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