20 Movies Way More Successful Than Anyone Expected

In the months leading up to its release, few had high expectations for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, believe it or not.

Swashbuckling adventure films were pretty much dead at the box office by the turn of the millennium, and it didn't help that this one was also based on a Disney theme park ride - hardly the most imaginative of things.

And then there's the Johnny Depp factor. Depp simply hadn't proven himself to be a reliably bankable star by this point, despite his general popularity, and it was certainly not a given that he could help drive the $140 million blockbuster to success.

But Pirates of the Caribbean basically did everything right - it was a fun, well-made movie with a genuinely electrifying lead performance, released in an uncrowded period of the release calendar, giving it an easy corridor to keep raking in the dough.

By the end of its run the film obliterated even optimistic expectations by grossing $654.3 million, and perhaps even more unexpectedly nabbed Depp his first Best Actor Oscar nomination.