11 box-office surprises in 2019 that show audiences still care about movies not in Disney's mega franchises

From "Dark Phoenix" to "Terminator: Dark Fate," it was a rough year for franchise sequels or reboots that weren't Disney movies.

But there were exceptions. With $326 million worldwide off of a $56 million budget, Lionsgate's "John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum" continued the series' momentum at the box office. Each sequel has earned nearly double what the last one did, a rare achievement today.

More recently, Sony's "Jumanji: The Next Level" capitalized on the word-of-mouth success of 2017's "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle." The sequel, which stars audience favorites Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart, made $60 million domestically in its debut weekend. The first movie made $36 million in its debut and ultimately grossed $962 million worldwide. It's now made over $100 million domestically and $312 million worldwide.

When A24's "The Farewell" opened in just four theaters in July with $355,000 and a per-theater average of $89,000, it broke the year's record at the time for the best per-screen average, which had been held by "Avengers: Endgame." The movie was made for $4 million and went on to earn nearly $20 million.

Another A24 movie, "Uncut Gems," opened with an impressive $525,498 earlier this month in just five theaters for a per-screen average of $105,100, an A24 record. It crossed $1 million at the box office over the weekend, before opening wide this week.

It was the second biggest average of the year behind the foreign-language film and Oscar frontrunner "Parasite." The movie earned $376,264 in its domestic debut in October with a per-screen average of $125,421. It's since made $20 million domestically and $121 million worldwide.

The New York Times argued last month that there appears to be "no room at the box office" for midbudget movies in the "blockbuster era." That's not entirely the case.

STX's "Hustlers," a female-led dramedy based on a true story about strippers who steal from their wealthy Wall Street clients, earned $105 million in the US this year and was made for $20 million.

Lionsgate's murder mystery "Knives Out," from "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" director Rian Johnson, earned $41 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend and had a production budget of $40 million. It's since made $185 million worldwide with no signs of slowing down.

Movie stars are rarely the driving force behind a movie's success anymore (unless you're Dwayne Johnson). Now, it's all about franchise recognition.

That's why it's exciting to see star-driven adult dramas like Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" and James Mangold's race-car drama "Ford v Ferrari" stand out from the crowd.

With $372 million worldwide, "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" is Tarantino's second biggest movie ever, behind "Django Unchained." "Ford v Ferarri" has earned nearly $200 million worldwide and crossed the $100 million mark domestically over the weekend. It was made for $97 million, so it's not one of the biggest success stories of the year. But it's far from a flop, either, which is refreshing when the box office is normally dominated by the aforementioned franchise movies.