Whether it's a sequel to a beloved movie, comes from the mind of a visionary filmmaker, or promises to be a truly cinematic experience, films can gain so much hype, sometimes too much. And it might not always be intentional.
Sometimes hype builds long after the movie was theatrically released too, as some cite decades-old movies that everybody talks about as classics, even though not everyone would agree. Unfortunately, living up to those sky-high expectations is a rarity, but the ones that do are so satisfying, and Redditors believe these movies did it best.
Jurassic Park (1993)
Srsstone71 quickly points to Jurassic Park, one of the most rewatchable movies of the 1990s. The Redditor notes that the movie was "based off a popular book and it promised the spectacle of seeing life-like dinosaurs on screen. It delivered and then some."
With the Indiana Jones series and so many other classics under his belt, nobody was making action-adventure movies better than Steven Spielberg. And that was part of the reason why film buffs had such high expectations for the dinosaur movie. After all, he was the only filmmaker who could pull off such an ambitious project. The film perfectly interweaves CGI and animatronics to the point where they're almost indistinguishable, and that's something that even filmmakers struggle with achieving today.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
The Terminator was one of the biggest action movies of the 80s, and with one of the best science fiction premises in cinematic history, there were impossibly high expectations for the sequel to deliver all of that and more. Reddit user UKnowDaxoAndDancer points out everything that led to the movie's unfathomable hype, such as "the special effects. The budget. The goddam liquid killer robot. And it might be the best action movie of all time."
After the epic sci-fi-action movie that was The Terminator, the follow-up expanded and built on the world in unimaginable ways. However, some of the hype would have surely died down during the movie's marketing, as the trailer let slip the big twist, which was that the T-800 is the hero of the sequel.
The Dark Knight (2008)
While making a movie comes with an awful amount of pressure and stress, Christopher Nolan had it easier than most when making Batman Begins, as it was coming off of the failure of Batman & Robin and there wasn't as much interest in the character at that time. However, ironically, because of the overwhelming success of the 2005 reboot, expectations couldn't have been higher for The Dark Knight, especially as it promised the return of the Joker.
Nofreakingusernames mentions that not only did the 2008 movie meet its sky-high expectations, but that "it might be one of the few times where my expectations were exceeded. What a ride that was in the cinema." However, some fans had low expectations, as some were critical of Heath Ledger's casting of the Joker. But he proved them wrong.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mad Max: Fury Road was in development for a long time. At one point, it was looking like it was stuck in development hell and was never going to be in production. But with each little hint of an update came higher and higher expectations. But that hype all culminated when the long-awaited trailer was released.
Thebasterds remembers when "Fury Road's trailer first came out and the hype was really high." And even though Furiosa is the real protagonist of the movie, nobody felt cheated or hard done by. The 2015 release is a genuinely thrilling action movie despite the titular character taking the backseat.
Scream (2022)
2022's Scream didn't necessarily have all that much hype before it was released. Fans of the series were excited enough and trailers and press junkets caught people's attention, but it was when the movie started getting shockingly rave reviews that expectations for the movie started to sky-rocket.
Get_Jiggy41 was "incredibly hyped for the new Scream movie and it exceeded my expectations." Though meta-jokes in movie reboots will soon start to feel fatiguing, the 2022 movie perfected the balance of being meta with what people love the original movie for. It is just as scary as it is funny, and Scream 5 perfected modern slasher films.
Black Swan (2010)
Interestingly, though MoombahtonDon remembers the hype surrounding Black Swan when it was first released, they were too young to see the movie in 2010. That makes sense, as the movie is one of the most terrifying psychological thrillers. But now they're old enough to watch it, it's one of the Redditor's "favorite movies of all time."
Between a starring role from Natalie Portman, soaking up every award in sight, and being directed by Darren Aronofsky, one of the most beloved directors at the time, the hype couldn't have been higher for the low-budget movie. Because of that hype, it's one of the biggest box office success stories of the 21st century, as it made 25 times its budget, making almost $330 million worldwide.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Unlike most of the other movies that Redditors refer to as having sky-high expectations, Aggravating_Poet_675 isn't referring to the build-up to the movie's release. Instead, they're referring to the cult-classic stature that The Big Lebowski has maintained for years now. The Redditor claims that they "always thought it was a stoner movie but people kept talking about it and hyping it up so I eventually watched it and loved it."
Funnily enough, the movie had no hype surrounding it during its theatrical release, as it even underperformed at the box office. But the hype after its release has grown and grown so much that there's an annual festival celebrating the classic, which is known as Lebowski Fest.
No Country For Old Men (2007)
No Country For Old Men is one of many incredible movies from the Coen Brothers, and, interestingly, it's a far cry from the comedy The Big Lebowski. The movie was another massive awards contender, which gave the 2007 movie huge momentum at the box office.
BillytheBeaut is one of the film's biggest fans, explaining that as soon as it's finished, "you wanna watch it again." The crime thriller is full of that classic Coen ambiguity, and one of the most strangely compelling movie antagonists, Anton Chigurh.
Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
Zack Snyder's Justice League's hype is unique, as the movie was hyped into production by fans. The movie wouldn't exist if it wasn't for a relentless fan campaign on Twitter. After the negatively-received and studio-meddled theatrically released movie, fans were almost rioting for Snyder's complete vision, and surprisingly, that's what they got.
Larry_Version_3 refers to the fact that "it was hyped to be better than the original cut, and it undoubtedly was." The difference between the two versions is night and day. Not only that the 2021 version is twice the length of the original, being one of the longest superhero movies, but it's more detailed in every way.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Tieing up a 20-plus movie series is a tough task, especially when that includes over 30 superheroes, is such a daunting task, especially when it has the largest fanbase of any movie franchise. And FeelFreeToIgnoreThis rhetorically asks, "what movie ever had as much hype to live up to as Avengers: Endgame?"
While it has recently been overtaken by Avatar with its rerelease, Avengers: Endgame was temporarily the highest-grossing movie of all time. It's also tied with its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War, as the best MCU movie according to IMDb, so if there's any movie that lived up to its sky-high hype, it's Endgame.