Sleeper hit
Encyclopedia
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit (or sleep-killer, often simply called a "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
.
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 in 1998, but gained notoriety through word of mouth
, and grew to top the weekend box office on its 8th week of release. Similarly, the 2010 film How to Train Your Dragon
was considered a relative disappointment when its premiere wide release box office gross was smaller than expected, but was later reassessed as a major success when its theatrical run proved unexpectedly strong over a longer term to more than compensate. 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). Some sleeper hits fail completely at the box office but succeed later on television and video as cult films (such as The Shawshank Redemption
and The Big Lebowski
) 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. The Dreamworks
film Shark Tale
was panned by critics but was a box-office success with fans garnering $367,275,019, nearly five times its budget. However, the term is generally not used to refer to large-budget films—even those that defy their expectations, such as 1997's Titanic
, which had been expected to lose money. The term is fairly subjective, so many films are informally referred to as sleepers. Sometimes unreleased films are advertised as sleepers.
" by Owl City
, a 2009/2010 synthpop
song that became a hit in a time when most hits were hip hop
songs or Lady Gaga
-esque fast-paced dance
numbers (Gaga's "Just Dance" was also a sleeper hit in late 2008/early 2009). Another example is the song Smells Like Teen Spirit
by Nirvana, which became a hit in 1991 when alternative rock
was not yet mainstream and hair metal and other 1980s
styles were at the end of their heyday.
Sleeper hits often change the music scene as they tend to break new genres into the mainstream.
The 2011 pop hit "Pumped Up Kicks
" by indie rock
band Foster the People
has also been described as a sleeper hit as it was originally a modern rock radio
hit in late 2010, and slowly crossed over to contemporary hit radio
by August 2011. The song's sleeper success was considered surprising by some media outlets, as rock music - and especially indie rock
music - rarely crossed over to the CHR format throughout the 2000's and early 2010's.
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.
For example, Cold Mountain
by Charles Frazier
(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
.
for the Game Boy Advance
, the PC game Homeworld
, the multi-platform game Angry Birds
, the DS game Scribblenauts
, the PS3 games Valkyria Chronicles
and Demon's Souls
, Dreamcast's Skies of Arcadia
, or the PC game Minecraft
can also be described as sleeper hits.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
, single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the 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
Word-of-mouth marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing , also called word of mouth advertising, is an unpaid form of promotion—oral or written—in which satisfied customers tell other people how much they like a business, product, service, or event...
.
Sleeper films
Some sleeper hits achieve unexpected success at the box officeBox office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
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
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
" as well as the publicity
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
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
There's Something About Mary
There's Something About Mary is a 1998 American comedy film, directed by the Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter. It stars Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller, and it is a combination of romantic comedy and gross-out film....
had a small release in 1998, but gained notoriety through word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
, and grew to top the weekend box office on its 8th week of release. Similarly, the 2010 film How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon (film)
How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 3D computer-animated action fantasy film by DreamWorks Animation loosely based on the 2003 book of the same name. The film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, and Christopher...
was considered a relative disappointment when its premiere wide release box office gross was smaller than expected, but was later reassessed as a major success when its theatrical run proved unexpectedly strong over a longer term to more than compensate. 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). Some sleeper hits fail completely at the box office but succeed later on television and video as cult films (such as The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
and The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
) 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. The Dreamworks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
film Shark Tale
Shark Tale
Shark Tale is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. In the story, a young fish named Oscar falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss to win favour with the mob boss' enemies and advance his own community standing...
was panned by critics but was a box-office success with fans garnering $367,275,019, nearly five times its budget. However, the term is generally not used to refer to large-budget films—even those that defy their expectations, such as 1997's Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
, which had been expected to lose money. The term is fairly subjective, so many films are informally referred to as sleepers. Sometimes unreleased films are advertised as sleepers.
Songs
The term is used for songs that have attained massive popularity against the odds, due to them belonging to a genre unpopular at the time. An example is the song "FirefliesFireflies (Owl City song)
"Fireflies" is a song and the debut single from synthpop artist Owl City's album Ocean Eyes. Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen is featured as a guest vocalist in the song...
