8 Great Movies Everyone Expected To Suck

Word of mouth has always played an important role in a film’s success or failure, with movies like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity or The Shawshank Redemption only becoming hits after people started chattering about them. In the case of movies like Godzilla 1998 or Battleship, bad buzz can wind up sinking them without the trace.

In the social media age word of mouth is more important than ever, and if a movie isn’t being discussed it’s in serious trouble. Obviously, the heavy hitters like Star Wars or the MCU have a built-in fanbase, but other big budget releases – especially those not based on established properties – can really struggle to get recognised.

The last thing these movies need is to pick up negative press, either due to a troubled production or bad test screenings. Every year there’s usually a few movies that carry this bad buzz around with them – think of Fantastic Four in 2015 – and most of them fail to shake it off.

In a few cases though the warning signs were unfounded, and the movies ended up being kind of great. Here are a few of those survivors.

Casino Royale had a lot riding on it; it had to reboot the series, introduce a new Bond and erase the stink left over from Die Another Day. Daniel Craig’s casting was obviously going to be key to the movie’s success or failure, but when he unveiled as the new Bond there was a weird backlash.

The press stated he was too rough-looking and blond for the role, that he lacked the necessary suaveness and that he didn’t even know how to drive a car. Soon there was an online boycott, which attacked his height and spread stories of him being injured while filming action scenes.

It was only when the first trailer came out did the backlash calm down, and the pic of Craig in his trunks coming out of the water didn’t hurt either. Any fears about the film or his suitability were cast aside when Casino Royale was released; it’s one of the best Bond movies ever and he’s (arguably) the best 007 to date.