Surprising hit movies that got unexpected sequels

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is one of the foremost tales of cinematic Cinderellas. Nia Vardalos, an unknown actor, was doing a one-woman show about her life. Rita Wilson saw it and liked it. She then recommended it to her husband, Tom Hanks, and the two came on board to produce a movie version written by and starring Vardalos. Made for a budget of $5 million, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” got good word of mouth and ended up making over $350 million even though it never was the number-one movie at the box office. This would lead to two sequel films, and also a TV spinoff (that was unsuccessful, but even so).

Sometimes you see “Paranormal Activity” as having a 2007 release. That’s because that is when Oren Peli was screening his found-footage horror film at festivals. This version cost a mere $15,000 to make. Paramount liked it and gave Peli $200,000 to modify it and clean it up a bit for a big-screen release in 2009. “Paranormal Activity” was a hit, and the style of film was so obviously set up to yield low-budget sequels. Thus, there have been six sequels, some of them pretty good.

A movie based on an article in “Vibe” magazine does not scream blockbuster franchise. It wasn’t supposed to be. The first movie is a low-stakes action flick featuring familiar faces, but not big names, in Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Since “The Fast and the Furious” was a hit, Universal decided to try the sequel thing, but not in the way things would become. Diesel didn’t return, for starters, and the idea was more to do low-budget movies with actors on reasonable contracts within the same street racing realm. Eventually, it would somehow become a globe-trotting, overcranked action franchise.

Eventually, James Cameron would morph into “Big Jim,” the guy who could say, “Screw you, I’m going to make two ‘Avatar’ sequels at once using technology I played a part in inventing,” and have it work out. He’s never lacked for confidence, though, which was necessary to get “The Terminator” made back in the day. He had only directed a “Piranha” sequel he wanted to take his name off of, but he, and co-writer and co-producer Gale Anne Hurd, did not mess around. “The Terminator” is a wonderfully nasty horror film that begat a successful action franchise. Cameron and Hurd got married in 1985 and divorced in 1989, which is on brand for both of them.

We know it is a hard sell for studio executives and movie producers, but sometimes you just want to say to them, “C’mon guys, just take the win and let things be.” “The Blair Witch Project” supercharged the found-footage genre as the internet was burgeoning as a factor in day-to-day life. It became a massive success and a true cultural phenomenon. It also, in no way, shape, or form, lent itself to a sequel. That didn’t stop an attempt for a quickie cash-in sequel in 2000, or a quasi-reimagining in 2016, though.

George Miller was an Australian doctor who decided, “Why not make a contemplative post-apocalyptic movie?” He did that all in his native Australia on a minimal budget and ended up with “Mad Max,” which became a success in the United States and turned Mel Gibson into a burgeoning movie star. Working with more and more budget, Miller would craft “Mad Max” sequels of his own devising, culminating in “Fury Road,” which many consider the best action movie ever made.

John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13,” which is essentially a zombie movie but the zombies are living Los Angeles gang members, was shockingly not a hit. For a movie featuring a girl buying ice cream getting shot dead in the chest for no reason (it’s a good movie, though)! “Halloween” was able to tap into the horror genre, and the still fairly new slasher sub-genre. In fact, “Halloween” would codify much of the slasher motifs in the United States. It would also yield a frankly unreasonable number of sequels, but John Carpenter can cash those checks, smoke weed, and watch the NBA, so he’s good.

At the time of the production of “The Hangover,” the guy attached to the movie with the most film cache was director Todd Phillips. The raunchy comedy was headlined by three guys, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis, who were maybe familiar, but not stars. It’s “The Hangover” that made all of them, for a time, movie stars. It also led to two sequels, one super successful and one less successful but fascinating because it feels like it has an undertone of “It’s dumb that you liked these movies so much.”

