Sleeper Hit: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|"''At that time, no one knew that this small work called [[Gundam]] was to become a legendary anime, shaking the very foundation of Japan.''"
|''[[Gundam Sousei]]''}}
Any work that becomes an unexpected success upon its release, usually through word of mouth. Either the work slipped under the fandom and critics' radar during production, it was [[
It may start a [[Cash Cow Franchise]], and spawn cases of [[Follow the Leader]]. It might even start a whole new genre.
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Contrast [[Acclaimed Flop]].
{{examples}}▼
Not to be confused with ''[[Sleeper (film)|Sleeper]]'' by [[Woody Allen]].
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[
* Something similar happened when [[Kyoto Animation]] adapted the ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' [[Light Novels]], which had limited underground success up to that point.
* ''[[Gundam]]'', as noted in ''[[Gundam Sousei]]'' and in the page quote.
* Hear now the tale of ''[[Elfen Lied]]'', a show that was so drenched in blood and nudity that ''even in Japan'' it could only air on satellite TV. It was cancelled after one season... and purely by word of mouth, nearly every anime club in America heard about it and it became one of the top-selling anime of 2005, much to everyone's surprise (but too late to get it [[Uncancelled]] in Japan).
* ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]''. According to [https://web.archive.org/web/20131003180305/http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-2299.html
* ''[[Shingeki no Kyojin]]''. The mangaka originally sent the manuscript to [[Shonen Jump]], but was rejected. Then, he
* ''[[Girls und Panzer]]'', despite its very niche themes, managed to become a breakthrough hit in Japan, selling over 25.000 Bluerays there alone.
* It's easy to forget, but ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' wasn't really hyped or expected when it was first released in 2011 (and in fact during pre-production they got one episode less than was they were originally assigned). As the episodes unfold a pĺot that went into [[Ontological Mystery]] and the [[Deconstruction]] of Magical Girl tropes, the interest went increasing until it became the most popular anime on that year. Nowadays, it's a full franchise with several spin-offs.
* The animated adaptation of ''[[School-Live!]]'' became ''the'' hit anime of Summer 2015, despite not being particularly hyped or promoted, mostly due to its unusual and deceptive premise. The success of the anime actually helped to promote its manga outside Japan, getting into the lists of bestsellers.
* ''[[Yuri!!! on Ice]]'' became the most popular anime of the Fall season of 2016 in both Japan and the west, especially after the seventh episode aired {{Spoiler|and both the [[Yaoi Fangirl]] and the LGBT fanbase realized that the [[Ship Tease]] between [[Queer Romance|the protagonist and his coach]] wasn't merely a quirk of [[Teasing Creator]]s directing towards a "[[Bait and Switch Lesbians|no homo lol]]" ending but the actual [[Official Couple]] of the series}}. If you watched it on simulcast in [[Crunchyroll]] you could see its popularity increase in real-time by just going to the site's home page, where week by week ''YoI''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s promotions were slowly displacing the ones for ''[[Keijo!!!!!!!!]]'', the series the site was initially hyping for that season.
* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' began in 2003 as a webcomic, and was relatively unknown for several years, slowly building its fanbase. When its animated adaptation was announced, it wasn't expected to be successful, mostly because of a small scandal over the probable presence of the [[Moe Anthropomorphism|a certain country character]]. It quickly became one of the most popular franchises of the late part of the [[Turn of the Millennium]], and to this day still has a strong presence online.
* ''[[My Hero Academia]]'' become unexpectedly popular, surprising even its author, given that he has two previous series cut short and the one-shot the series was based in wasn't originally well received. In the West, it got both the benefit of the Superhero craze and the empty niche ''[[Naruto]]'' left after it finalized its serialization.
== [[Film]]
* ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' started out in first place, but was quickly knocked down after its disappointing premiere weekend. Word of mouth took it back to the top in a month.▼
* A really notorious case: ''[[Star Wars]]''. It's hard to believe now, but the movie was expected to tank, ''hard''. So much that it only opened in 37 theaters. Killer word of mouth convinced [[Twentieth Century Fox]] to give it a proper release.
{{quote|'''[[Mark Hamill]]''': We didn't even have a ''poster''. *[[Beat]]* There was no poster!}}
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* ''[[The Bourne Identity]]'' had tested horribly for Universal and its Summer 2001 release date was pushed back in order to do extensive reshoots on the film. When it opened, it was expected to flop against rival studio tentpole films ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' and ''[[Windtalkers]]''. Then reviews and word-of-mouth managed to be surprisingly good and became a long runner in theatres, grossing over $100 million in the process. Two [[Even Better Sequel|even better sequels]] were later released and a third is coming out in 2012.
