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{{trope}}
A work of literature, film or
Subtrope of [[Sleeper Hit]]; in this case, the work must be actively derided before release, not just ignored. See also [[It Will Never Catch On]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Masayuki Ozaki, the executive producer of ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', stated that just about ''no one'' expected the series to be successful (namely because of the belief that nobody would want to watch a [[Superhero]] anime with a middle-aged single father as its primary protagonist), much less become the instant [[Cash Cow Franchise]] it is now.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' was basically a last ditch attempt by [[Studio Gainax]] to stay afloat, and was not expected to turn out extremely well. An [[Urban Legend]] even claims that investors were hoping for a [[Springtime for Hitler]] situation.
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* ''[[Code Geass]]'' was the very definition of [[Troubled Production]] thanks to this trope. Director/co-creator Goro Taniguchi asked for a 50-episode series, but Bandai only gave him 25, for reasons that remain unclear.<ref>Some say they felt Taniguchi was "untested", others say it's because he's a perfectionist and somewhat hard to work with</ref> Even then, the staff had limited resources and had to piggy-back off of other Bandai shows in production at the time. When the show took off and became the Next Big Thing, Bandai was quick to embrace it, though unlike [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] and ''[[Gundam]]'', Taniguchi and fellow co-creator Ichiro Okouchi were smart enough to hold onto the rights.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Spider-Man]]''. At the time Stan Lee went to publish Spider-Man, teens were usually portrayed as sidekicks (i.e., Robin, Bucky) and weren't seen as solo heroes. An exec even commented on the concept because most people don't like spiders, and would be turned off by the character. [[Marvel Comics]] even put Spidey's debut story in ''Amazing Fantasy #15'' because that title had already been cancelled, and this was its last issue. However, Spider-Man beat the odds and became Marvel's flagship hero as well as one of the most well-known superheroes of all time next to the likes of Batman and Superman, going so far as to team up with both of them more than once.
* [[Harley Quinn]] is one of the most successful cases of an [[Ascended Extra]]s, having started out as an intended one-shot character in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', quickly becoming a [[Breakout Character]] and fan favorite, appearing as a supporting character and protagonist in other cartoons and other media, becoming an established part of mainstream [[DC Comics|DCU]] with several of her own limited and ongoing titles. But all that almost didn't happen. Former DC comics editor Denny O'Neil claims that, even after the character proved a success in ''BTAS'', he objected to the idea of Harley becoming a canon part of DCU, that he was "not consulted" and "would not have approved". His reasoning was, the idea of the Joker having a girlfriend ran contrary to his view of how the Joker should be depicted, that "having a girlfriend, having a sex life, seemed far too normal for him." He does admit however that in hindsight, his opinion was probably wrong.
== [[Film]] ==
* [[Walt Disney]] is the all-time master of this trope.
** Nobody but Walt expected ''[[Steamboat Willie]]'', a cartoon with synchronized sound, to get any attention.
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* [[United Artists]] did not have much faith in ''[[Dr. No]]'', giving only $1 million to the producers and releasing it in the Midwest before the big American markets. It went on to launch the still-thriving [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] film franchise.
* [[Warner Brothers]] wasn't expecting ''[[Bonnie and Clyde]]'' to work at all, but it was a megahit and helped [[New Hollywood|change the way filmmakers would depict violence]] in future works.
* A fictional example occurs in ''[[The Producers]]'': a sneaky Broadway showman and his accountant/henchman put on a play called "[[Springtime for Hitler]]" specifically BECAUSE it will flop, allowing to keep the excess money they raised but didn't need. [[Hilarity Ensues|Then they got a little
* [[Paramount]] had no expectations in ''[[The Godfather]]'', despite being based on a best seller. [[Francis Ford Coppola]] was hired only for his Italian origins, the studio gave him limited funds and complained about every decision of his. It became the highest-grossing movie ever upon release, and is frequently in "best of all time" lists.
* ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' was a quirky [[Blaxploitation]] comedy set in the Wild West. [[Executive Meddling|Warner Brothers almost didn't release it at all]] because they figured [[Audience-Alienating Premise|it just wouldn't sell]]. But it did.
