Why some movies become successful hits?

[Zauriel]

There is a thread where CTTT discussed "why movies bomb"

Sound of Freedom earned $100 million against the budget of $14 million, despite both jim caviezel and tim ballard endorsing QAnon. Why did that low budget movie sell very well?

Super Mario Bros grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide against the budget of $100 million. I haven't watched the film yet but some of the people who saw the film said "it is not very good"

I watched both Wonder Woman and Aquaman films, both of which grossed over $1 billion. Both films are good, although WW is a little better. I don't think either film is too great to justify a $1 billion profit.

I watched the GOTG Volume 2. It was a bit enjoyable but not very great.

Let's also not forget the overrated Star Wars sequel trilogy with Kylo Ren and Rey in it.

[Vakanai]

Look, not every Hollywood executive has already sold their soul to the devil, like there's a first time for everything. So every new hit that shouldn't have been, a devil gets his or her wings.

[Gray Lensman]

If producers knew the answer to that question, there wouldn't be any bombs at all. Most of these things are only able to be answered in hindsight.

[Scott Taylor]

Word of mouth, social media mainly. But I don't think efforts to manipulate work, its got to be real opinions from trusted people.

[Mister Mets]

Timing often plays a major role.

Super Mario Bros. came during a shortage of animated films geared towards kids.

Marketing can matter.

I was leaving a theater yesterday, and there was some Barbie promotion where people wore pink and took photos by displays.

Sound of Freedom benefitted from marketing to Middle America. It has legs because it has strong word of mouth.

[krazijoe]

Sound of Freedom benefitted from marketing to Middle America. It has legs because it has strong word of mouth.

I never heard of it till all the hubbub about it and I am as middle America as they come...

[useridgoeshere]

Sound of Freedom benefitted from not just marketing to conservatives and evangelicals but by having bulk buying by certain political and religious groups. They also established the 'pay it forward' system. And, they tapped into the Hispanic market (they make a large percentage of the audience). They made it an event, but also made it possible for a lot of people to see it for free without the studio or box office losing out by discounting (like they did with 80 for Brady, where they discounted to attract older audiences). It also helped that it's gotten good reviews from critics and great reviews from audiences, so being a good movie usually helps.

[Scott Taylor]

Sound of Freedom benefitted from not just marketing to conservatives and evangelicals but by having bulk buying by certain political and religious groups. They also established the 'pay it forward' system. And, they tapped into the Hispanic market (they make a large percentage of the audience). They made it an event, but also made it possible for a lot of people to see it for free without the studio or box office losing out by discounting (like they did with 80 for Brady, where they discounted to attract older audiences). It also helped that it's gotten good reviews from critics and great reviews from audiences, so being a good movie usually helps.

It was also promoted heavily through streaming channels geared towards a Christian audience. But it seems to be getting good word of mouth too, in general.

[KurtW95]

Super Mario Bros. came during a shortage of animated films geared towards kids.

I think it was also because it was a decent movie and was directed at fans of the franchise. There have actually been quite a few movies in that genre that were duds because they were just really bad. But I wish Marvel and DC would understand that directing their content to the hardcore fans and being faithful only grows their audience. I don't know much about Mario, but I love that they were so great on that aspect and it made me want to learn more. Adaptions like recent MCU installments make so many changes and mocks the classic comics often. I mean how many movies do they give the character a purposely awful version of a classic costume to mock? And making characters and their stories so much of a departure from the classic comics that the names are all they have in common. Sometimes leading to awful retcons in the comics to match the movies. Which a lot of times stems from movie and TV writers thinking they know better than the greats. And can improve upon the characters that they were asked to bring to life onscreen.

[Batgrayson]

Wonder Woman didn't gross over 1 billion, it made 822 millions, being just behind BvS and Aquaman, if we only talk about the DCEU. I agree WW was a better movie, too.

[Zauriel]

Timing often plays a major role.

Super Mario Bros. came during a shortage of animated films geared towards kids.

Marketing can matter.

Not just towards kids but also adult fans, including parents, who used to play Super mario video game as kids. Remember the video game was invented in the mid-1980's. That was almosty 40 years ago. And the video game was very popular in America and the rest of the world.

[CliffHanger2]

Branding, honest marketing (you get what you pay for not bait and switch) Traditional story-telling. I think most hits have those things in common.

[Bunch of Coconuts]

I never heard of it till all the hubbub about it and I am as middle America as they come...

You're probably not the "right kind" of Middle America, then.

[Mister Mets]

Not just towards kids but also adult fans, including parents, who used to play Super mario video game as kids. Remember the video game was invented in the mid-1980's. That was almosty 40 years ago. And the video game was very popular in America and the rest of the world.

An additional thing is that this is a top-tier IP that was not overexposed in film.

Barbie seems to be having a fantastic opening weekend, and that's a brand that hasn't been in film yet.

[ed2962]

If producers knew the answer to that question, there wouldn't be any bombs at all. Most of these things are only able to be answered in hindsight.

Exactly this.