A sleeper hit, also known as a surprise hit, sleep-killer or sleeper, refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition. Sleeper hits often grow in popularity over time as people promote them through word-of-mouth marketing.
Some sleeper hits achieve unexpected success at the box office immediately upon their initial theatrical release, but this is not typical. Because these films are not e...
More
A sleeper hit, also known as a surprise hit, sleep-killer or sleeper, refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition. Sleeper hits often grow in popularity over time as people promote them through word-of-mouth marketing.
Some sleeper hits achieve unexpected success at the box office immediately upon their initial theatrical release, but this is not typical. Because these films are not expected to do particularly well they often receive little promotion or advertising and take time to register with the public. Typically the sleeper hit relies instead on positive "word of mouth" as well as the publicity generated by awards and good reviews. Two good examples of these are Mike Judge's Office Space and Idiocracy, both of which quickly became cult classics. The movie Caddyshack is another good example.
Thus sleeper films often attract the most viewers in the latter part of their theatrical releases. There's Something About Mary...
Less