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* ''[[Airplane!]]'' was the first shot at a mainstream movie by the people who made ''[[Kentucky Fried Movie]]''. With its [[Hurricane of Puns|obsession with]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|incredibly lame puns]] and its throwing of conventional plotline out the window, many believed it had box-office disaster written all over it. It became one of the highest-grossing films of 1980.
* As detailed on ''[[The Movies that Made Us]]'', the screenplay for ''[[Dirty Dancing]]'' got ''forty-two'' rejection letters before a studio agreed to invest in it. It was a "girly" movie in an era where tough male action heroes were the norm, and most saw it as a waste of time. Having practically run out of studios, writer Eleanor Bergstein and her partner Linda Gottlie brought it to Vestron Videos (a company who formerly specialized in direct-to-video releases) who agreed to give it a shot with rookie director Emile Ardolino... who'd end up winning an Oscar for it.
* ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
* ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'' is an adaptation of a 1982 short story by [[Stephen King]], who sold the film rights for only $5K, because even he felt it wouldn't work well adapted to film.
* ''[[Romancing the Stone]]''. [[Twentieth Century Fox]] was so certain that it would fail, they fired [[Robert Zemeckis]] from directing ''[[Cocoon]]''. This turned out to be a benefit: Zemeckis and his friend Bob Gale then had the freedom to pursue their pet project ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]'', and in the meantime ''Romancing the Stone'' was the surprise box-office smash of the summer of '84.
* Additionally, ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]'' was rejected by every major studio when first pitched in 1980. This caused some
* Orion Pictures had little faith in ''[[Hoosiers]]'', a film that ended up almost as successful as ''[[Platoon]]'', the other big Orion release of 1986.
* According to [[Spike Lee]], if he can make hit movies,
* ''[[Home Alone]]'' is the ultimate example: anticipated as another John Hughes concept gone awry, its cartoony slapstick combined with an unexpectedly heartwarming story won audiences over and it became the top-moneymaking comedy of all time (keeping the title until ''[[Night at the Museum]]'').
* ''[[Clerks]]'', [[Kevin Smith]]'s shoestring-budget debut, simply popped out of nowhere and made a heaping wad of cash.
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* The ''[[Napoleon Dynamite]]'' premise of sounded a bit stupid before its premiere. It became a indie sensation and "Vote for Pedro" became a catchphrase at the time of the film's release.
* ''[[Rocky Balboa]]'' was not only expected to fail at the box office but was also the butt of many jokes by comedians and film fans due to star/writer/director [[Sylvester Stallone]]'s age (he was 59 at the time of the film's release) and lack of box office success in the early part of the 2000's. Then the film was released, had positive reception from critics and audiences, managed to be a profit-making hit for the studio and gave Stallone a [[Career Resurrection]].
* A first-time director decides to shoot his own horror movie in his own house, and goes so far as to remodel his own home to use as the setting, and hire two unknown actors to play the lead characters. The film was shot in
* Before ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' was released, a lot of critics and bloggers thought it wouldn't do well because the title character wasn't as much of a household name as [[Superman]], [[Batman]], [[Spider-Man]], or the [[X-Men]]; it involved a lot of super-shiny costumes and set pieces; and it was directed by [[Kenneth Branagh|someone primarily known for Shakespearean adaptations]] who hadn't directed a big action movie before. And then it made $181 million in the U.S. and well over $300 million worldwide, was pretty well-received critically, gained an active and devoted [[Fandom]] -- and became a key foundation stone to the [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]].
* ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' is often considered [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s greatest masterpiece, but even Coppola himself did not think so while filming it. Production had so many issues - natural disasters plagued the filming, [[Marlon Brando]] showed up overweight and unprepared for filming, and [[Martin Sheen]] actually had a heart attack on the set - that Coppola contemplated suicide, fearing the film would ruin his reputation and career. Thankfully, he was ''very'' wrong.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Nathaniel Hawthorne did not expect ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]'' to be popular. It was.
* Anthony Burgess wrote his first novel, ''[[A Clockwork Orange]]'', as a form of therapy in an emotionally turbulent period in his life. He figured that once published it would be quickly forgotten, and he would turn his attentions to his next book. ''Clockwork Orange'' propelled Burgess to international fame instead.
* First editions of ''[[
* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''. No less than 12 publishers rejected ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (novel)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]''. Literary critics pigeonholed the first book as lame 1990s juvenile fantasy, destined to be forgotten. The series became some of the best-selling books in history.
