The surprising successes among movies and TV shows in 2024

Yes, Tim Burton is a successful director, and “Beetlejuice” is a popular film that had cultural legs. However, “Beetlejuice” also came out in 1988. The idea of a sequel had been gestating for years, and Burton had not exactly been on fire over the last stretch of time. It was entirely possible “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” would fall flat, or maybe make its money back but be a forgettable, culturally-insignificant legacy sequel. Instead, while the film is only pretty good in terms of quality, it made $451.1 million worldwide, including $294.1 million domestically. It beat out “Dune: Part Two” and “Kung Fu Panda 4” domestically, which is well beyond expectations.

We mention this phrase with some regularity, but “Dumpuary” is the term used to describe the January-and-February movie landscape when studios will dump films into theaters they don’t expect to do well, or that they think will be critically panned but could succeed in an unchallenging theatrical environment. Every year, one movie emerges as the top dog of Dumpuary. In 2024, that movie was “The Beekeeper.” It’s a mindless Jason Statham revenge movie, but in January people were itching for that. The film made $152.7 million on a budget of $40 million, making for a proper Dumpuary hit.

Sure, Zendaya is a famous person, but would “Challengers” really sell? Luca Guadignino doesn’t make broad crowd pleasers, and Zendaya fans could just catch her in “Dune: Part Two” instead of a tennis-centric love-triangle movie. “Challengers” wasn’t a huge hit, but it made almost $100 million while also earning award love. That includes four Golden Globe nominations.

How do you measure a surprising hit on Netflix? Mostly through buzz and think pieces and social media, all things considered. Glen Powell had “Twisters,” which got a traditional release, but what about the romantic comedy he made alongside his buddy Richard Linklater? What about the smaller film where Powell plays a guy who pretends to be a hit man for the police to catch criminals in sting operations? “Hit Man” became the pet cause of the “They don’t make movies like this for adults anymore!” crowd, and Powell got a Golden Globe nomination.

Sequels abound, and original ideas are rare. Even movies that aren’t sequels are usually built upon well-known I.P. they can coast off of. “The Wild Robot” is based off of a novel, but not a famous one. Success was far from a given, but “The Wild Robot” was critically adored (keep it in mind for your Best Animated Feature winner pick for Oscar pools) and made $323.1 million. Every animated film to make more money is a sequel.

Sometimes it feels like a movie generates enthusiasm from fans who want to immediately canonize it into the cult classic lexicon. “Longlegs” is that film for 2024. It’s a horror movie that features Nicolas Cage in a prominent role, so it’s not surprising that “Longlegs” has a cult-adjacent fan base. That made it a huge success for Neon, though. Made for under $10 million, “Longlegs” made $127 million and thus is considered the most-successful independent movie of the year.

“Conclave” hasn’t been a massive success in any major direction yet, but a strong success in a few ways. The film has doubled its budget, even if it didn’t break any box office records. It’s gotten strong buzz and word of mouth as a movie to check out. “Conclave” is getting a lot of awards buzz, with six nominations at the Golden Globes (and unsurprisingly six nods from the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards). All this for a dialog-heavy thriller about the process of electing the next Pope.

People love Hugh Grant. That’s the main takeaway from the success of “Heretic.” Frankly, to us it’s one of those horror movies with an over-the-top premise that makes us miss movies like the original “Halloween” when it’s just about some dude in a mask killing a few people. Nevertheless, clearly the interest was there. In addition to blowing away its $10-million budget, Grant got himself a Golden Globes nomination and might eke out an Oscar nod. Because, like we said, people love Hugh Grant.

Onto television! Every year it feels like one new game show grabs people. That appears to be “The Floor” in 2024. It’s bombastic, bright and shiny, and features Rob Lowe as the host. Plus, it’s easy enough for people to play along with at home. “The Floor” debuted at the start of 2024. Its second season started airing in September. Yes, “The Floor” has gotten multiple seasons in a single year.

A lot of people had probably never read the 1975 novel, or seen the 1980 miniseries. “Shogun” debuted on FX in 2024 and was initially intended to be another limited, one-off series like the 1980 version. Those plans changed, and that makes sense. “Shogun” became adored, and even heavily memed. Then, it won 18 Emmys. Yes, 18 Emmys. That includes Outstanding Drama Series. “Shogun” is assuredly the biggest success story in TV for 2024, and that was certainly not the predicted outcome.

Other than “Ted Lasso” and maybe “The Morning Show,” Apple TV+ hasn’t really had many hits. “Bad Monkey” has a weird name, but it did have Vince Vaughn. Of course, the reason why Vaughn was doing a TV show was because his movie stardom had waned. “Bad Monkey” was not a phenomenon, per se, but it went from a “What’s this?” to a “Hey, this is fun.” People were happy to see Vaughn doing his thing again, and there may even be a second season. While other Apple+ offerings like “Palm Royale,” “Manhunt,” and “Sugar” seemed to fall short of expectations, “Bad Monkey” exceeded them.

If people are talking about a comedy on basic cable, it has essentially inherently exceeded expectations. This is a truly rare circumstance these days. FX’s “English Teacher” was able to do that, though. It earned plaudits, critical acclaim, and, well, attention. Again, for a show that originates on basic cable.

Maybe the power of nostalgia should have made it clear that “X-Men ‘97” would hit. On the other hand, it’s a 2024 continuation of a ‘90s X-Men cartoon. Sure, the Millennials would check in, but would they stick around? “X-Men ‘97” proved no novelty. Disney+ claims it was watched by a ton of people, which we can’t verify, but it did get critical acclaim, earned a second season, and even has a third season in development.

Occasionally network sitcoms will have legs these days. “St. Denis Medical,” a workplace comedy set in an underfunded Oregon hospital, shot its pilot in 2022 but then due to the strikes was delayed until 2024. That put it behind the eight ball. So far, though, “St. Denis Medical” has gotten reasonable ratings for modern times and has gotten good reviews. It earned a full-season pickup, which is truly far from a given these days. “St. Denis Medical” may stick around, and that definitely did not seem like a given, or even likely, after that delay. We just wish it wasn’t a mockumentary. Let’s put that style of sitcom on ice for a minute, okay?

Why do we have “Young Sheldon,” a show that debuted in 2017, as one of the surprises of 2024? Let’s reflect. When it debuted as a spinoff of “The Big Bang Theory,” it was dismissed out of hand. It was a joke. What if Sheldon was young? It proved quite successful and got to end its run on its own terms. Not only did “Young Sheldon” earn some larger cultural attention in 2024 as it headed toward its series finale, the show’s world is continuing. “George and Mandy’s First Marriage,” a spinoff, debuted in 2024 as well. The cultural impact of “Young Sheldon” here in 2024 was a surprise.

“The Connors” only exists because Roseanne Barr proved an unsustainable TV presence. The show could have easily not happened, much less succeeded. It’s “Roseanne” without Roseanne. So what did 2024 bring for “The Connors.” Well, it aired its 100th episode. It entered syndication. It was given a seventh, and final, season in 2025 to end on its own terms. If you haven’t been watching “The Connors,” you may have assumed it was a flop, that it was already done, that it never even existed in the first place. Instead, it’s a modern sitcom success story.