* ''[[Babe]]'' was a $30 million Australian/US co-production with no stars and a [[Talking Animal]] lead that wasn't expected to make its budget back in the summer of 1995. After a decent $9 million opening, near-unanimous critical and audience acclaim got to finish with a $64 million gross and an additional $190 million overseas. The film also got seven [[Academy Award]] nominations (winning for Best Visual Effects), a sequel and a long life on VHS and DVD.
▲* ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' started out in first place, but was quickly knocked down after its disappointing premiere weekend. Word of mouth took it back to the top in a month.
* ''[[Se7en]]'' had tested badly with audiences and was slotted into the dumping ground of September against the higher-publicized ''[[Showgirls]]'' with the hope that the film's star power would allow it to break even. Then the critics responded in praise and with audiences agreeing, the film managed to spend four weeks at the top spot. The film went on to gross $327 million worldwide and launched [[David Fincher]]'s directing career.
* ''[[Austin Powers|Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery]]'' was considered a throwaway project for New Line Cinema as [[Mike Myers]] had not had a successful project post-''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' and the film had the worst test screenings in the history of the studio. Expected to die quickly in the heat of the Summer 1997 movies (such as ''[[Jurassic Park|The Lost World: Jurassic Park]]'' and ''[[The Fifth Element]]''), the film opened decently but kept on going to a final gross in the US of $50 million. But when it hit video, it started a phenomenon that led it to be the most rented movie in 1997 (and still in the Top 10 one year later) and two sequels (with a third in the works) have been made since.
* ''[[Boyz N the Hood]]'' was a low-budget urban film that was only intended to be given a small release until two events happened: 1. The film premiering to mass acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, and 2. Columbia's big Summer 1991 film ''[[Radio Flyer]]'' getting pushed back due to reshoots, which led Columbia to slot the small production it is place. Even against strong blockbusters ''[[Terminator|Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]'' and ''[[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'' and violence breaking out at some screenings, the film managed to gross over $50 million, made director John Singleton the youngest Best Director nominee in the history of the [[Academy
* ''[[Bonnie and Clyde]]''. Jack Warner regretted his decision to put the film into production the moment he read the script, as he felt that the audience wouldn't [[Draco in Leather Pants|cheer for the outlaws]]. [[Warner Bros]] had so little faith in the film that they [[Screwed by the Network|tried to bury it]] with a release in [[Dump Months|the doldrums of August 1967]], and offered star and producer Warren Beatty 40% of the gross instead of a minimal fee. Despite a glowing reception at the [[Montreal]] Film Festival, it received mixed reviews from American critics—while [[Roger Ebert]] gave it four stars, many others were put off by its juxtaposition of comedy and (for the time) gratuitous violence.
** Young Baby Boomers, however, loved it, turning it into a blockbuster and a pop culture sensation that was nominated for ten Oscars (winning two). Beatty became a very wealthy man as a result of his 40% gross, allowing him to do pretty much anything he wanted, while Faye Dunaway became one of the hottest leading ladies in Hollywood. [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]], which originally panned the film, featured it on its cover that December. ''[[American Newspapers|The New York Times]]'' even fired its staff critic Bosley Crowther over his panning of the film, feeling him to be out of touch with the modern
▲Young Baby Boomers, however, loved it, turning it into a blockbuster and a pop culture sensation that was nominated for ten Oscars (winning two). Beatty became a very wealthy man as a result of his 40% gross, allowing him to do pretty much anything he wanted, while Faye Dunaway became one of the hottest leading ladies in Hollywood. ''Time'' magazine, which originally panned the film, featured it on its cover that December. ''[[American Newspapers|The New York Times]]'' even fired its staff critic Bosley Crowther over his panning of the film, feeling him to be out of touch with the modern moviegoing public, and replaced him with Pauline Kael, who had praised the film in an op-ed in ''The New Yorker''. Now, it's recognized as one of the foundational films of the [[New Hollywood]] era.
* ''[[Sucker Punch]]'' has been stated multiple times that this is a case, it took a year to catch on and find its fan base (though its box office barely recouped the film's budget).