You may have some conception of, “Okay yeah Paul Hogan played this Australian guy Crocodile Dundee, he told people what a knife is, and it was pretty successful.” However, “Crocodile Dundee” was a MASSIVE hit. It was the second-highest-grossing movie in the United States, and in the world, for 1986. That’s how big Paul Hogan’s broad Australian caricature was. There was a quick cash-in sequel in 1988, and then in 2001 Mr. Dundee went to Los Angeles, and that one was a fiasco.

“Die Hard” was not expected to be a hit. Alan Rickman was a complete unknown. Bruce Willis was, like, the 50th choice to play John McClane. People who saw the trailer laughed that the guy from “Moonlighting” was starring in an action movie. Willis wasn’t even on the original posters. The secret sauce was that “Die Hard” rules and is maybe the best action movie ever made. Nobody would laugh at the idea of Willis starring in an action movie again, and the “Die Hard” sequels kept rolling out.

Sacha Baron Cohen wasn’t really known in the United States in the 2000s. Borat wasn’t his most notable character at the time, either. If people knew Cohen, it was as Ali G, but 2002’s film “Ali G Indahouse” had been more or less a flop. “Borat” became a cultural phenomenon. “Bruno” is kind of a “Borat” sequel, since Cohen never would have gotten to make it if “Borat” hadn’t hit. However, on top of that, there is “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” which was a sequel that was legitimately a surprise when it arrived.

At the time he was directing “Jaws,” the most significant thing that Steven Spielberg had directed was the first proper episode of “Columbo.” The movie had a budget of $9 million, which even in 1975 was not a lot. The production was famously fraught. Of course, the reason the troubled production is so well-known is because “Jaws” became a massive success that put Spielberg on the path to being the biggest director in the world. Sure, every “Jaws” sequel is bad, but the fact they made any of them speaks to the success of the first one.

Now, you may be one of the folks who got motion-sick trying to watch “Cloverfield,” but the movie was a hit. The actors were largely not notable names, but the marketing was handled shrewdly. There was intrigue about this whole “Cloverfield” thing, leading to a film that made $172.4 million worldwide. Both of the sequels try different things, and the one that works is “10 Cloverfield Lane.”

“Taken” was released on Super Bowl weekend. That’s not when you release a movie you think is going to be successful. It’s Liam Neeson in some tossed-off trashy thriller. Maybe it would turn a quick profit. Somehow, it ended up completely changing the direction of Neeson’s career? He became the grizzled action guy who makes tossed-off trashy thrillers with gusto. That includes the two sequels to “Taken.”

Never underestimate the power of being Adam Sandler’s friend. Kevin James was a sitcom star, but if Sandler hadn’t been down to produce “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” it probably doesn’t get made. Even so, it was released in January and screamed “Dumpuary” release, the term used when discussing movies studios drop in January and February just to be rid of them and maybe recoup some of their outlay during the down months for movie going. Instead, “Blart” made $183 million, which was enough to earn one sequel. But just one. Even Sandler’s cache can only do so much.

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is wonderfully nasty and proved surprisingly influential. It also presaged found-footage horror in a way, as the film was presented as being based on a real story. That being said, it would have been reasonable to assume the ceiling for this low-budget horror movie with snuff film aesthetics would be a cult classic. Instead, it became a seminal horror movie that not only got sequels but multiple remakes.

“The Silence of the Lambs” won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. We assure you none of that was expected. Not only is the story dark as all get out – and in a pulpy way, not an Oscar bait way – but it was released in February. It was basically, in ethos and perception, an elevated “Taken.” The budget was only $19 million! Instead, it became a huge hit, an Oscar winner, and a movie with multiple sequels. Also, it is a totally pointless prequel.

We end with the film that started the biggest movie franchise in history. Anybody who tells you they knew what “Star Wars” would yield is engaging in pure self-aggrandizement. Yes, George Lucas’ “American Graffiti” had been a success, but to go from a slice-of-life dramedy to a sci-fi epic? One with a cast of largely unknown actors where the biggest name on screen was Alec Guinness? The budget was $11 million, that was because it went $3 million over budget. A lot of the people who worked on it figured it would be a failure. Yeah. We don’t need to tell you what actually happened.