* The original novel of ''[[MASH (novel)|MASH]]'' was rejected by over a dozen publishers, which was a record for the agency selling it. It eventually spawned [[M*A*S*H (film)|a movie]], numerous sequel novels and [[M*A*S*H (television)|a
* ''[[Dune]]'' was rejected by
* ''[[Animal Farm]]'' was turned down by a publisher who told George Orwell in the rejection slip, "It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA." The slip in question was from The Dial Press of New York. To quote Christopher Hitchens in response: "And this, in the land of Disney..."
* In case you need proof that most publishers thought [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Carrie]]'' would fail, King has saved all the rejection letters he got while trying to sell it. One of them said, "We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell." King himself didn't have much hope for it either, claiming in one interview that he threw the unfinished manuscript in the trash and only started work on it again after his wife fished it out and ''demanded'' he finish it.
* [[Beatrix Potter]] at first had absolutely no luck finding an editor who liked ''[[The Tale of Peter Rabbit]]''. Eventually, she used her family's wealth to publish it privately, and after some moderate success on this limited distribution, an editor was convinced that it would sell and, well, it certainly did.
* As hard as it is to believe, one publisher rejected ''[[Anne Frank: The Whole Story|Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl]]'' claiming in the rejection slip, "The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above 'curiosity' level." The name of this publisher has been lost, and more than likely, he kept quiet about it.
* The first book written by Ted Geisel (aka [[Dr. Seuss]]) was rejected ''27 times''. Publishers felt that ''To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street'' had unremarkable art, no real moral (something often required in a children's book) and even claimed it might encourage children to lie to their parents. In fact, the way it was eventually published comes close to [[Divine Intervention]], as the 27th rejection was enough for Geisel himself to believe it was a failure; he was leaving his house with the intent to go burn the manuscript when he ran into an old friend from college... Who had just become a publisher himself.
* [[Lewis Carroll]] never really considered himself an author in the first place, and never thought ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' was anything but something he wrote to read to children he was friends with. In fact, he also thought ''[[Sylvie and Bruno]]'' was a better book.
== [[Live
* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' was considered a filler for dead airspace that would quickly wear itself out and would never make a blip on the public consciousness.
* Adaptations of the Japanese franchise ''[[Super Sentai]]'' had been in [[Development Hell]] for years, and was only [[Saved From Development Hell]] by an exec who had previously made a pitch for the show herself. Even then, it was preemptively canned as soon as the season finished. Nearly twenty years later and ''[[Power Rangers]]'' is still on the air, having survived multiple [[Uncancelled|uncancellations]] and two [[Channel Hop]]s.
** While the executive that approved the show believed in it, everyone else in the industry expected it to fail.
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* When the Sci-Fi Channel first aired [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)| the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' miniseries]], fans of the original absolutely tore it to shreds, insulting the [[Gender Flip]] of Starbuck, the [[Darker and Edgier]] tone and more. Others were turned off by the name and the association to what was perceived as a hokey 70's sci-fi series. Better yet, the first season of the show was broadcast in the U.K. months before it aired on American television, and fans continued to tear into it - then, the show started to receive massive critical acclaim from critics across the world, and when the show debuted on Sci-Fi, it garnered some of the highest ratings for any sci-fi show ''in history''. It lasted four seasons and two tie-in films, and resulted in two spinoffs (''[[Caprica]]'' and the upcoming ''Blood And Chrome'').
* In late 2003/early 2004, Lloyd Braun and a few other ABC executives were fired because they had greenlighted a strange project called ''[[Lost]]''. What is ''Lost'', anyway? A rehash of ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' with a dramatic angle? And the enormous budget that somehow got approved for this thing ... worst blunder ever! Yet despite the lack of faith from top brass, ''Lost'' became an overnight sensation and producer [[J.J. Abrams]] became a household name.
* The [[The Office (2005 TV series)|U.S. adaptation]] of ''[[The Office]]'' was heavily criticized by both media pundits (for being an adaptation of a cult British series that lasted a grand total of 12 episodes and a Christmas special) and its original creator, Ricky Gervais (who feared that viewers would hesitate watching an American reworking of a British show—i.e. the American ''[[Coupling]]''). Although the show had a six-episode season, ratings fell sharply in between the premiere and season finale (due to NBC shuffling its timeslot around), and it was in danger of being cancelled (in addition to scathing reviews from major U.S. publications). However, the show quickly found a footing by differentiating itself in tone and content from the British series, and went on to become NBC's highest-rated comedy.