* While ''[[The Hunger Games (film)|The Hunger Games]]'' was the adaptation of [[The Hunger Games (novel)|a somewhat successful book]], no one expected the third best opening weekend over, or that in three weeks it would pass the $300 million mark (outgrossing all ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' and all but two ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]'' films).
* The [[Denzel Washington]]/[[Ryan Reynolds]] film ''[[Safe House]]'' was released in the January/February dumping ground and wasn't expected to do much business, but surprisingly the film stayed in theaters for 3 months and made well over 200 million.
* The film adaption of ''[[Think Like A Man]]'' was projected at a 15 million opening, to the shock of everyone, the opening weekend tally was 30 million, double what analysts predicted(analysts are rarely ever this off the mark) mostly thanks to positive word of mouth from preview screenings, not only that, but it opened up at number #1 at the box-office, finally knocking ''[[Hunger Games]]'' down from it's #1 spot that it had held for 4 weeks straight.
* Opening against ''
* ''[[There's Something About Mary]]'' wasn't a huge hit at first and only got a small release, but positive word of mouth shot it to the top of the box-office on it's 8th week of release, making back it's 23 million dollar budget more then 15 times over, as well as catapaulting [[Ben Stiller]] and [[Cameron Diaz]] into the limelight.
* ''[[Crocodile Dundee]]'' was only expected to be a modest hit in the U.S., but it ended earning over 300 million and becoming the second-highest grossing film of 1986 (only behind ''[[Top Gun]]'').
* The 2018 ''[[Aquaman (film)|Aquaman]]'' movie was a film about an often (wrongly) mocked character, in [[DC Extended Universe|a series with many misses and few solid hits]], and panned by critics for an overly complicated plot. It opened below expectations, but turned out to be a slow burn that went on to be the highest grossing of its entire franchise.
* This was what happened with ''[[Sholay]]'' back in 1975. At the time of the premiere, the film was loaded with underpromotion, the low-key scandal of its [[Troubled Production|way too long and troubled production]], and scathing critiques over its violent themes, so it didn't did well on its first couple of weeks. But then word of mouth passed around that it was a really good film, and by the third week crowds began to watch it. It became the highest grossing film of the year (some even estimate that, adjusted to inflation, is among the highest grossing films of all times), the soundtrack album became one of the most sold of the year, and the film remained in theaters for years (famously a cinema in Mumbai ran it by five consecutive years).
* ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]'', an small independent horror film with no-name actors and filmed with handheld cameras, that was expected to only recoup its filming costs of $25,000. But the emblematic [[Viral Marketing]] that provided an extra layer of realism, along with the movie filming methods (which would [[Trope Codifier|codify]] the [[Found Footage Films|Found Footage genre]]) created an tremendous amount of interest. The film grossed over $250 million, and to this day it still remains as the most successful independent film and the film with the highest cost-to-profit margin ever created.
* Possibly the biggest example of this Trope for Japanese films is the 2017 film ''[[One Cut of the Dead]]'' - a cheesy B-movie horror comedy about [[Show Within a Show|a film crew ''making'' a cheesy B-movie horror comedy.]] With a budget of only 3 million yen (about $25,000 at the time), it would later become a smash hit in Japan with a profit of about 12 ''billion'' yen, along with critical praise, earning 100% Certified Fresh approval rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] (based on 86 reviews) and an 86 our of 100 rating on [[Metacritic]].
* Ahem, ''[[Saw]]''. With a $1.2 million budget, this film became a blockbuster at the box office with a $103.9 million return, and practically revitalized the Slasher Movie genre.
== [[Literature]] ==
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* ''[[Harry Potter]]''.
* Pratchett's first few ''[[Discworld]]'' books were small, fantasy parodies. Now, the Discworld series is one of the biggest and most popular pieces of modern fantasy literature.
* ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' started out as this because of ''[[Harry Potter]]'', which itself was a sleeper hit in
* [[Older Than Radio]]: The "Penny Dreadful" novels were cheap serials written in the 19th century by amateur authors on second-rate paper, intended for children and the working class who couldn't afford the more expensive books by more popular authors - kind of like how comic books are regarded in modern times. While most Penny Dreadfuls were indeed forgettable and not very good, some have become cultural icons, like ''[[Varney the Vampire]]'' and "[[The String of Pearls]]", the first known version of the [[Sweeney Todd]] story.
==
* ''[[NCIS]]'' was largely ignored as simply [[Follow the Leader|another CBS crime procedural]] early in its run and had fairly middling ratings. It eventually became a top five show and now has [[NCIS: Los Angeles|its own spinoff]].
