- 7/5/2025
Taking risks in Hollywood doesn’t always pay off — but when it does, it can change film history.
In this countdown, we’re looking at the boldest creative, financial, and casting decisions that could have easily failed… but instead became legendary successes.
From unexpected actors taking iconic roles to risky scripts and underdog directors, these Hollywood moves nearly didn’t happen — and now we can’t imagine cinema without them.
🎥 Featuring hits like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and more!
In this countdown, we’re looking at the boldest creative, financial, and casting decisions that could have easily failed… but instead became legendary successes.
From unexpected actors taking iconic roles to risky scripts and underdog directors, these Hollywood moves nearly didn’t happen — and now we can’t imagine cinema without them.
🎥 Featuring hits like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and more!
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PeopleTranscript
00:00You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for movie production decisions
00:07that were risky on a logistical, creative, or financial level,
00:11but which ended up with critical and or monetary success.
00:14Spoiler alert!
00:15Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe.
00:18You just don't know it yet.
00:21Number 10. John Travolta, Pulp Fiction
00:24Prior to his appearance in Pulp Fiction,
00:26John Travolta had a hugely successful movie career in the 70s in particular,
00:31gaining wide recognition and fame in films like Saturday Night Fever and Grease.
00:42However, as the 1990s rolled around, Travolta's star had begun to fade,
00:47and there were probably very few who would have ever thought of casting him as Vincent Vega.
00:52Lucky for him, one of those people was not Quentin Tarantino.
00:55You gotta make some phone calls? You gotta call some people? Well then do it!
01:01Tarantino had written the role for Michael Mattson,
01:03but Tarantino had Travolta as a, quote,
01:05strong, strong, strong second choice.
01:08And while Mattson might have been good, Travolta was great.
01:11He killed the role, and Marvin was nominated for an Oscar
01:15and saw a complete rejuvenation of his career.
01:17What happened this morning, man, I agree, it was peculiar.
01:21But water into wine, I...
01:22All shapes and sizes, Vincent.
01:24Number 9. The Blair Witch Project
01:26With the Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield series of films, for example,
01:30the found footage niche was alive and well, and a bankable part of the horror genre.
01:34But back in 1999, that was not quite the case.
01:37We're doing a documentary about the Blair Witch.
01:41Oh.
01:42Oh, have you heard of the Blair Witch?
01:43Oh yeah, that's an old, old, old story.
01:46In fact, when the Blair Witch Project hit theaters at the end of the previous century,
01:50the genre was so new, there were actual debates online
01:53about whether or not the footage was real and the movie was a documentary.
01:57That is so not cool, man.
01:58I know it's not cool.
01:59That is so not cool.
02:00I know it's not cool.
02:01Doing something new is often a gamble.
02:03And in this case, the fresh creative path taken with the Blair Witch Project
02:07paid off to the tune of a $250 million box office
02:11against a total production budget of between $200,000 and $750,000.
02:16I'm gonna die out of here.
02:18Number 8. Daniel Craig as James Bond
02:20How did he know I was going to be there?
02:22Following the end of Daniel Craig's successful and acclaimed five-film run,
02:26it might surprise some newer fans to learn how controversial his casting as 007 was at the time.
02:31Although, if you were around in the mid-aughts, it would have been hard to miss.
02:35Shame.
02:37We barely got to know each other.
02:43I know where you keep your gun.
02:47I suppose that's something.
02:49Following the end of Pierce Brosnan's reign as Bond with Die Another Day in 2002,
02:53the search began for a new super spy.
02:56And Craig's casting was met with anything but universal approval from fans.
03:00With two major complaints being his height, Craig is about 5'10", and his blonde hair.
03:06He knows who I am and where the money's coming from, which means he's decided to play me anyway.
03:10So he's either desperate or he's overly confident, but either way, that tells me something about him.
03:15And all he gets in return is a name he already has.
03:18And now he knows something about you.
03:20He knows you're reckless.
03:21Bond had always been taller and darker-haired,
03:24but the complaints about his physical appearance sure stopped after he walked out of the ocean.
03:28Number 7.
03:39Releasing Top Gun Maverick Exclusively in Theaters
03:42Talk to me, Bruce.
03:43Top Gun Maverick was originally set to be released in June 2020.
03:48What is it?
03:50What?
03:51We've been ordered to stand down, the scrap in the program.
03:55And had the pandemic never happened, it would have been.
03:58But the pandemic did happen, and that changed everything.
04:01But not for Tom Cruise.
04:03It's a dogfight all the way home.
04:05While COVID led to studios putting many previously theater-bound films onto various streaming platforms,
04:10or at least releasing them day and date online,
04:13that was never an option for Cruise.
04:15It always ends the same with us, Pete.
04:18Let's not start this time.
04:25Okay.
04:25Despite pressure from the studio and others, he refused.
04:29As he told Jimmy Kimmel,
04:30quote,
04:31I would have held out for 10 years.
04:33And when you're Tom Cruise, you have that kind of power.
04:35In the end, it ended up being two years, not 10.
04:38And a whopping almost $1.5 billion box office.
04:41Number 6.
04:50Heath Ledger cast as the Joker.
04:52Why so serious?
04:55With all due respect to Jack Nicholson, Joaquin Phoenix, and others,
04:59many fans think Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight
05:02is the greatest performance of said villain in the history of both film and television.
05:07What do you believe in?
05:08I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you a stranger.
