Snapshot: Stephen King
By Joel West
April 9, 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.
A King's reign at the box office enters a Dark period...
In my 30 years of existence, the name most commonly attributed to horror is Stephen King. I have no idea what the print and film mediums are like without King's name in the mix. The man simply owns horror. Certainly much can be made about his recent work and how it seems he is now ribbing himself, but imitation is the best form of flattery (even if it is himself). In fact, when he "retired" from writing in 2002, King himself stated that he has said everything he set out to say.
Regardless, the man's novels have been adapted into countless films. Starting way back in 1976, Brian DePalma brought King's Carrie to the silver screen and made a strong $33 million. Four years later, the legendary Stanley Kubrick adapted (loosely, very loosely) The Shining ($44 million) and rightfully joined Carrie among the greatest modern horror films. In the early 1980s, Cujo ($21 million), The Dead Zone ($20 Million), and Christine ($21 million) made solid bank (considering the era) despite paling in comparison to the quality of Carrie and The Shining.
From 1984 to 1986, no fewer than six (!) of King's stories were turned into films. Unfortunately, over-saturation of poor adaptations led to King fatigue at the box office (Children of the Corn - $14 million, Firestarter - $17 million, Cat's Eye - $13 million, Silver Bullet - $12 million, and Maximum Overdrive - $7 million). Luckily, Stand by Me ($52 million) was the last of the glut and audiences responded favorably to something refreshingly different from King's vault (it didn't hurt that director Rob Reiner actually made it good).
Suddenly King was relevant again and his non-horror stories (The Running Man - $38 million, Misery - $61 million) started making the successful transition to the big screen. This is not to say that King's horror tales stopped being adapted as Pet Semetary ($57 million), The Lawnmower Man ($32 million, although King removed his name from the loose adaptation), and Sleepwalkers ($30 million, I know, it wasn't a novel) proved King was a money making machine from the late '80s through the early '90s. Although this column discusses movie box office, it is worth mentioning King dominated the TV miniseries as well (Salem's Lot, It, The Tommyknockers, and The Stand to name a few).
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