10 Movies You’ll Be Shocked To Hear Were Huge Box Office Hits

Each year, the list of highest-grossing movies is unsurprisingly dominated by a slew of big-budget blockbusters, which is to be expected as these expensive franchise features are how the studios make the majority of their profits. A quick glance at the ten biggest hits of 2014 so far reveals that the cheapest entry on the list is animated sequel Rio 2, which comes with a budget of $103m. However, every year there will be at least one sleeper hit that quietly and unassumingly makes a huge dent in the box office; this year that honor falls to Luc Besson's $40m action flick Lucy (which has so far earned almost $450m) with honorable mentions for The Maze Runner and The Fault In Our Stars, low-budget efforts that have both crossed the $300m mark. Despite the increasing importance of brand recognition and a built-in audience, sometimes the right movie at the right time can appeal to audiences in a far bigger way than anybody could have expected. With that in mind, this article will look at ten movies that became surprising box office hits, ranked in order of how much money they made. Relative to their respective budgets each of these movies turned a massive profit and caught on in a big way with audiences around the globe, despite each title on paper failing to meet the standard requirements of the typical blockbuster. The list features documentaries, dramas, comedies and low-budget independent movies, with the common thread being that they all made a killing at the box office. Are you surprised at the amount of money these movies made? Are there any other surprise box office hits you would have included? As always, sign off in the comments below.