1. Final Destination

One of the movies that were surprisingly successful is this horror movie that begat an entire franchise. Critics weren't that fond of it, but audiences lapped up the idea that you can't cheat death, and when your time is up, that's it! The fact that the series is up to number five and counting suggests that it's not running out of steam (or gruesome ways to kill off characters).

2. Predator

Action movies often aren't terribly popular with critics; perhaps because there's no great message in them, just entertainment. So even in his action-hero heyday, this Arnie story didn't go down too well with reviewers. But the future Governor of California had the last laugh when the movie grossed nearly $100m worldwide - not exactly a poor showing in the '80s.

3. Star Wars

Almost 40 years after Episode IV was released, it's hard to imagine it as anything other than massively successful. Yet critics weren't kind to it, and it wasn't expected to do that well. The public loved it, however. The critics were arguably more justifiable in panning the second trilogy, even though it still did well at the box office.

4. Any Adam Sandler Movie

It's fair to say that Adam Sandler isn't exactly a favorite with the critics, but then the critics aren't the ones buying tickets. Since Sandler's movies have grossed close to $4 billion worldwide, the people who are buying tickets seem to like him (or at least enough of them do). So he'll probably keep making movies while the critics keep hating them.

5. Deuce Bigalow: American Gigolo

It's really hard to argue with the critics' less than favorable verdict on this movie. Yet it's still somehow managed to gross around $90m worldwide, which seems to be about $90m more than the critics think it was worth. Is there anyone who will actually admit to paying to see this movie - and what's more, liking it?

6. Catwoman

There's no denying that Halle Berry looked gorgeous in her Catwoman outfit. However, her performance wasn't a patch on Michelle Pfeiffer's, and the movie wasn't too impressive either. Critics regarded it as a bit of a stinker. This didn't stop it taking $16m in its opening weekend though.

7. Armageddon

Some critics did love Armageddon, but more were fairly scathing in their reviews. Roger Ebert wasn't alone in his sentiments when he described it as 'An assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain …' By the time it had finished earning half a billion dollars though, the makers probably couldn't have cared less what any critic thought, even one as august as Ebert.

Movies may get poor reviews from the critics, but it's the public who decide whether a movie is a financial success. And many movies that are now regarded as classics didn't go down too well when they were released. Ultimately, reviews are only opinions, and opinions do vary. Which movies did you love in spite of poor reviews?