20 Horror Movies WAY More Successful Than Anyone Expected

50 years after its release, Jaws still remains the go-to example of a money-printing movie that was expected to bomb.

Though Steven Spielberg has been an icon since... well... Jaws, he was a young, unproven director when he was put in charge of this cursed production. The mechanical shark frequently malfunctioned, which led to massive delays and a ballooning budget. Lead actor Richard Dreyfuss had zero belief in the project since, "We started the film without a script, without a cast, and without a shark.” Bringing Jaws out in June was also considered unwise, since summer releases weren't particularly profitable at the time.

Despite the overwhelming cynicism, Jaws earned $123 million in the United States and Canada, making it the first movie to make $100 million domestically. By the end of its initial run, Jaws made $495 million on a $9 million budget (not including its many, many re-releases).

Jaws' unprecedented success reshaped the industry, since it's directly responsible for popularising summer blockbusters. It must've been hell on Earth to put together, but the end result demonstrated that chaos in production doesn't always spell disaster.