10 More Huge Box Office Hits NOBODY Saw Coming

At first, a film centred around the legendary building blocks that have ruined many a bare-footed humans' day over the decades looked like a Hollywood cash-grab and nothing more. How could this Warner Bros. animated picture ever be anything other than a feature-length advert for the titular toys?

Simple. You hire the masterful Phil Lord and Chris Miller to write and direct, bring in a ton of world-class voice talent, chuck in some properly inspired and vibrant animation, and inject one of the catchiest movie tunes of recent times.

That majestic combination of bricks, along with a hilarious and occasionally moving story that focused on the importance of creativity, soon led to The LEGO Movie becoming an astonishing hit with critics and audiences, and an absolute monster at the box office, with the $60-65 million-budgeted family feature earning a hugely surprising $468 million worldwide.

That made the Lord and Miller unexpected masterpiece one of the biggest hits of 2014, and even earned it fifth place on the domestic box office rankings that year, beating Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in those latter rankings (via Box Office Mojo).

What could have been a hollow attempt to just move LEGO sets turned out to be one of the most refreshing animations of the decade. Put simply, it was surprisingly awesome.