* Would you believe it if someone told you the ''[[Power Rangers]]'' fit this trope? [[Saban Entertainment|Haim Saban]] spent the better part of a ''decade'' looking for a network, be it broadcast or cable, to accept his concept of an [[Trans
* ''[[The X-Files]]'' was a classic example of this. When Chris Carter pitched the idea to Fox, it was initially rejected. When he fleshed it out and pitched it again a few weeks later, they reluctantly took it on. They were unsure about the idea of having a show centered around the paranormal and were not happy with the casting; they wanted someone more more established and traditionally attractive to play Scully. Gillian Anderson was a theater veteran but mentioned later that the ''X-Files'' pilot was only her second time in front of the camera. The pilot was well-received by those who watched it (not many) and by critics, but the ratings for the first and second season were rock bottom.
:However, it was the increasing popularity of the internet in the 1990s that really saw it take off; ''The New York Times'' reported the the show was likely one of the first shows to see audience growth influenced by the internet. The show had its own forums, discussion groups, fan pages and [[Fan Fiction]] far before it became commonplace to do so with a show. By season six, ''The X-Files'' was Fox's highest-rated show. Its popularity led to [[Executive Meddling]] coupled with [[The Chris Carter Effect]] and spelled the show's downfall: by its final season, ratings were about where they were for the first and second season. However, the show went on to inspire and influence other shows of the time and subsequent shows (many cult classics in their own right), including ''[[Lost]]'', ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', ''[[Torchwood]]'', ''Eleventh Hour'', ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', ''[[Bones]]'', and most notably ''[[Fringe]]'' (criticized by many X-Philes as being a rip-off of the original).▼
▲However, it was the increasing popularity of the internet in the 1990s that really saw it take off; ''The New York Times'' reported the the show was likely one of the first shows to see audience growth influenced by the internet. The show had its own forums, discussion groups, fan pages and [[Fan Fiction]] far before it became commonplace to do so with a show. By season six, ''The X-Files'' was Fox's highest-rated show. Its popularity led to [[Executive Meddling]] coupled with [[The Chris Carter Effect]] and spelled the show's downfall: by its final season, ratings were about where they were for the first and second season. However, the show went on to inspire and influence other shows of the time and subsequent shows (many cult classics in their own right), including ''[[Lost]]'', ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', ''[[Torchwood]]'', ''Eleventh Hour'', ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', ''[[Bones]]'', and most notably ''[[Fringe]]'' (criticized by many X-Philes as being a rip-off of the original).
== [[Music]] ==
* "Creep" by [[Radiohead]] initially received very little airplay upon release in 1992. It wasn't until months later in 1993 that it became an international success that it was re-released in the UK and became a top 40 hit.
** This seemed to assure that the band would be a one-hit wonder until they released ''OK Computer''.
* The band Temple of the Dog was formed to record an album mourning the death of Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood. The album got little notice when it was released in 1991, but a year later it got some media attention when some of the members had success in a couple other bands you [[Soundgarden|may have]] [[Pearl Jam|heard of]].
* Kaya Rosenthal's song "Can't Get You Out of My Mind" was released to radio stations in 2010, but it got barely any airplay, and the video for the song only had a couple thousand views on [[YouTube]]. Fast forward seven months to the release of labelmate [[Rebecca Black]]'s song "[[Friday (song)|Friday]]". Suddenly "Can't Get You Out of My Mind" became very popular, and now the video for the song has over three million views on [[YouTube]].
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' was shopped around for a while until a little company called Wizards of the Coast, whose only call to fame was being the holder of the ''[[Ars Magica]]'' RPG franchise, decided to give it a go. The hope was Magic would be as successful as a typical game. The creators of MTG were aware of some early flaws in the game, but those flaws would only matter if it was a run away success (e.g. ambiguous rules might not be a big deal if you can trust the audience to sort it out with the small group of friends they play with. Not as acceptable if people are running tournaments with a hundred strangers). It took months if not years for WotC to build the logistics needed to be able to create a supply that would meet the demand. When a LSG got MTG product shipped in, the store's MTG stock would sell out the same day.
** Amusingly, ''Magic'' itself is known to have Sleeper Hit cards.
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* ''[[The Witcher]]'' was a PC-only single player CRPG released in 2007 by a development studio largely unknown outside eastern Europe, based off a fantasy setting almost unheard of in the English-speaking world. It proceeded to sell over a million copies in its first year of release, with its [[The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings|sequel]] reaching that number in under six months.
