Snapshot: November 26-28, 1993
By Joel West
January 16, 2009
On the eve of Tom Hanks dominance (1993's Philadelphia, 1994's Forrest Gump, 1995's Apollo 13...) through the 1990s, Costner's films virtually printed money and won multiple Oscars.
Clearly a smart customer, Costner felt the need to rebound from such harsh reviews by teaming up with the suddenly hot-again Clint Eastwood. Already a legend and an icon, Eastwood was coming off his first ever $100 million earners (1992's Unforgiven and 1993's In the Line of Fire). After picking up his first Best Director Oscar for Unforgiven, Eastwood was ready for his directorial follow-up and decided on pairing with the hottest actor around to ensure another blockbuster. In 1993, Costner agreed to star in Eastwood's A Perfect World. The premise was simple; Costner was an escaped con who kidnaps a young boy as Eastwood plays the Texas Ranger hot on his pursuit. It was such a sure thing with Costner and Eastwood attached (not to mention the cat-and-mouse premise had already succeeded in that summer's The Fugitive - $183 million) that A Perfect World was set to open during the movie-saturated week of Thanksgiving 1993.
The month of November is historically a busy time at the Cineplex, but, for whatever reason, this particular month in ‘93 had been underwhelming. The Three Musketeers ($54 million), Carlito's Way ($37 million), and Addams Family Values ($49 million) were not mirroring the box office returns that had been expected. However, the extended Wednesday-through-Sunday time period always yields at least one blockbuster. This year would be no different, especially with A Perfect World and Robin Williams' Mrs. Doubtfire set to open. The consensus was that families would likely flock to see Williams in drag, while older audiences would see the season's Oscar frontrunner.
Whereas families did see line up for Mrs. Doubtfire, it appeared that so did everyone else. Mrs. Doubtfire won the extended weekend with $27 million on its way to an astounding $219 million. Shockingly, A Perfect World didn't even come in second, as the underperforming Addams Family sequel had that honor. Nope, A Perfect World stalled in third place with only $11 million. Ouch! That is surprising even 15 years later. Likely attributed to its bleak subject matter for big opening numbers during a festive weekend, older audiences would most certainly help the film leg itself out through the holidays. Wrong again. A Perfect World quickly became a box office non-factor and ended with an embarrassing $31 million gross. The film did play well abroad, bringing in $101 million overseas, but clearly this result had to be seen as nothing short of disappointing.
How did this happen?
Along with the already sluggish November, there were several other potential causes at play; nevertheless, the film should have still finished stronger. With Costner's track record, reviews should not have been a factor. And they weren't. While not groundbreaking, critics felt the film was a solid pairing and even singled out Costner's understated performance as a highlight. Understated could have been another deficiency, as the film was more of a character study than a suspenseful, action heavy, crowd-pleaser. That doesn't, however, explain the lackluster opening, as the marketing was heavily pushing the film's leads as adversaries headed for a historic climax. Who wouldn't want to see a face-off between an icon of yesteryear and the box office star of the day? Arguments have been made that Costner didn't hit the publicity train as hard as he had in the past. Either stemming from rumored on-set feuding with Eastwood or hard at work on the next (1994) summer's potential blockbuster Wyatt Earp, Costner largely was absent from plugging this notable pairing. The only legitimate reason as to why this film failed was that audiences had finally grown weary of Costner, as his subsequent films later proved.
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