Snapshot: August 1-3, 1997
By Joel West
March 27, 2009
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.
Well...at least the studios started trying in August 1997.
The dog days of summer traditionally begin to show at the Cineplex that first weekend in August. For about two and a half months prior, the studios unload their box office superpowers to the movie-going public. Audiences show up in droves, likely to beat the heat, and enjoy two hours of mindless entertainment. However, when July ends and August begins, the movie quality drops significantly and movie-goers tend to stay away (or check out the blockbusters they might have missed).
In August 1993, Warner Bros. discovered a secret weapon - Harrison Ford. The Fugitive not only opened big ($23.7 million), but stayed big throughout the month (finishing with $183 million). A year later, Paramount Pictures tried a similar tactic with the third entry in the Jack Ryan franchise, Clear and Present Danger. Ford delivered again with a $20 million opening and a $122 million finish. Sony Pictures altered the formula a tad, releasing Air Force One the last weekend of July '97. Ford dominated a third time, opening his presidential flick to a huge $37 million. Clearly the man is the cure for the summer time blues.
Ford looked to top the box office with Air Force One for a second consecutive weekend, but would there be any challengers the first three days of August?
Surprisingly, there were some worthy competitors. The insanely popular comic book hero Spawn was getting his big screen debut, while Friends star Jennifer Aniston was getting her first chance at leading lady status in Picture Perfect. At the lower end of box office expectations, the potential kiddie-franchise Air Bud, Samuel L. Jackson's 187, and Neil LaBute's directorial debut In the Company of Men were also opening.
Leading the pack was obviously Spawn. While comic book incarnations were not in abundance as they are now, even the crappiest of such (that summer's Batman and Robin grossed $107 million) still packed them in...for at least one weekend (Batman and Robin opened to $42 million). Boasting absolutely zero star power (although Martin Sheen, D.B. Sweeney, and John Leguizamo fans could guarantee at least $76 dollars of business) and an unproven director, Spawn was instead investing its $40 million budget on special effects to populate the character's origins. Spawn creator Todd McFarlane was reportedly very involved in the film's production, so fans could rest comfortably knowing their anti-hero should translate well to the big screen. However, the film's PG-13 rating did raise some concern; this comic was renowned for being extremely violent. Toning Spawn down to appeal to mainstream audiences did not inspire much faith in fans; this was in fact a superhero who killed his adversaries as opposed to the PG-13 exploits of Superman and Batman. The double-edged sword of trying to please the hardcore fans as well conventional audiences is and will always be a tricky feat. Spawn, while popular with fanboys, was not as well known outside the comic book reading populace as the aforementioned cape crusaders. All fans could do was hope that McFarlane was satisfied with the end product.
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