* The Disney TV movie ''[[High School Musical]]''. Nobody, absolutely nobody, saw its mega-popularity coming.
* In fall 2006, [[NBC]] premiered two shows set behind the scenes of a fictionalized ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. It was widely expected that ''[[30 Rock]]'' would crash and burn very quickly while ''[[Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip]]'' would go on to success and acclaim. At that time next year, ''Studio 60'' was dead and ''30 Rock'' had picked up the Emmy for Best Comedy. Two more years later, ''30 Rock'' had three Emmys for Best Comedy and ''Studio 60'' was long forgotten.
* AMC was never considered in the same league as HBO, with original shows not being up their alley ... until the double-whammy of ''[[Mad Men]]'' and ''[[Breaking Bad]]''.
* ''[[Glee]]'', a somewhat weird show (even for FOX) about Midwestern high-school misfits partaking in song-and-dance competitions, was never expected to climb high enough in viewership to make an impact, let alone end up a top TV franchise. But it did, due in large part to razor-sharp plotlines (at least in the first season), impeccable musical direction, and the one-of-a-kind acting chops of Matthew Morrison, [[Lea Michele]], [[Chris Colfer]] and Jane Lynch.
* Before it launched, the [[ITV 2]] series ''[[The Only Way Is Essex]]'' was pretty much universally derided as a pointless knock-off of a more serious but otherwise similar series on [[Channel 4]] called ''Seven Days''. Not only did TOWIE become an unexpected hit, but who even remembers ''Seven Days'' now?
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' was [[Gallows Humor|so named]] because Squaresoft thought it would close its doors after shipping the game. Today, [[Square Enix]] enjoys strong sales and a fan base best described as both rabid and numerous. The series is a massive commercial success, though it does not always receive critical praise. Most of the early games are considered classics, even by those who do not like the JRPG genre.
** The name wasn't a judgement on the game but the state of the company. Square needed ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'' to be a '''major''' success in order for the company to remain open, so this is an example of a company scale And You Thought It Would Fail.
*** All of the above is a long-standing [[Urban Legend of Zelda|Urban legend]]. [https://www.famitsu.com/news/201505/24079276.html The truth] is that Hironobu Sakaguchi, the game's director, wanted a name with [[Added Alliterative Appeal]], and "[[Fighting Fantasy]]" was already taken.
* Before its release, Nintendo and [[Retro Studios|Retro]] made so many controversial choices with ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' that no one, not even levelheaded fans and critics, were kind to it. First off, Nintendo letting [[Retro Studios|Retro]], an unproven American studio, develop the game rather than doing it themselves. Second, making it in 3D which many expected but was still a controversial choice especially given how many franchises started to crumble with that jump the gen before it. Finally, making it first-person was thought to be the final nail in the coffin for the game having any hopes of being good and feeling like ''[[Metroid]]''. When it came out, not only did everyone feel like it was a true ''Metroid'' game, it and its two sequels are generally considered to be among the greatest games of all time.
* Combining Square and Disney's ability to pull this off, when people first heard about ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', a game where a Square character travels with Donald and Goofy, most people thought it was going to be a quirky kids game and that's it. Instead it was a huge success and became Square's second biggest series (right under ''[[Final Fantasy]]'').
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* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker]]'' introduced a radical [[Art Shift]] to a new cel-shaded style that was met with massive backlash on reveal; the [[Fan Nickname]] "Celda" was used derogatorily. This is especially due to prior promotional renders of the new ''Zelda'' game showing an update of the fairly realistic style used in the [[Nintendo 64]] games. Upon release, it was hailed as one of the [[Game Cube]]'s most popular releases and no less than three games followed it that starred Toon Link, as the protagonist of this style is known in ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]''.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* A Christmas movie for television using stop-motion puppets was a strange concept on the part of [[NBC]] and [[Rankin Bass]], the studio they hired to make ''[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]''. Instead of being completely ignored, however, ''Rudolph'' proved to be a huge hit.
