascinating statistic of all, though, is that it became the highest-grossing movie to never hit the #1 spot in North America - a record it held for 14 years until Sing took the crown in 2016.

Once again proving that belated comedy sequels generally struggle to recapture the original's success, both the second and recent third movies scored only a fraction of their predecessor's box office glory, netting $90.6 million and $39.1 million each on considerably higher budgets.