10 Movies That Could Be The Major Surprise Hits Of 2018

by Danny Meegan

1. First Man

Ryan Gosling First Man
Summit

The Movie: Damien Chazelle reteams with his La La Land leading man, Ryan Gosling, for this biographical drama based on the life of astronaut Neil Armstrong.

More specifically, the movie will explore the story of NASA's mission to land a man on the moon, centring on Armstrong's life between the years 1961-1969.

Why It Could Be A Hit: After Whiplash and La La Land, anything Damien Chazelle does is going to be talked about and hotly anticipated.

This gives First Man an automatic advantage. Expect its marketing to have the phrase "from the director of La La Land" plastered all over it, and audiences absolutely loved La La Land, propelling it to a $446 million worldwide gross.

Plus, the subject matter is universally recognised - everyone knows about Neil Armstrong and the 1969 moon landing. As a result, a lot of moviegoers will already have their foot in the door, and the desire to learn more about this story - combined with the buzzworthy duo of Chazelle and Gosling - will give First Man a cutting mainstream edge.

Any other movies destined to become breakout hits this year? Let us know in the comments!

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!