Snapshot: July 1-4, 1994
By Joel West
February 12, 2009
After the final firework exploded in the sky, The Lion King reigned supreme for a second consecutive week with $34.2 million. A very distant second saw The Shadow nab $11.7 million followed closely by...Speed?! After four weeks, audiences chose Speed over the similarly themed Blown Away with $11.2 million to $10.4 million. I Love Trouble landed predictably in fifth place with $7.8 million and Baby's Day Out and Little Big League rounded out the top ten with $4 and $3.1 million respectfully. While neither of these films looked to set the world on fire, it was nonetheless surprising that all five performed so poorly.
The Shadow and Blown Away were likely beset by over-familiarity and poor word-of-mouth. As stated initially, The Shadow resembled too much of the ongoing Batman franchise and audiences decided collectively it was a very poor representation. Blown Away was only going to have any discernable box office impact if reviews were exceptional, much in line with Speed's accolades. Speed was lauded with turning the action formula on its head; Blown Away was just criticized for being formulaic. Neither displayed any thing resembling staying power and finished with lackluster results (The Shadow - $32 million, Blown Away - $30 million).
I Love Trouble stalled Roberts' return to box office dominance, something she wouldn't regain until 1997's My Best Friend's Wedding ($127 million). In fact, four out of her next five films never even made more than $11.5 million. Nolte should be so lucky. The goodwill he earned from his ‘91 one-two punch was never replenished. While he has earned some critical notices from time to time (1998's Affliction and The Thin Red Line and 2002's The Good Thief), Nolte never headlined a box office hit again (he likely was not responsible for Tropic Thunder's $110 million).
As far as Little Big League ($12 million) and Baby's Day Out ($17 million) are concerned, well, The Lion King mauled them both.
Unsurprisingly, The Lion King continued to roar throughout the summer (and then later re-released in November) collecting a massive $328 million. However, surprisingly, the following weekend saw the opening of Forrest Gump ($24 million). The Tom Hanks' vehicle would not only go on to best The Lion King's take ($329.7 million), but also win six Oscars, including Best Picture. Both films would end their run through the ‘90s as the fourth and fifth highest grossing films of the decade.
The Verdict: Hindsight is 20/20, so studio heads in the '90s would be best off not putting their films in between the opening weekends of a Disney animated film and a Tom Hanks blockbuster. Seriously, all five films were poor carbon copies of similar movies and audiences responded by not purchasing a ticket.
In baring full disclosure, this particular author apparently missed the memo and purchased a ticket for The Shadow, Blown Away, and I Love Trouble. Yikes.
Continued:
1
2
3
Print this column
