Hacker News Reader

Comment by decimalenough | Hacker News Reader

Quite a few classics like this and "Office Space" were box office flops that were resurrected by the magic of VHS/DVD. Yet those are gone too. Is there any room left for the "sleeper hit" in 2026?

View on HN

There's no space left for actual hits. Movies aren't even given proper theatrical releases. One week at the theater then straight to streaming, or even simultaneous theater and streaming releases.

Are you implying that movie theaters are a better experience than home theaters? I'd argue movie theaters dug their own graves with greed shovels.

> Are you implying that movie theaters are a better experience than home theaters?

I don't have an IMAX screen at home. I don't even have the smallest theater screen at home.

Oh, and that "home theater"? Good luck getting the advertised 4k on it from any streaming platform, and very few will have a handy BluRay/Torrents set up at home. Neither do I have Dolby surround at home. Or a way to make the room fully dark.

> I'd argue movie theaters dug their own graves with greed shovels.

I seriously doubt that. Covid maimed theaters, and then streaming dealt the killing blow.

Streaming killed theater because experience of streaming is just overall better then experience of going to the theater. There I said it.

I have noise control. I can pause it. If I am watching alone I can rewind a scene. I watch when I want and I dont have to go to the mall for it. And it is massively cheaper.

If more of us watch, we can talk to esch other or comment things. Or be silent and not disturbed by somebody else making noise.

Ah yes. I really enjoy watching Dune (or Openheimer, or even less bombastic movies) on my 65" TV with two rather tiny speakers [1].

Streaming killed theaters because movie advertisement basically stopped (the lesser problem), and movies are immediately released on streaming platforms (the bigger problem). Why go to a theater when it will be released on Netflix/Hulu/Amazon within a week or two?

Movies used to get several weeks (sometimes months) of theatrical runs, and then there was at least a 90 day window (often longer) before home releases on VHS/DVD/BluRay. Now theaters are fighting for at least a 45-day window.

[1] Well, a 2015-ish Sonos soundbar and two IKEA Sonos speakers.

I genuinely do not mind smaller screen and souns is good enough - with exception of bad mix where explosions are too loud and dialog too silent. But, I am less helpless with that too due to ability to adjust sound and turn on/off subtitles.

Screen size is certainly not the ticket price difference for me.

> and movies are immediately released on streaming platforms (the bigger problem). Why go to a theater when it will be released on Netflix/Hulu/Amazon within a week or two?

This is admission that streaming is better experience. If the only reason to go to theater is that you cant see the movie otherwise, then it is not the superior experience.

Features are in decline and theater releases are doomed; they're in the agonal breathing stage already. But against that you have the rise of series, which arguably a better storytelling medium.

There's a pattern of movies flopping in theaters only to become top 10 on Netflix. It's very similar in many ways.

The difference is there was backend participation for VHS/DVD rentals... whereas Netflix is paying a one-time flat rate to acquire your flopped movie.

K-pop demon hunters.

That's not a sleeper hit, it became the most watched animation ever on Netflix 1 month after the release and then the most watched film ever after 2 months.

Yeah, but it's a good example of a modern day 'indy' cult classic. It's a regional production that happens to do really well with global viewers.

Its the opposite of a cult classic. Its hugely popular across platforms. Halloween this year was full of kids in costumes of the various characters. It a hit. A cult classic is something that finds a small but intense following over a course of years or decades.

You right, I misused to term. What I meant to say is that it is a small production that made it big.

It depends on if you’re defining sleeper hit as “unhyped movie that blew up” or exclusively “movie that initially flopped but became popular down the road”.

Generally people include the former in the sleeper hit category.

For the latter I’m not sure about movies. But some shows have blown up after failing on one platform then moving to Netflix.

What about it

Reply on news.ycombinator.com