* ''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'' was considered almost radioactive by [[CBS]]. To them, an animated special with actual children doing the voices, a jazz soundtrack, and a Bible recitation seemed a ludicrous recipe for TV disaster. Instead, it became the ''greatest'' [[Christmas Special]] of them all.
* Very few people expected ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' to make a successful transition from skits on ''[[The Tracey Ullman Show]]'' to a half-hour show of its own. It did, and has lasted longer than any sitcom ever made.
* ''[[Beast Wars]]'', so very much; it was expected to fail so hard due to the [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|massive amount of changes]] to the ''[[Transformers]]'' formula, the [[Fan Dumb]] cry of "[[Memetic Mutation|Trukk not Munky!]]" is burned into all Transfans' minds. Turns out, the quality of the show probably saved the franchise from dying out, and became the standard for what all future western-made ''Transformers'' would be based on.
* ''[[South Park]]'' of all things, started out miserably
* When the pilot for ''[[Adventure Time]]'' was shown, many people thought it would be an utter failure. Years later, the show has a huge fan base and has had good reviews from critics.
* ''[[Disney]]'' has an impressive record for giving shows a second chance after other companies rejected them:
** ''[[The Proud Family]]'' was originally developed for [[Nickelodeon]], but they were displeased with the final product. Disney, however, took interest, and it became the Disney Channel’s first original series, eventually resulting in a movie and a follow-up series on Disney +.
** ''[[Pepper Ann]]'' (a creation by [[Sue Rose]], the first woman to create an animated Disney show), another show rejected by Nickelodeon that Disney gave a chance, plus giving Rose the chance to work with her old friends to script it. The result was a groundbreaking series with an all-female cast of relatable characters.
** [[Daron Nefcy]] was the ''second'' woman to create an animated show for Disney, and the third overall, but the first version of her show was rejected by [[Cartoon Network]]. After a few tweeks and edits, and a few suggestions from Disney execs, they gave it a chance, and the hit series ''[[Star vs. the Forces of Evil]]'' was born.
** ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' was repeatedly rejected by [[Fox]] and [[Cartoon Network]] over the course of 16 years before Disney picked it up.
** Veteran writers Bill Motts and Bob Roth first got the idea for ''[[The Ghost and Molly McGee]]'' (with the working title ''The Curse of Piper McGee'') in 2007. Despite being longtime contributors for Disney, they pitched it to [[Nickelodeon]], and it was rejected. They shelved the idea, worked on some other projects, and then pitched it again, this time to their bosses, and 14 years after the initial pitch, it debuted, gaining praise from critics and viewers alike for its premise and overly-optimistic protagonist.
* Creator [[Maxwell Adams]] first used the characters in ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy]]'' for his college thesis. He later pitched a show using them (the plot involving Billy and Mandy making a [[Deal with the Devil]]) to [[Hanna-Barbera]]; they rejected it, but [[Cartoon Network]] saw potential and convinced Adams to replace the Devil with the Grim Reaper, possibly seeing him as a [[But Not Too Evil|less evil alternative]] . In 2000, the show was the winner of their Big Picks Viewer Poll and debuted (along with ''[[Evil Con Carne]]'') in ''Grim and Evil'', before becoming its own series.
* ''[[The Amazing World of Gumball]]'' was the result of a mishmash of previously proposed and rejected characters and plots by creator Ben Buckley, who eventually suggested them as one cartoon during a brainstorming session with other [[Cartoon Network]] employees. The series has gained critical acclaim and push for an animated movie, which sadly is, as of 2023, still in [[Development Hell]].
* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' was originally a short broadcast on [[Nicktoons Network]] that went viral online with the network itself disowning it quickly. [[Cartoon Network]] saw potential in the dark comedy, but still rejected the first storyboard they were presented, but accepted the second.
* ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' started out as a pornographic parody of ''[[Back to the Future]]'' that creator Justin Royland submitted to the Channel 101 Film Festival; it was panned and rejected by festival goers. (To be blunt, anyone who thinks the end result is controversial should see these shorts… [[So Bad It's Horrible|on second thought, maybe they shouldn’t.]]) He did, however, gain the attention of one of the festival's co-founders, Dan Harmond; when Harmond was asked to design a series for Cartoon Network’s [[Adult Swim]], he called Royland to ask for ideas. The two characters were recycled into the familiar Rick and Morty, and the show kind of grew around them.
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