10 Biggest Surprise Box Office Hits Of The 2010s

The 2010s had plenty of incredible movies that achieved great success at the box office, but some of this success came entirely out of left field and blew away all previous expectations. While this decade had a lot of predictable hits, there were just as many movies whose fantastic box-office earnings completely exceeded what most critics, filmgoers, and industry experts had anticipated. Surprise hits kept the movie landscape interesting, as although so many believed that they knew what would succeed, these expectations would be confounded every year.

The 2010s saw the release of passion projects like Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, which he developed over 12 years and was a surprise hit at the box office. This was also the decade that showcased the viability of R-rated superhero movies for the first time, brought back the mainstream movie musical, and even, in a surprise turn of events, revitalized the whodunnit murder mystery genre. The 2010s were truly a surprising decade at the box office, with lots of hits that nobody saw coming.

10 Boyhood (2014)

Boyhood grossed $57.3 million

Richard Linklater started making Boyhood back in May 2002 and reassembled his cast and crew for a few weeks annually for the next 12 years before the movie was finally released. A genuine passion project that was more than a decade in the making, Boyhood tracked a six-year-old kid named Mason throughout his childhood and was a powerful depiction of the journey of growing up. When Linklater first started making Boyhood he was not known for his box-office success and had made a name for himself on the indie movie scene.

Throughout the 12 years it took to make Boyhood, Linklater found mainstream success with School of Rock but continued to make interesting movies with humble box office figures. With a budget of $4 million, Boyhood was not expected to be a box office hit, and that’s why it was such a surprise when it earned over ten times its budget with a worldwide gross of $57.3 million. The insightful coming-of-age story of Boyhood struck a chord with viewers and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

9 Knives Out (2019)

Knives Out grossed $312.9 million

As a whodunnit murder mystery, Rian Johnson’s Knives Out had far more in common with Agatha Christie’s works than with a big-budget mainstream box office hit. With a star-studded cast and a satirical storyline full of mystery, intrigue, and red herrings, Knives Out was a major gamble for Johnson that, if audiences did enjoy his unique approach to a well-worn genre, could have fallen entirely asunder. However, after the box office success of Johnson’s previous works like Looper and Star Wars: The Left Jedi, Johnson had the clout to get it made, and this risk paid off in spades.

Knives Out had a budget of $40 million and blew away everybody’s expectations when it took in an astounding $312.9 million at the box office. With a strong lead performance from Daniel Craig as the private detective Benoit Blanc, Knives Out gave cinema a brand new genius investigator to stand alongside Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. The surprise success of Knives Out led to the development of an entire franchise, with the sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and a third installment on the way.

8 Bridesmaids (2011)

Bridesmaids grossed $306.4 million

Despite so many successful comedies coming out in the 2000s, the genre started to have a lot more trouble at the box office during the 2010s, with Bridesmaids being a notable exception. This Judd Apatow-produced comedy had many factors running against it, which meant its overwhelming success came as something of a surprise. As a female-led, raunchy comedy, it came as a shock when Bridesmaids managed to outgross every previous Apatow production to date and take in $306.4 million at the box office.

Bridesmaids stands as not only one of the best female-centered comedies of its time but has gained a reputation as one of the best comedies of the 21st century. Led by an extraordinary performance from Kristen Wiig, who also co-wrote the screenplay, Bridesmaids had a fantastic supporting cast, and everything just worked. While Bridesmaids represented one of the last massive successes of big-budget comedies on the big screen, its surprise success proved, once and for all, that audiences of all genders will turn up for good female-based comedies when the movie was as funny as Bridesmaids.

7 It (2017)

It grossed $702.4 million

While there have been plenty of highly successful Stephen King adaptations at the box office, nothing has been compared to the astounding achievement of the 2017 version of It, which took in over $700 million worldwide. Having already been famously adapted as a television miniseries, the overwhelming success of It came as something of a surprise. With a talented cast of child actors and Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, It would have been expected to do well but broke all kinds of box office records.

A hit with audiences and critics, It became the third highest-grossing R-rated film and the highest-grossing horror movie of all time. The novel’s original author, Stephen King, was unprepared for how good It was and King even praised It in interviews. While the sequel, It: Chapter 2, also found success at the box office, it was nothing compared to the original and earned just $473 million.

6 A Star Is Born (2018)

A Star Is Born grossed $436.3 million

The directional debut of the actor Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born, was a cultural phenomenon that took in over $436 million at the worldwide box office. As a story that has already been told a number of times before, the original A Star Is Born came out in 1937 before being remade in 1954 and remade again in 1976. With this in mind, it seemed like this well-worn story had already been told, and that’s why it was such a surprise when A Star Is Born became a massive hit and one of the highest-grossing movies of 2018.

