20 Movies Way More Successful Than Anyone Expected

Little ahead of Slumdog Millionaire's release indicated that it would be a sizable hit. 

This low-budget, India-set drama with no Hollywood actors, based on niche source material invited low expectations from its original distributor Warner Bros., enough that they intended to release it straight-to-video in the U.S.

But mere days before its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, the studio agreed to share theatrical distribution with Fox Searchlight.

And a fire was well and truly lit once the film won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival - typically an indicator a film will be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

From here Danny Boyle's $15 million film went on to gross a stupendous $378 million - almost as much as all of Boyle's seven prior films combined.

But that wasn't all - it was then nominated for 10 Oscars, of which it won eight, including Best Picture and Best Director. 

Needless to say, everyone involved is probably relieved that Warner Bros. didn't send it direct to DVD domestically.