Snapshot: August 6-8, 1999
By Joel West
December 19, 2008
The box office performance of a film these days is almost as important as the film's quality itself. As unfortunate as that may be, the facts are the facts. So while your movie may be as good as It's a Wonderful Life, Citizen Kane, or even The Shawshank Redemption (all box office disappointments in their own right), if the marketing, release date, and apparent quality don't resonate with audiences, its commercial success could suffer. As with everything in history, time produces clarity. This column will take a look back at a specific time at the movies and try and determine the factors that led to a movie's success or failure.
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.
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