Snapshot: August 6-8, 1999
By Joel West
December 19, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
In what had already become one of the most memorable summers at the movies, the kick-off to the last month of Summer 1999 wasn't about to be the exception. A twist ending, famous breasts, Ben Stiller, and a critically hailed Vin Diesel film were set to provide a very exciting weekend that summer.
The summer of 1999 could have an entire novel written on how its box office influenced the movie landscape it is today. Right away the summer began with a bang earlier than any summer before it when The Mummy exploded on to the scene on May 7th. Two weeks later, The Phantom Menace broke box office records and despite mediocre reviews played well throughout the summer. Julia Roberts became the "Rom-Com Giant" with the double whammy Notting Hill and Runaway Bride, while the second chapter in the Austin Powers Trilogy surpassed all expectations and even topped the original's grosses in its first weekend alone. Tarzan became the last hand-drawn animated blockbuster and John Travolta rebounded from a box office slump with the critically reviled The General's Daughter. Adam Sandler continued world domination in Big Daddy, while Will Smith proved vulnerable in Wild Wild West. American Pie and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut did well both critically and commercially. Eyes Wide Shut underperformed despite A-list star power, whereas The Blair Witch Project became a phenomenon using a new marketable star, the Internet.
All of this had already happened, but there was still another month to go! August had traditionally been considered the summer dumping ground. It's usually the month where audiences can go see the blockbusters that had been plagued by oversaturation and sold-out crowds. There had been gems (The Fugitive with its $183 million comes to mind), but for the most part all the big guns had already been unloaded. Friday, August 6th had The Sixth Sense, The Thomas Crown Affair, Mystery Men, and The Iron Giant all set to open with any of the four being a potential break out. All four had widely different marketing ploys, but it was the now obsolete twist ending that ruled this particular weekend.
Bruce Willis had reached a point in his career where when he wasn't John McClain, he just looked bored in conventional action romps. Audiences noticed. Three of his previous four films, The Jackal, Mercury Rising, and The Siege, were all relative disappointments. Riding a somewhat positive buzz from summer 1998's Armageddon (at the time his biggest commercial hit - $201 million), he was now appearing in ads for what looked like another conventional scary movie. Blair Witch was still the horror novelty audiences were flocking to and the lackluster The Haunting had turned off most. Then, the marketing behind The Sixth Sense started playing up a much promised twist ending and suddenly the interest factor started rising. And it needed it as the weekend's other two major films were hyping their wild cards.
Mystery Men was the first starring role for Ben Stiller after his blockbuster, There's Something About Mary ($176 million), from the previous summer. Mystery Men had been heavily marketing the super-hero angle (remember the annoying Smash Mouth song that accompanied the trailers all summer?) as well as its cast of critical favorites (Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush, William H. Macy), but the X-factor was Stiller. There's Something About Mary was a grass roots success (its opening weekend accounted for only 7.8% of its collective gross) and wasn't directly attributed to his drawing power, so Mystery Men would be his first true test in carrying a film. Reviews were predominantly negative, but, as Stiller's later track record would prove, critical response isn't a factor in his comedic genre.
Unfortunately, an unexpected adversary had emerged in July and surprisingly pushed Mystery Men's release date back less than two weeks prior to its expected exhibition (July 30th). The Blair Witch Project's out-of-nowhere success forced vendors to recognize they should be using screens for the Witch instead of the weird comic book comedy. Films that have that happen almost universally fail. It was a huge sign of strength for Blair Witch and the first irrefutable sign of kryptonite for Mystery Men.
The Thomas Crown Affair was also a test for Peirce Brosnan's box office pull. The film didn't have Brosnan straying too far from his James Bond character, which was smart since the Bond franchise was in the midst of a financial resurrection after a dismal run in the late '80s. However, outside of his iconic reprisal, Brosnan had displayed minimal box office impact (1997's Dante's Peak made $67 million domestically, but cost $116 million to make). With a new Bond film only months from release, the marketers knew the rush factor to see such a similar story would have to come from something else. Reviews were good, but not really causing any sort of frenzy. Out of the blue, word got out that moviegoers would be getting a glimpse of the film's female lead, Renee Russo, in the flesh. Yes, Russo's nude scenes were very publicized and suddenly (male) interest in the remake of a 1970s love story increased. To refrain from any remarks that would be deemed sexist, I will assume the readers get the point.
The film with the least buzz and little to market was The Iron Giant, an animated tale about a boy befriending a robot. While Tarzan had proved that hand-drawn tales could still pull in audiences ($171 million), computer animation had for the most part taken over the genre. Even the voice talents weren't enough to wow audience, as Jennifer Aniston and Vin Diesel were still a couple years away from inciting any moviegoer excitement. Reviews were excellent, but like Stiller's comedies, critical reception for animated films geared towards the younger audience is irrelevant.
When the final ticket was punched that weekend, it was The Sixth Sense that reigned supreme, pulling in a then-August record of $26 million (outstanding word-of-mouth even propelled it to five straight weekends of $20+ million). The film made M. Night Shyamalan a household name, effectively branched Willis into a genre outside of action, and catapulted its box office dominance ($293 million) into multiple Oscar nominations. While the film's true star was Haley Joel Osment, Willis's box office clout was no longer only seen by dead people (the next year's The Whole Nine Yards, The Kid, and Unbreakable were all considered hits).
The Thomas Crown Affair was a modest success both critically and commercially ($69 million and ten subsequent years of a rumored sequel) and proved Brosnan had potential to do something outside (but not too far) the tuxedo. While his next (and last) two Bond films continued elevating the commercial benchmark for the franchise's success, Brosnan's box office pull never again reached the heights of The Thomas Crown Affair (unless you credit Brosnan for Mamma Mia!, which would then make you strange). Similarly themed films, The Tailor of Panama ($13 million), After the Sunset ($28 million), and The Matador ($12 million), barely broke even. The marketing of Russo's assets sparked enough interest that two years later, Swordfish went the same marketing route with Halle Berry to comparable success.
Mystery Men ($29 million against a $68 million price tag) was an out and out flop owing to widely negative reviews. Stiller would have to wait to make a name with 2000's Meet the Parents to carry critically reviled comedies to box office success. After that film's monstrous success, Stiller would go on to prove he could pack the seats with just about any crap (Along Came Polly, Starsky & Hutch, and Meet the Fockers were much more successful than they had any right to be). The Iron Giant suffered similar low grosses ($23 million). Likely too adult for kids and vice versa, the film never found an audience at the Cineplex. However, time has been very kind to the film and is now considered an animated classic in certain circles.
The Verdict: Marketing is unfortunately a film's biggest star if used right. The Sixth Sense advertised its best asset. It was a smart horror film that audiences were rewarded by seeing. The Thomas Crown Affair's marketing would have worked better a few years before the Internet boom (in 1999 they could just look at Russo on their computer). Instead, it initially ignored its core audience (older viewers), by not hyping the film as a smart and sexy caper. And where was the tagline that got my butt in the theater: "From the director of such action classics as Die Hard, Predator, and The Hunt for Red October"? On the flip side, that line was used a couple weeks later in marketing The 13th Warrior and I swear I was the only butt in that theater.