* The original ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' started a side project by Masahiro Sakurai that Satoru Iwata allowed him to do on the weekends at HAL Laboratory. Eventually Iwata became interested in this "King of the Hill"-like fighter, and the company asked Nintendo if they could use some of their characters. Nintendo was iffy on the entire thing: keeping the budget on the game incredibly small and planning on a Japan-only release. Despite little promotion, the game took off in Japan and was brought to the United States and Europe later that year, becoming a [[Killer App]] for the Nintendo 64, along with its [[Super Smash Bros Melee|two]] [[Super Smash Bros Brawl|sequels]] for their [[Game Cube|respective]] [[Wii|consoles]].
* The [[Nintendo Entertainment System]], and by proxy ''[[Super Mario Bros. (video game)|Super Mario Bros]]''. [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983]] made console gaming a joke in America, and as such, retailers were not real eager to stock their shelves with any consoles. This made it necessary to sell the NES with R.O.B. so that people would [[Come for the X, Stay for the Y|buy it for the toy robot but keep it for the games]]. Mario had seen some moderate success with ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' and ''[[Mario Bros.]]'', but not on a scale that was terribly notable. But ''very'' impressive word-of-mouth for ''Super Mario Bros'', coupled with the game being bundled with the NES, made both smash hits.
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' was made simply to fill a hole in [[Midway Games]]'s arcade schedule. A four-man team was given 10 months to churn out a fighting game and pretty much gave them free reign to do what they wanted since it was a small project. The team turned it into one big [[Rule of Cool]] game that gave Midway its signature, money-making franchise and cut way more into ''[[Street Fighter II]]'''s marketshare than they could have imagined.
* ''[[No More Heroes]]'' became this in 2007; despite the fact it sold terribly in Japan, it managed to sell decently in other territories, and now has a rather sizable fanbase [[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle|and an equally successful sequel]]. One could chalk it up to the fact that its one of the very few [[Ultra Super Death Gore Fest Chainsawer 3000]] games on the Wii, and that its [[Killer7|pedigree]] was a cult classic.
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* Edmund McMillen didn't hold a lot of hope in ''[[The Binding of Isaac]]'', mostly because he thought it would be [[Nintendo Hard|too difficult]] and / or [[Gross-Out Show|too disturbing]] for most people to get into it, so it was quite a surprise for him when it managed to the half million of purchases, and in a relatively short time! He originally planned this game as a side project between ''[[Meat Boy|Super Meat Boy]]'' and another game.
* ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' is probably one of the most notorious examples in recent memory. The game was [[No Export for You|outright snubbed for an American release]] despite previous news that it would be released there. However, the game got itself a very vocal fan base right from the start, since it was the new JRPG by the creators of the cult classics [[Xenogears]] and [[Xenosaga]]. An entire web campaign (Operation Rainfall) was started to get the game released in Western countries, but Nintendo of America didn't listen. Nintendo of Europe and Australia, however, brought it over to their respective continents. With little advertising and very limited units (understandable, since JRPG's [[Deader Than Disco|had fallen from grace]]), the game was a surprise success, garnering positive reviews and rather good sales. Since then, the game has been announced for an American release, and other Op. Rainfall games ''[[The Last Story]]'' and ''[[Pandoras Tower]]'' are getting expanded ad campaigns and an American release for the former.
* ''[[Five Nights at Freddy's]]''. Here's the lowdown: it started out as a failed kickstarter — it raised exactly ''$0'' — game intended to be Scott Cawthon's [[Swan Song]]. As of 2021, there have been seven sequels (an eighth on the way), two spin-offs, three novels, lots of assorted merchandise (including guidebooks and a ''coloring book'') and many upcoming projects, including a live-action film.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Let's be honest, no one expected ''[[My Little Pony:
* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' started out as a short produced for Nickelodeon's ''Random! Cartoons'' show, which was pre-screened and then leaked onto the internet, where it gained a massive amount of popularity in 2007. People who liked the short were already begging for it to be made into a series then. It didn't matter which critics didn't like it, the show had a fanbase ''three years before it even aired''.
* ''[[Recess]]'' was originally just going to be another Disney animated series. But due to excellent word of mouth, positive critical reception, and a huge [[Periphery Demographic]], it ended up outliving most of the other shows on the [[One Saturday Morning]] block, had a very successful [[Recess: School's Out|movie]], and was rerun to death on every Disney station.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Show Business]]
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