# Things that started out very, very small and became HUGE **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636 "2010-06-02T13:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/41 "2010-06-02T22:06:33Z")
Aardman Animation started off with [_Morph_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morph_%28character%29), a filler bit for Tony Hart’s art show. Several Oscars and successful feature films and TV shows later… still no \*Morph \*movie, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/42 "2010-06-02T22:10:38Z")
Domino’s Pizza started out as a small, local business, then went public as a penny stock. Wish I had invested $10,000 in it those many years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/43 "2010-06-02T22:13:39Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > not every series is “huge” True, but no network television show is “very, very small.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/44 "2010-06-02T22:37:11Z")
Things that started out very, very small and became HUGE The national debt ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/45 "2010-06-02T22:59:08Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The role of Benjamin Linus in _Lost_ started out small, and became a huge part of the plot pretty quickly: For that matter, the character of Jack Shepard was originally supposed to die in the first episode. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/46 "2010-06-02T23:18:00Z")
Cabbage Patch dolls. Xavier Roberts grew up in the hills of north Georgia and noticed how much people went wild for traditional “hillbilly crafts” and experimented with modernizing an old fashioned “quilt doll” his grandmother used to make for the girls in the family. He and a partner handmade them (well, they used a sewing machine, but no mass production and no two identical) and sold them at craft shows, then when they began becoming regionally popular they hired others near Cleveland, Georgia to make them and sold them at a small shop there. Then they began sending them to privately owned shops on consignment. When the fad still didn’t die out they opened [Babyland Hospital](http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2074)which both helped streamline production and was great for marketing. Then Coleco bought the rights to produce them and of course it was huge; if you can remember Christmas 1982s you’ll remember the stories of people doing everything from smashing car windows to trading sexual favors and family heirlooms to get one of those things. Coleco’s bankrupt now and Hasbro has taken over and they’re nowhere near as big as their early '80s heyday, but they’re still big business and Cleveland, Georgia still gets lots of visitors to the Bethlehem of the little buggers. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/47 "2010-06-03T04:09:51Z")
[My Big Fat Greek Wedding](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259446/). In its [opening weekend](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2002&wknd=16&p=.htm) it made $597,362, playing in 108 theaters, and was ranked #20. By the start of its [10th week](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2002&wknd=25&p=.htm) it had only made a total of $14,541,150, playing in 444 theaters, and was ranked 14th (it had [made it to 10](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2002&wknd=20&p=.htm) one weekend in which everybody involved probably jumped for joy, before it slid back out of the Top 10). Since the budget was $5 million, that’s not too bad a theatrical run. Most low-budget light romantic comedies, hell, most movies, would have been out of the theater and on their way to a decently healthy life on DVD. But something very strange happened. Good word-of-mouth kept spreading from the Greek community to movie buffs to the general public, and the movie continued to play in the theaters, and play, and play, and play. [My Big Fat Greek Wedding](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=mybigfatgreekwedding.htm) ended up being in release for [51.4 weeks](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=mybigfatgreekwedding.htm), playing in 2,016 theaters at its height. Its final domestic total was $241,438,208, and the final _worldwide_ total was $368,744,044. All that, and it never was #1 at the box office. It made it to #2 for 3 weeks in a row. Say what you will about the movie, but it was a rare phenomenon that still makes people, including me, and I loved the movie, shake their heads in awe and wonder. By contrast with another movie that occurred to me, [The Blair Witch Project](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=blairwitchproject.htm) cost $60,000 to make, and made a worldwide total of $248,639,099, but it only played in the theaters in the US for [16 weeks](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekly&id=blairwitchproject.htm). ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/48 "2010-06-03T05:48:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Pixar. The company started out selling computer monitors for medical equipment. They designed some in-house animations to showcase the quality of the monitors. They found that people were talking more about the animations than they were about the equipment so they decided to form a department that would make promotional animations. This department obviously grew into bigger things. > > I’m thinking by this point when they hold their annual board meetings, somebody has to remember to ask if they’re still making medical monitors and if they sold any this year. I didn’t know Pixar sold hardware to be used in areas other than film making. That is really neat. They got their start as the computer graphics division of LucasFilm and then Lucas sold it off to Steve Jobs. That is when it became Pixar. I knew they sold hardware to Disney that they used to help automate their 2D animation process, neat to find out it had non show business applications, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/49 "2010-06-03T05:50:39Z")
Ultima: Richard Garriot sold the spiritual successor of Ultima (Aklabeth) in ziploc bags out of his garage. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/50 "2010-06-03T05:54:07Z")
Hulk Hogan. Went from being a member of a local band to becoming a cultural icon. Even non-wrestling fans know who he is. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/51 "2010-06-03T06:36:22Z")
Michael Dell started selling computers out of his dorm room. Quentin Tarantino dropped out of high school (as a 17 year old freshman) and worked in a video store. Of course, Abe Lincoln grew up in a pile of dirt and did his school work on tree bark. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/52 "2010-06-03T06:54:55Z")
Cirque du Soleil Watergate ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/53 "2010-06-03T07:00:34Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Of course, Abe Lincoln grew up in a pile of dirt and did his school work on tree bark. And was born in a tiny log cabin that he built himself. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/54 "2010-06-03T08:03:22Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > And was born in a tiny log cabin that he built himself. Nah those are lies, he invented Log Cabin syrup. With a handful of matches. And boot black. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/55 "2010-06-03T08:11:41Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Ultima: Richard Garriot sold the spiritual successor of Ultima (Aklabeth) in ziploc bags out of his garage. Spiritual _predecessor_. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/56 "2010-06-03T15:54:46Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Sorry, I gotta agree Cheers definitely fits the bill. Yes, they had a series, but no, not every series is “huge” and Cheers was anything but huge when it started, and by the time it went off the air, it was an event. _Cheers_ was created by James Burrows (_Mary Tyler Moore_) and the Charles Brothers (writers and producers of the _Bob Newhart Show_ and _Taxi_). It premiered on Thursday night on NBC, between _Fame_ and _Taxi_. For my contribution, I’ll say _How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days_, which went from being a stapled comic book passed among friends, to a 144-page picture book with advice, to a hit movie. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/57 "2010-06-03T16:09:15Z")
The 2009 film _Julie & Julia_ began as a blog by Julie Powell, about her attempt at cooking all 524 recipes from _Mastering the Art of French Cooking_. I’d say going from a blog to a major motion picture release is a pretty big jump. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/58 "2010-06-03T17:50:15Z")
The internet ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/59 "2010-06-03T18:03:11Z")
Kudzu in the South. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636/60 "2010-06-03T18:17:06Z")
The universe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-started-out-very-very-small-and-became-huge/541636.md?page=4)