10 Mega-Successful Blockbusters Everyone Expected To Fail

10. Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl

We've had movies based on toys (both good and bad), boardgames (bad), video games (all bad) and even greatest hits albums (let's call that one a guilty pleasure), but the strangest has to be one based off of a theme park ride. Pirates Of The Caribbean looks like exemplar cynical filmmaking; have a big blockbuster whose auxiliary purpose is to push the production company's theme park. Except neither director Gore Verbinski or producer Jerry Bruckheimer viewed it as anything more than a swabuckling adventure. In fact, Disney head Michael Eisner even went as far as to ask Verbinski to tone down the more theme-park-ridey elements of the film. Certain parts of the ride found their way into action set pieces in the film, sure, but they're mostly completely different beasts (until the ride was redesigned to feature characters from the film). On top of actually turning a bad idea into a fun film, what really helped make the film into the surprise hit of 2003 was the casting of Jack Sparrow. Disney's decision to go with Johnny Depp (over the originally considered Matthew McConaughey) led to one of the most iconic blockbuster characters of all time (and the actor's first Academy Award nomination). So much effort was put into a film so many dismissed as a cash grab. With a fifth entry on the horizon that marks the return of Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly to the franchise, its clear fatigue has set in, but that shouldn't rob the original of its surprise novelty.