" by Owl City
Owl City
Owl City is an American electronica musical project by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young formed in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. Young created the project while experimenting with music in his parents' basement...
, a 2009/2010 synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
song that became a hit in a time when most hits were hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
songs or Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
-esque fast-paced dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
numbers (Gaga's "Just Dance" was also a sleeper hit in late 2008/early 2009). Another example is the song Smells Like Teen Spirit
Smells Like Teen Spirit
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind , released on DGC Records...
by Nirvana, which became a hit in 1991 when alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
was not yet mainstream and hair metal and other 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
styles were at the end of their heyday.
Sleeper hits often change the music scene as they tend to break new genres into the mainstream.
The 2011 pop hit "Pumped Up Kicks
Pumped Up Kicks
"Pumped Up Kicks" is a song by American indie pop band Foster the People. It was released as the group's debut single in September 2010, and was later included on their EP Foster the People and their debut album Torches. The song was written and recorded by frontman Mark Foster while working as a...
" by indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Foster the People
Foster the People
Foster the People is an American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, California in 2009. The group is composed of Mark Foster , Mark Pontius , and Cubbie Fink...
has also been described as a sleeper hit as it was originally a modern rock radio
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
hit in late 2010, and slowly crossed over to contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
by August 2011. The song's sleeper success was considered surprising by some media outlets, as rock music - and especially indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
music - rarely crossed over to the CHR format throughout the 2000's and early 2010's.
Books
In publishing, success is usually measured by reaching the bestsellerBestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
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
Book sales club
A book sales club is a subscription-based method of selling and purchasing books. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book discussion club, which can cause confusion.-How book sales clubs work:...
, or literary awards.
For example, Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain (novel)
Cold Mountain is a 1997 historical fiction novel by Charles Frazier. It tells the story of W. P. Inman, a wounded deserter from the Confederate army near the end of the American Civil War who walks for months to return to Ada Monroe, the love of his life; the story shares several similarities with...
by Charles Frazier
Charles Frazier
Charles Frazier is an award-winning American historical novelist.Frazier was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1973. He earned an M.A. from Appalachian State University in the mid-1970s, and received his Ph.D. in English from the University...
(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
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, spent 45 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
, sold over a million copies in hardback alone, and was adapted for film in 2003
Cold Mountain (film)
Cold Mountain is a 2003 war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Charles Frazier...
.
Other media
Unexpectedly successful video games such as Riviera: The Promised LandRiviera: The Promised Land
is a console role-playing game originally produced in 2002 by Sting Entertainment for WonderSwan Color as the first episode of the Dept. Heaven series of games. The game was later introduced to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance in 2004, which Atlus USA released in North America in 2005...
for the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
, the PC game Homeworld
Homeworld
Homeworld is a real-time strategy computer game released on September 28, 1999, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was the first fully three-dimensional RTS. In 2003, Relic released the source code for Homeworld...
, the multi-platform game Angry Birds
Angry Birds
Angry Birds is a puzzle video game developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009...
, the DS game Scribblenauts
Scribblenauts
Scribblenauts is an emergent puzzle action video game developed by 5th Cell for the Nintendo DS published by WB Games. The game was released September 15, 2009 in North America, September 30, 2009 in Australia, and October 9, 2009 in Europe. Konami released the game in Japan under the name on...
, the PS3 games Valkyria Chronicles
Valkyria Chronicles
is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game was released in 2008.The game is set in Europa, loosely based on Europe in 1935...
and Demon's Souls
Demon's Souls
is an action role-playing game video game developed primarily by From Software exclusively for the PlayStation 3. It was released in Japan on February 5, 2009 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment...
, Dreamcast's Skies of Arcadia
Skies of Arcadia
Skies of Arcadia, released in Japan as , is a console role-playing game developed by Overworks for the Dreamcast and published by Sega in 2000. Skies of Arcadia Legends, a port, was released for the GameCube in 2002. Legends was also in development for the PlayStation 2; however, the PS2 version...
, or the PC game Minecraft
Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...
can also be described as sleeper hits.