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It's the beginning of March and, despite the oncoming presumed big bucks that Watchmen will rake in soon, this time of year at the movies is usually considered a dead zone for quality and for money. This year, however, there has been more success than you might expect. Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Gran Torino, Taken and now Slumdog Millionaire have all made over $100 million at the box office, despite low expectations, especially for Kevin James and Liam Neeson's films, neither of which were figured for blockbuster status.

So, even though some people are shocked (I'll admit to not expecting a movie with a title character whose name sounds like upchucking would do that well), positive surprises at the box office are more frequent than they might think. Some couldn't have happened to better movies, while some happened to...well, movies that weren't so great. Surprises don't always happen quickly; some movies managed to make tons of money while barely ever cresting the top spot in Hollywood.

Not all of the movies on this list are going to be the best of their year in terms of quality. These days, the Oscars don't always like to award the movies that are most successful, even though they surely have in the past. Either way, it's interesting to take a look back at movies people kept going to see - movies that benefited from that magical idea, word-of-mouth. These are among the movies that have had good legs; frankly, these are the movies with the legs of a supermodel. So, pick your favorite supermodel's legs to compare with these movies...the A-List now presents the biggest box office surprises.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

I'll come out and say it: I don't like this movie. I could spend a long time telling you how much I don't like this movie (my working at an independent theatre that never stopped showing the film once it came out in Spring 2002 added to my initial ire), but that's not important right now. What is important is how incredibly successful My Big Fat Greek Wedding really was. It's one of the 100 highest-grossing movies of all time, with just over $240 million to its name. Here, though, is proof of how great this film's legs were: it was never the number-one film in any of the 52 weeks it was in movie theatres. Yes, this movie was in theatrical release for a full year, and only got as high as the second position; that only happened after its 20th week! It's an unspoken truth that, thanks in part to its massive box office performance, My Big Fat Greek Wedding ended up getting an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Though people may have wondered why this film appealed so well, from up-close experience, having a non-offensive PG-13 comedy that relates to people of any ethnic background (or most) is helpful to getting tickets sold. Too bad it wasn't a good...sorry, I nearly went on a rant.

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