Snapshot: August 6-8, 1999
By Joel West
December 19, 2008
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).
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