The music in A Star Is Born was a significant factor in the success of this music industry-based story, as Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s rendition of “Shallow” became one of the best-selling singles of all time. A Star Is Born signaled Cooper as an up-and-coming director to watch, and Lady Gaga’s Academy Award nomination for Best Actress was the point at which she started to be taken seriously as a movie star. A Star Is Born was a new take on a well-trodden formula that audiences more than turned out for.

5 John Wick (2014)

John Wick grossed $86 million

Since the first film debuted in 2014, the John Wick franchise has had an undeniable effect on Hollywood action movies as it raised the bar regarding action sequences, engaging characters, and providing an immersive experience. While the latest entries grossed hundreds of millions of dollars, this would not have been possible without the surprise success of the original John Wick movie. John Wick grossed $86 million and exceeded all expected projections at the time of its release.

The success of John Wick came down to several factors, including the excellent casting of Keanu Reeves, an incredibly stylish aesthetic, and a deadpan style mixed with humorous dialogue. John Wick’s director, Chad Stahelski, already had decades of experience behind him as a stuntman, which certainly added to the impressive action sequences seen in the movie. While later John Wick installments surpassed the original at the box office, this was the only time that it’s success came as a surprise.

4 Deadpool (2016)

Deadpool grossed $782.6 million

The astounding success of Deadpool at the box office proved that there was a huge market for R-rated superhero movies and that the studios did not need to play it safe to achieve financial success. With a self-referential style and insanely violent action sequences, despite being an R-rated movie, Deadpool surpassed all other X-Men movies regarding box office success. Ryan Reynolds was perfectly cast as the lead in Deadpool, and the film opened the floodgates for more R-rated superhero movies.

While some doubted the viability of a big-budget R-rated superhero movie, Deadpool broke many records in its opening weekend, quickly silencing all its detractors. A worldwide hit with audiences and critics, Deadpool significantly impacted the cinematic landscape moving forward. Without Deadpool’s unprecedented success, later R-rated movies like Logan and Joker may never have been made.

3 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle grossed $995.3 million

Film studios have been rebooting recognizable properties for decades now as a way to tap into viewers’ nostalgia and ensure a built-in audience for upcoming movies. While this tactic can often seem overdone, the incredible success of box office Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was not something anybody was predicting. While an adventure comedy starring Dwayne Johnson would be expected to do well financially, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle came shockingly close to making $1 billion at the global box office.

To put the success of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle into perspective, the original Robin Williams movie from 1995 earned just $262.8 million, which, even when adjusted for inflation, was a significant improvement. The unexpected success of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was deserved, as, unlike many reboots, it had a strong script, a great cast, and a unique sense of humor. The reboot led to the revival of the entire franchise, with an upcoming second sequel currently in development.

2 The Greatest Showman (2017)

The Greatest Showman grossed $434.9 million

In the film landscape of the 21st century, the movie musical just doesn’t have the same impact that it used to; that’s why the incredible success of The Greatest Showman was so impressive. With Hugh Jackman as the ambitious entrepreneur P.T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman became a surprise sleeper hit and a pop culture phenomenon in 2017. With a modest weekend opening, it was initially estimated that The Greatest Showman would turn a profit of $50 to $100 million (via Deadline), but ended up with an astounding $434.9 million worldwide gross.

The Greatest Showman’s success was due to many factors, but it most prominently benefited from positive word of mouth, great songs that received widespread airplay, and a family-friendly story that could be enjoyed by viewers of all ages. A resounding success, The Greatest Showman proved there was still an audience for family-friendly musicals and that films like this could impact the cultural landscape. While some critics hated The Greatest Showman, its financial success speaks for itself.

1 Joker (2019)

Joker grossed $1.078 billion

The box office surprise of the entire 2010s has to be Joker, the first R-rated movie to gross over $1 billion worldwide; this figure became even more impressive considering that Joker was not released in China (via CBR.) Directed by Todd Phillips and with Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role, Joker was a highly divisive film that, despite its controversies surrounding the glorification of violence, managed to exceed all expectations. Joker was not just a hit with audiences, as it received widespread critical acclaim and led to Phoenix receiving the Academy Award for Best Actor.

After the previous success of R-rated superhero movies like Deadpool and Logan, Joker’s massive success confirmed that darker, more adult-orientated superhero content was a viable market. With a highly influential cultural impact, the success of Joker was a watershed moment in 21st-century cinema that will surely have a ripple effect on R-rated movies moving forward. However, it remains to be seen if the upcoming sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, can live up to this astounding box-office success.

Sources, All Box Office figure from Box Office Mojo, Deadline, CBR