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Sleeper hit
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A sleeper hit (often simply called a "sleeper") refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition.
Sleeper films
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.
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Encyclopedia
A sleeper hit (often simply called a "sleeper") refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition.
Sleeper films
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.
Thus sleeper films often attract the most viewers in the latter part of their theatrical releases. There's Something About Mary had a small release, but gained notoriety through word of mouth, and grew to top the weekend box office on its 8th week of release. Studios have become more adept at promoting sleeper success at the box office, gradually increasing the number of screens and amount of advertising devoted to a promising film over several weeks (as opposed to a traditional pre-release advertising blitz). This strategy was used to great success by the promoters of Little Miss Sunshine and Brokeback Mountain. Some sleeper hits fail completely at the box office but succeed later on video as cult films through positive word of mouth reviews communicated between fans in particular social networks or demographics.
A sleeper hit does not necessarily have to create 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 unreleased movies are advertised as sleepers.
Examples
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, written 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.
At least in the UK, Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones only became a huge bestseller at least a year after its publication, following indifferent or mixed reviews upon its first release. Word of mouth and promotion by televised reading groups facilitated such an explosion in sales and readership.
The original Harry Potter books began as sleeper hits, only reaching high profile with the third in the series.
Novelist Mario Puzo wrote The Godfather, with the intention of creating a bestseller. As the screenplay was being developed, the book grew rapidly in popularity, eventually topping the bestseller charts, far beyond anyone's expectations.
Examples
Other media
Unexpectedly successful video games such as Katamari Damacy, Gitaroo Man, Rayman, Guitar Hero, Animal Crossing, Riviera: The Promised Land , Phantom Dust , The Sims, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Indigo Prophecy, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, Burnout, Metal Arms: Glitch In the System, and the PC game Homeworld can also be described as sleeper hits.
Another type of sleeper hit is a single or album that is released by an unknown artist with little publicity, but proceeds to gain large sales. For example, Alanis Morissette's first international album Jagged Little Pill entered the Billboard Music Charts at position 117 and reached the top 10 in its 6th week. However, it spent 69 consecutive weeks in the top 10 and has sold 30 million copies worldwide. Another example is Nirvana's Nevermind, which surpassed all expectations and became one of the most popular albums of the 90s, launching the band into worldwide popularity. One other example may be artist Lady GaGa whose song Just Dance was released in the USA in May of 2008. However the song, and Lady GaGa herself would not become popular in the United States, until late October of 2008. However in other countries like Canada, and Australia she rose to pop superstardom early in 2008. Her song Just Dance hit number on the American Billboard Hot 100 chart in January of 2009. The song is now considered an American sleeper hit.
Joss Whedon's Firefly, a television show aired in 2002 by Fox Broadcasting Company, received very little coverage at the time of its broadcast and was canceled after only 11 episodes. However, subsequent to its cancellation, the DVD box set sold in massive numbers and remains one of the most purchased items on Amazon.com. This led to the filming and release of Serenity, a movie concluding the series, which achieved critical acclaim and modest box office success.
The NBC sitcom Seinfeld premiered in 1989 with little success. It originally didn't make it into NBC's schedule and was about to be canceled (because of lack of success and the content of the show) but 4 more episodes for the first season were given to complete the NBC schedule. NBC would give Seinfeld three seasons from 1990-1992 and although acclaimed, didn't even make the top 30 shows. However, with positive reviews, word of mouth, Emmy Award wins, and a time slot move to 9:30pm Thursday nights after the hit sitcom Cheers, Seinfeld gained significant ratings and became a part of the top 30 in its fourth season, and eventually became the #1 show. Today, ten years after the finale, Seinfeld remains one of the most syndicated programs and one of the biggest DVD hits, some calling it the greatest sitcom ever on TV.
The TV show Project Runway on the bravo network, is another example of a sleeper hit. When the show first started, it was not expected to be as popular as it is. Now, it is Bravo's most successful show since Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and has been nominated for several Emmys. Project Runway has also been the first reality show to win a Peabody Award.
See also
External links
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