Sleeper hit

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A sleeper hit (often simply called a "sleeper") refers to an underestimated film, book, video game, or album that gains unexpected success or recognition.

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Films

In terms of a sleeper film, success generally refers to box office success, such as that achieved by the low budget The Blair Witch Project. A film might also gain sleeper status through critical or industry recognition, as was the case with Babe, an unassuming children's movie that surprisingly garnered seven Academy Award nominations. A sleeper film can also be one that is not initially successful, but over time surprises people by becoming so. For example, There's Something About Mary had a predictable release, but gained notoriety through word of mouth, and grew to top the weekend box office on its 8th week of release.

Since they aren't expected to do tremendously well, sleeper films often lack the sort of pre-release advertising given to the big budget films that are expected to become blockbusters. So the sleeper hit instead relies on positive word of mouth and publicity generated by awards, such as the Academy Awards or Golden Globes. As a sleeper film generates positive reviews it will often receive a boost from news media publicity. It might also receive publicity through controversy, such as Fahrenheit 9/11. Many popular cult films have become sleepers due to their base of loyal yet underestimated fans, such as the cult classic Highlander.

Studios will catch on quickly to a sleeper's potential, and belatedly increase its advertising budget accordingly. Usually a movie's status as a sleeper hit is well known by the time it reaches home video, so its home video sales are expected to be high. Sometimes, however, a movie doesn't reach sleeper status until it reaches home video, such as Austin Powers.

A sleeper hit does not necessarily have to make a lot of revenue, it just needs to achieve a high degree of success relative to expectations. However, the term is generally not used to refer to large budget movies, even those that defy their expectations, such as 1997's Titanic. The term is fairly subjective, so many movies are informally referred to as sleepers. Sometimes even an unreleased movie is advertised as a sleeper.

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Examples

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Books

In publishing, success is usually measured by reaching the bestseller lists. Sleeper books are usually released by an unknown (often first-time) author, are not widely publicized on release, and may not sell well at first. However, sleeper books gain recognition by word-of-mouth and this leads to sales increases. They can be promoted by independent booksellers, book clubs, or literary awards.

A good example is Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. This book by a first-time novelist was released with a modest print run of 25,000. It received good reviews and was initially promoted by small booksellers and word-of-mouth. The book won the 1997 National Book Award, spent 45 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, sold over a million copies in hardback alone, and was adapted for film in 2003.

An increase in sales may push the book onto the bestseller list long after its release date. For example, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood reached the bestseller lists two years after it was initially released. This contrasts with the usual pattern of bestsellers by recognized authors, where sales are high upon release but fall off sharply after a short time.

The original Harry Potter books began as sleeper hits, only reaching high profile with the third in the series.

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Examples

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Other media

Unexpectedly successful video games such as Katamari Damacy, Animal Crossing, The Sims, and Mashed or albums such as Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill can also be described as sleeper hits. Joss Whedon's Firefly, a cancelled television show aired in 2002 on Fox received very little coverage at the time of its broadcast, but subsequent to its cancellation the DVD box set sold in massive numbers (and remains one of the most purchased items on Amazon.com), leading to the filming and release of Serenity in 2005, a movie which concludes the series.

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See also

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External links

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