[user104658]

Shawshank was a box office flop until home release. Critics loved it but no one actually went to see it... it got a tonne of Oscar nods and that triggered a very successful VHS release and TV networks across the world buying the broadcast rights, and those channels gave it prime movie slots for years, back in the 90's when a lot of people didn't have many channels to choose from and there was no streaming etc., and THAT is why "everyone has seen it" and it became a cult classic.

So Shawshank isn't the best example but yeah... things have changed, beyond that. Franchises are where the big money is, or new conversions of books with an established fan base, etc.

Family Films like "Home Alone" and "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" are great examples of something that wouldn't happen now, actually. Box office takings of $300 million+ on budgets of < $20 million.

A big part of the reason for that is the internet, as always. A huge part of marketing a movie release these days is "hype" and word of mouth - and if you already have a fan base (of a book, or a comic, or any other IP) then you have a small army ready to deliver that hype to a wider audience.

If you don't have a hype-able IP you have to rely on other aspects of advertising to get the "hype ball" rolling... it CAN be done... an example I can think of is "Interstellar" - it's an original IP but it had Nolan attached to it, and some very dramatic set pieces for trailers, that got people interested.

"Star Power" also still works to a certain extent. For example, I think something like Back To The Future COULD still do well, but they'd have to cast big names.