What makes a film successful????

Firstly, a good storyline, quite an obvious one there. I also think casting is very important, making sure that you recognise the genre of the film you're making, and match it with an appropriate actor. You have to also think about your audience, who are you targeting this film at, etc. There has to be an obvious beginning, middle, end, with the middle being the longest, and you shouldn't linger too much on the introduction before you hit the interesting part. A good question, and loads more answers i haven't included.

I also think we need to clarify what is a successful film. what does it mean to be a successful film. does the box office tell whether it's successful or not.
well,I don't think so myself.

Artistically successful is often different than financially successful. As far as box office versus cost to make, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is the most successful film of the last ten years. Artistically successful? Not really.

Sleepers are generally those films which get very good critical response (from the most respected critics) and become surprise box office hits. "The Crying Game," for instance.

What makes a film successful is often not how big the box office but if you'll go to the Box Office featured topic, you'll find the top 100 box office list and many of those films are in my top 100 list of favorites for what it's worth. You could go to, for example, Roger Ebert's list of classic films which is a critical assessment and check out which films did huge box office. Not many.

The box office list is also misleading in that more people went to the movies in times past and there's no adjustment for current ticket prices (although those are available). For instance, as far as Bible movies go, "The Robe," "Ben Hur" and "The Ten Commandments" are still leagues ahead of Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."

I'd say that probably the successful film is one that can please the critics and make money.

What makes a movie great is an accomplished director whose been given the designation of an auteur, can cinematically tell a story, a well written script and inspired casting. As we've discussed before on these boards, films are a collaborative effort so all the components have to add up including such important categories as cinematography and soundtrack.

One example: "The Third Man."

1. Great director who's only unimpressive film was "The Agony and the Ecstasy".
2. Great script which tells a pungent and intriguing story with powerful and memorable dialogue.
3. Great atmospheric and authentic soundtrack (the zither takes one right into the environment and time frame).
4. Some of the finest black-and-white cinematography drawing on German expressionism and film noir.
5. Was a box office success and stands the test of time (continuing to show up on cable and reissued in a restored version).

Oh, and incidentally welcome to A2K and the film forum, invisible.

Hype + Media: if you mean financially successful

Do not overlook that the director if he is self-producing or the studio has given him a blank check is taking on the ultimate responsibility to turn out a successful movie. Good scripts are hard to come by and it's the director these days who will be in command of what script makes it to the screen. That's no to say they still don't sign different contracts where they are dolled out a script that has been run through the production office mill. This is why so many inferior films make it to the big screen.

The only thing that makes a movie successful is the idiots who see a movie just for it's SFX and then tell everyone they know what a great movie it was and then they see it and are really upset by how much it sucked but by then the film companies have already raked in enough to make their next pos all looks no substance movie.

That's a marketing gambit that can also fail like with "Terminator III" which barely brought in its cost (not wonder Ahnold ran for governor, his film career was over). However, the DVD release can end up being a profit for the studio and producers.
I don't knock if I got a kick out of your comment or that boxcar sentence, Torbruk.