12 Movies In 2016 That Should Have Flopped (But Didn't)

The first real surprise hit of the year was precisely that because the movie itself was a relative surprise. Eschewing the tendency to build up a movie’s hype as far ahead of its release as possible, 10 Cloverfield Lane was filmed in secrecy under several working titles and its existence and connection to 2008 found footage monster flick Cloverfield not announced until a mere two months before its release.

Despite an unorthodox marketing approach, it stirred up some genuine excitement and the movie went on to rake in over seven times its modest $15 million budget in worldwide box office sales and scored itself a not too shabby 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Not bad, considering it’s director Dan Trachtenberg’s first-time feature, boasts a cast of just three and is pretty much set entirely within a nuclear bunker. Thanks to its success and fantastic acting from its cast, especially John Goodman whose performance as antagonist Howard Stambler has been hailed as Oscar-worthy, it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing more from the ‘Cloververse’ in the near future.