05:16However, while Christopher Nolan was convinced from the beginning
05:19that Ledger was the man for the job,
05:22many others were not as sure.
05:23And it wasn't just fans either.
05:25The studio, as well as Nolan's own brother and co-writer of the film,
05:29were equally skeptical about his choice.
05:31To say the gamble paid off would be an understatement.
05:34Those mob fools want you gone so they can get back to the way things were.
05:38But I know the truth.
05:41There's no going back.
05:42You've changed things.
05:44Forever.
05:45And the same can be said for another Batman casting decision almost 20 years earlier,
05:49when comedic actor Michael Keaton was tapped to play the Caped Crusader.
05:53I want you to tell all your friends about me.
05:55What are you?
05:57I'm Batman.
05:58Number 5.
05:59Titanic.
06:00We're flying.
06:02Jack.
06:02They say hindsight is 20-20.
06:04And in the case of Titanic, hindsight is 2.2 billion.
06:08Which is how much money the movie made initially at the box office
06:11on its way to becoming the highest grossing film ever at the time.
06:14I'm the king of the world!
06:18But while it might seem like an obvious hit now,
06:22Titanic was a huge gamble back in the mid-90s.
06:24A gamble that had executives at Fox looking for help.
06:27All life is a game of luck.
06:30A real man makes his own luck, Archie.
06:32They got that help when they sold Paramount the American distribution rights for $65 million,
06:38a venture that paid off tenfold for them
06:40when the movie grossed over $650 million in North America.
06:44And then, of course, there were all the Oscars.
06:46Promise me now, Rose.
06:50And never let go of that promise.
06:54I promise.
06:57Never let go of that promise.
07:02While the ginormous success of the Harry Potter books
07:05made the film's development rather obvious,
07:07its success wasn't always guaranteed.
07:09Hmm.
07:11Difficult.
07:12Very difficult.
07:14Especially once Steven Spielberg
07:15turned down the opportunity to direct the first film,
07:18and Chris Columbus was announced
07:20as the man who would bring the Potterverse to the big screen.
07:22That's right.
07:23Now, if you two don't mind,
07:25I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed.
07:30Or worse, expelled.
07:32Sure.
07:32Home Alone, for example, was a fun and a bit edgy movie.
07:36I got ya!
07:36I got him, Harry!
07:37But didn't quite have the full breadth of darkness that is part of the Harry Potter epic.
07:41Then there was also the fact that the child actors were pretty much all unknown newcomers.
07:46But eight movies and almost eight billion dollars later,
07:50we'd say the gamble paid off.
07:52What?
07:52You heard.
07:54Right, come on now.
07:55I'm a bit preoccupied today.
07:56Number three.
07:57Star Wars.
07:58Say what you will about the new Star Wars movies
08:01they've been putting out for the last few decades,
08:03but there's no denying the marketing muscle behind them.
08:05That lightsaber was Luke's and his father's before him and now it calls to you.
08:13When there's a new Star Wars movie, you definitely know about it.
08:17Now, let's go back to 1977 and the release of the first movie by 20th Century Fox,
08:22retroactively officially known as Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope.
08:26I don't know what you're talking about.
08:28I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.
08:32You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor.
08:35Take her away!
08:35While the film became the highest grossing movie up to that point,
08:39those big numbers were not expected by the studio,
08:41so much so that they didn't provide much promotional support
08:44other than some posters and t-shirts.
08:46Although, knowing what we know now, to paraphrase Darth Vader,
08:50we find their lack of faith disturbing.
08:52Enough of this.
08:53Vader, release him.
08:55As you wish.
08:56Number 2.
08:57Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
09:00Animated movies, especially Disney ones,
09:02were a huge part of our collective childhood
09:04and remain a part of many of our adulthoods as well.
09:07Magic mirror on the wall.
09:10Who is the fairest one of all?
09:12But while the idea of full-length animated films
09:15makes complete sense to today's audiences,
09:17back in the 1930s, it was anything but obvious.
09:22Well, except to Mr. Disney himself,
09:24who told his animators they were going to make
09:26a full-length Snow White film.
09:29Up until then, the studio had been making only short movies,
09:37and there were many who predicted this attempt would fail miserably.
09:40But Walt went ahead and made half the movie
09:43to show it to the president of Bank of America,
09:45who, following the screening, agreed to loan him $250,000.
09:49Adjusted for inflation, the movie grossed over $1 billion.
09:53Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
10:04and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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10:14and switch on notifications.
10:17Number 1. The MCU
10:20The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a juggernaut,
10:23and since it began in 2008,
10:25has become the highest-grossing media franchise ever.
10:28But let's go back to 2008 for a moment
10:38and recognize how big a gamble the whole thing was.
10:41We all love Iron Man now,
10:42but at the time, he was a somewhat lesser-known character
10:44and a not-so-obvious choice to launch a cinematic universe.
10:48Then there was hiring director Jon Favreau,
10:59whose previous directorial effort was Zathura.
11:02And let's not forget about Robert Downey Jr.
11:04A great actor, for sure,
11:06but a guy whose list of personal and legal issues in the 90s
11:09had made him literally uninsurable.
11:11Executives were not sold on him,
11:13but Favreau put his foot down for RDJ.
11:15The truth is...
11:18I am Iron Man.
11:26Which of these gambles would you have put your money on?
11:28Let us know in the comments.
11:30I'm gonna go all in,
11:31because I don't think you got the space.
11:33Did you enjoy this video?
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