Sleeper hit
In the entertainment industry, sleeper hit refers to a film, television series, music release, video game, or other entertainment product that was unpromising on release but became a surprise success. A sleeper hit may have little promotion or lack a successful launch but gradually develops a fandom following media attention, which in turn increases its public exposure and public interest in the product.[1] As Variety puts it, "A 'sleeper hit' can be defined as the kind of show that catches us by surprise—programs whose popularity grows over time and can ultimately outshine the preordained hits."[2] A sleeper hit often lacks star performers or high production values, but prevails, at times against its own makers' expectations, on the strength of such qualities as narrative, approach, or novelty, as well as market accidents.[3] Sleeper hit films benefit theater owners because the owners keep a larger percentage of money from ticket sales.[4]
In film[edit]
Some sleeper hits in the film industry are strategically marketed for audiences subtly, such as with sneak previews a couple of weeks prior to release, without making them feel obliged to see a heavily promoted film. This alternative form of marketing strategy has been used in sleeper hits such as Sleepless in Seattle (1993), the Oscar winner Forrest Gump (1994), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), There's Something About Mary (1998) and The Sixth Sense (1999).[1]
Screenings for these films are held in an area conducive to the film's demographic. In the case of Sleepless in Seattle, a romantic comedy, screenings were held at suburban shopping malls where romantic couples in their mid-20s to early 30s spent Saturday afternoons before seeing a new film. In theory, a successful screening leads to word-of-mouth marketing, as it compels viewers to discuss an interesting, low-key film with co-workers when they return to work after their weekend.[1]
Easy Rider (1969), which was created on a budget of less than $400,000 (equivalent to $3,323,000 in 2023)[5], became a sleeper hit by earning $50 million and garnering attention from younger audiences with its combination of drugs, violence, motorcycles, counter-culture stance, and rock music.[6] It was also one of the successful films during the beginnings of the American New Wave of cinema.[7]
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) was considered a failure[8] for the first 6 months of its release until it found popularity in midnight screenings afterwards.[9] A Christmas Story (1983) was initially a modest success with little promotion,[10] but after Ted Turner purchased the MGM back-catalog a few years later and began rerunning the film on his cable networks every December, it became an iconic Christmas classic.[11]
The 1979 Australian film Mad Max, which sprung from the Ozploitation movement and helped to popularize the post-apocalyptic dystopia genre, held the record for the biggest profit-to-cost ratio for several years until it was broken in 1999 by The Blair Witch Project, also a sleeper hit.[4][12]
The independent film Halloween, which played over the course of fall 1978 through fall 1979 and relied almost completely on word-of-mouth as marketing, was also a sleeper hit, having a box office take of $70 million on a budget of only $325,000. Its success caused other slasher films to try the same approach, although few fared as well since horror films heavily rely on opening weekend box office and quickly fall from theaters. Other notable examples of horror sleeper-hits to follow in Halloween's wake include A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, Scream in 1996, The Blair Witch Project in 1999, Saw in 2004, and Paranormal Activity in 2007.[13]
Hocus Pocus (1993) underperformed at the box office but eventually became a sleeper hit through television airings on the 13 Nights of Halloween block on what is now Freeform and spawned the successful sequel Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) which debuted on Disney+.[14]
The Iron Giant (1999) was a box-office failure due to lack of marketing from distributor Warner Bros., who did not have faith in the film. However, it received universal acclaim and earned a cult following once it arrived on home video and television, and is now considered a modern animation classic and one of the greatest animated films ever made.[15][16][17]
Napoleon Dynamite made back its $500,000 budget and became a phenomenon in 2004, grossing almost $45 million within a year of its release, and became the basis for a short-lived animated series featuring the film’s entire cast.[18][19]
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) also went on to become a sleeper hit,[20] expanding the following weekend to 1,249 theaters and earning $3 million, as well as $1.1 million on Labor Day.[21]
Elemental (2023) originally opened below projections, earning $29.5 million in its opening weekend. However, positive word-of-mouth led the movie to become a sleeper hit by managing to make a drastic turnaround, with many news outlets praising Pixar Animation Studios' unprecedented box office comeback upon the film crossing $400 million worldwide by early August 2023, which ultimately became Disney's biggest animated success during the pandemic. It also performed well internationally, particularly in South Korea, which became the film's third-largest market. This was attributed to director Peter Sohn's Korean-American background and the incorporation of elements that resonated with Korean audiences. Upon hearing this news, Sohn stated "I think my heart burst with joy."[22] By August 20, 2023, Elemental had surpassed Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's international box office total and in January 2024, the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.[a]
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023) was a box-office failure, grossing $46 million against a $70 million budget, losing projections of up to $80 million. However, it became a success on Netflix, beating out the competition, and caught on with the target audience, which was teens and young adults. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken would reach the top of Netflix's Top 10 and was seen by 12,300,000 viewers over the course of three weeks.[36][37]
Sound of Freedom (2023) received very little advertising up until its release, but due to positive word of mouth amongst audience members, it has kept a steady box office earning, eventually surpassing films like Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One domestically and is currently in the number three spot at the domestic box office and has grossed $133.9 million, becoming an unexpected box office success.[38]
The romantic comedy Anyone but You (2023)[39] also opened below projections. It was projected to gross around $7 million during its opening weekend,[40] but opened to $6.3 million instead.[41] However, the film experienced a gradual increase in weekend gross and stayed within the top five.[42][43] The film led the box office from January 8, 2024 to January 11,[44] which saw the debut of new films.[45]
In video games[edit]
Pocket Monster Red and Green were released in 1996 in Japan, and later released as Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998. They followed several years of development and became sleeper hits.[90][91] Believing it to be a one-time product, Nintendo initially shipped 200,000 copies, a relatively low amount. Most media ignored the games, but largely by word-of-mouth stemming from the hidden character Mew's introduction,[90] their popularity gradually spread throughout Japan, selling a million units by the end of 1996.[92] They eventually became the best-selling video games ever in Japan, with 7.8 million copies sold,[93] and 45 million sold worldwide.[94] After becoming a national sensation in Japan, the franchise was introduced to the United States in September 1998,[95] going on to start a worldwide craze dubbed "Pokémania".[96]
Portal was released in 2007 with little fanfare as part of the game compilation The Orange Box, but eventually became a "phenomenon".[97]
SteamWorld Dig (2013) was released on the 3DS by little-known developer Image & Form. It became one of the first indie games mentioned in a Nintendo Direct, and ultimately sold over a million copies on all platforms. If the game had not succeeded, the studio would have been forced to close.[98]
Among Us was released in June 2018 and received little mainstream attention at first, with the game only averaging at around 30 to 50 concurrent players. It received a sudden and significant jump in popularity in mid-2020 after being popularized by streamers on Twitch and YouTube. In November 2020, SuperData Research reported that the game had over half a billion users, proclaiming it to be "by far the most popular game ever in terms of monthly players."[99][100]
Helldivers 2, the sequel to Helldivers by developer Arrowhead Game Studios, began to have server issues because it was not designed to have a player base exceeding 250,000; at the time, the player base reached over 450,000.[101] Because of its unforeseen success, Helldivers 2 became one of the biggest sleeper hits of all time.[102][103]