Movies that came out of nowhere

[WOM]

Irwin Winkler writes a lot about the making of Rocky in his book A Life In Movies, which is worth reading.

[San Bernardhinault]

It seems to me that a large number of foreign films that win an Oscar and/or do big box office fall into this category, at least if one qualifies "famous" as "among US audiences).

So Parasite, obviously, but also films like Amelie, The Artist, Life is Beautiful or Cinema Paradisio.

For me it wasn't Amelie, but Delicatessen.That really came out of the blue.

[Ginger Yellow]

I read that Amazon especially is hoping to revive that spirit by picking up more films like Vast of Night at festivals. Netflix is making a lot of stuff, but I don't know if they plan to buy a lot of stuff and be the primary or sole distribution for it.

Yeah, they've picked up a bunch of movies already. Not exactly an indie movie, but it's what happened to The Cloverfield Paradox. Here's the list for this year's Sundance, where they picked up three movies.

[Hot Pepsi]

That link doesn't work, unfortunately.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Virtually all non-English speaking films that do well in the English speaking world come from "nowhere" so far as the movie industry is concerned. As do English speaking films from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and so on.

[Hot Pepsi]

Trainspotting was like that. I saw it just because I liked the trailer. I did t recognize anyone in it or know anything else by Danny Boyle and wasn’t familiar with Irving Welsh. I was blown away. It was one of those “I didn’t know you could do this” kind of films.


That’s not as common as it used to be, because the director and/or stars are usually known I their own country and therefore known among US critics and movie nerds with blogs. There’s a lot more coverage of the festivals. And these films now show up on Amazon rather than only a few theaters.


Pi is an extreme example. It was Aranovsky’s first feature. He made it for $60k by getting friends and family to buy $100 shares. He filmed around NYC without any permits.

[Patrick Thistle]

Seems crazy now, but Toy Story was a real gamble back in 1996. It had 2 reasonably well known voice actors in it, but they were paid virtually nothing for their parts, and the backing of Disney. But it was computer animation and there was no knowing how audiences would react. And it blew up - the toys were phenomenally popular, it made Pixar Studios into a household name, it paved the way for animated films to become an Oscar category. And now Disney don't do traditional "flat" animation any more. It transformed an entire moribund industry.

[Simon G]

I remember going to the cinema in Gloucester to watch Toy Story. The showing we (myself and 3 mates) wanted was sold out so we bought tickets for the next one. We then went into Toys R Us, which was on the same retail park, to kill the hour we had to wait.

With about 10 mins until the showing we wandered back to the cinema and I realised I'd lost my ticket. I walked re-traced all my steps to no avail and I didn't have any money left on me. Fortunately, my friend bought me another ticket. We get into the screen and just before we sit down, I take my coat off and what do I find in my sleeve....the lost ticket. Cue an awkward few minutes as I tell my mates what I've just found!

The film felt like it was worth two tickets though at the time.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I remember going to the cinema in Gloucester to watch Toy Story. The showing we (myself and 3 mates) wanted was sold out so we bought tickets for the next one. We then went into Toys R Us, which was on the same retail park, to kill the hour we had to wait.

With about 10 mins until the showing we wandered back to the cinema and I realised I'd lost my ticket. I walked re-traced all my steps to no avail and I didn't have any money left on me. Fortunately, my friend bought me another ticket. We get into the screen and just before we sit down, I take my coat off and what do I find in my sleeve....the lost ticket. Cue an awkward few minutes as I tell my mates what I've just found!

The film felt like it was worth two tickets though at the time.

I wouldn't have admitted to finding it, not just for the initial awkwardness but for fear of my friends calling me "Two Tickets" for the rest of our lives. "Lost Ticket" doesn't have the same ring to it.

[3 Colours Red]

CGI was in a weird place in the mid-90s: it was absolutely everywhere yet somehow still seen as a curio. You'd still get TV shows and video specials full of company showreels, explaining what it was.

I remember seeing Andrew Stanton being interviewed about it and he said he really didn't think that audiences would react positively to 70/80/90 minutes' worth of computer animation at all, but he knew that Pixar had to break free of just doing commercials, shorts and SFX.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Several in the horror genre:

Blood Feast
Night of the Living Dead
Friday the 13th
Last House on the Left

[elguapo4]

You forgot about the daddy of them all, Evil Dead.

[Ginger Yellow]

I'd argue most good horror movies come out of nowhere.

[Snake Plissken]

Friday the 13th was just walking the path made by Halloween, with an extra helping of exploitation and cynicism. (No doubt helped by the writer and directors involvement in LHotL.)

[Stumpy Pepys]

You forgot about the daddy of them all, Evil Dead.

I didn't include it because the 'teenagers alone in the woods' trope wasn't new. Although at the same time, the execution was searingly original.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Friday the 13th was just walking the path made by Halloween, with an extra helping of exploitation and cynicism. (No doubt helped by the writer and directors involvement in LHotL.)

Sorry, I meant to write Halloween. My bad.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Not rally my bag but IIRC The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came from right out of left field.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Billy Jack should probably have a place here though, strictly speaking, it didn't emerge from nowhere. It is still, I think, the highest grossing independent film of all time but seems to have dropped out of sight these days.

[Ginger Yellow]

To elaborate on the horror point, I don't think I was previously familiar with the directors/cast of any of the following:


It Follows
It Comes At Night
Let The Right One In (Swedish)
The Babadook
Lake Mungo
Thelma