A Look at The Biggest Box Office Stories from 1972-present (THABOS: The History of Amazing Box Office Stories) | IT'S FINALLY COMPLETE!!!!!!!

[Sterling]

18 hours ago, John Marston said:

interesting in December 1997, Scream 2 broke the December record a week before Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies opened

 

Not only did it break the record, but it held it for 3 years (!) until What Women Want trumped it in December of 2000. A slasher movie holding a monthly record for 3 years is almost impossible to fathom. Scream 3 also broke the February record in 2000 and held it until Hannibal in 2001. 

 

So from February through December 2000, the Scream franchise held two monthly records simultaneously. Goes to show how massive the brand was during that time.

[BOOYAH SUCKAS]

The crazy thing about Titanic is that its Domestic gross almost outgrossed the worldwide gross of The Lost World, a complete domination of the boxoffice we've never even come close to then.

[Ms Lady Hawk]

I Know What You Did Last Summer... OMG classic. I always feel bad for SMG's character and how she died. She was sooooo close to escaping. Ah... the memories!!! 

[baumer]

Coming up in 1998 (which I will do tomorrow):

 

Dominic Toretto, Mike McDermott and Sam Malone fight the Nazi's

That's not a salesman, that's your daddy (and I'm bawling my eyes out already)

Hair gel

Do you understand the words that are coming outta my mouth?

 

And more.

[Sterling]

One more note on Scream 2 - I think it still holds the record for the biggest discrepancy between studio estimates and actuals, dropping from an estimated 39 million to an actual of 32.9 million. Anyone know the story behind this? How could they have gotten it so embarrassingly wrong?

 

Anaconda was another breakout from 1997 that I remember fondly. It spent two weekends at #1 and has an adjusted gross of $127 million; a great result for a creature feature. I think the diverse cast went a long way in helping the movie find an audience. 

[Maxmoser3]

On 8/4/2017 at 10:13 PM, Stutterng baumer Denbrough said:

Coming up in 1998 (which I will do tomorrow):

 

Dominic Toretto, Mike McDermott and Sam Malone fight the Nazi's

That's not a salesman, that's your daddy (and I'm bawling my eyes out already)

Hair gel

Do you understand the words that are coming outta my mouth?

 

And more.

Will American History X be on the list? It's a dark but very good movie.

[Maxmoser3]

1 hour ago, Sterling said:

One more note on Scream 2 - I think it still holds the record for the biggest discrepancy between studio estimates and actuals, dropping from an estimated 39 million to an actual of 32.9 million. Anyone know the story behind this? How could they have gotten it so embarrassingly wrong?

 

Anaconda was another breakout from 1997 that I remember fondly. It spent two weekends at #1 and has an adjusted gross of $127 million; a great result for a creature feature. I think the diverse cast went a long way in helping the movie find an audience. 

Matrix:Reloaded's opening weekend was overestimated(if you're talking about R-rated OWs).

Dimension was either way having a very sucessful run with Scream 2 as it grossed slightly less than its predecessor. 

 

Anaconda was a film  that made big dough thanks to its big cast and that it was the first time that non-space creature or dinosaur-related film to be a hit since the first three Jaws films. 

[junkshop36]

2 hours ago, Sterling said:

One more note on Scream 2 - I think it still holds the record for the biggest discrepancy between studio estimates and actuals, dropping from an estimated 39 million to an actual of 32.9 million. Anyone know the story behind this? How could they have gotten it so embarrassingly wrong?

 

Anaconda was another breakout from 1997 that I remember fondly. It spent two weekends at #1 and has an adjusted gross of $127 million; a great result for a creature feature. I think the diverse cast went a long way in helping the movie find an audience. 

 

If I'm not mistaken, Attack of the Clones had an 88m OW estimate but the actual dropped to 80m. Not sure how they managed that though lol

[titanic2187]

Titanic, it gave the most epic 194-minute cinematic experience, a perfect blending of emotional and visual effect drama; So lucky i'm managed to see it in 3D when it was re-released as i was too young in 1997.

 

I was so happy to see Titanic won over L.A confidential for best picture in oscar, not because titanic is better, but the voters just decided to have a best picture that touch the world, instead of another story about LA or show business, Titanic spread across differences of the world, irregardless of what are their cultural background, like being a White, Black, Chinese, Democracy, Communism country, Latino, or Muslim, or etc....Titanic, deserve its best picture by large margin! Screw the haters!!  

[BOOYAH SUCKAS]

I know this may be a little late but I literally just watched Scream for the first time last night. After all the good things you guys said about it and seeing it on Netflix I decided to give it a watch. Coming from a guy who really doesnt like horror movies I enjoyed quite it a lot, I think too many rely on stupid jump scares or they rely on excessive gore rather than creating tension. I've also never seen any classic horror movies such as Friday the 13th, halloween or a nightmare on elm street, so i probably missed some references but regardless I liked most of the humor. I especially enjoyed the parts where Tatum met ghostface in the garage, the guy talked about the "rules" and the ending where people kept coming back to life even thought they should have been dead. 

Overall I'd give a B+

[baumer]

! So glad you watched scream. Now maybe if you get around to it you can watch the movies that it made fun of. Especially Friday the 13th Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween.

[BOOYAH SUCKAS]

22 minutes ago, Stutterng baumer Denbrough said:

! So glad you watched scream. Now maybe if you get around to it you can watch the movies that it made fun of. Especially Friday the 13th Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween.

I have been trying to watch a movies I've never watched before, Scream was one of them but I also watched Collateral yesterday as well. Both were very enjoyable.

If I can find somebody to watch horror movies with me than I probably will, but I dont think id watch alone

Edited August 6, 2017 by BOOYAH SUCKAS
adding more stuff to say

[baumer]

I'm having ISP issues today.  Sorry but I won't be able to get anything up until about Tuesday.  It's a holiday here tomorrow so Bell Internet is closed.

[baumer]

ISP issues seem to be solved....if all goes well, I'll have 98 done tonight.

 

An interesting thing about 1998 is that although Saving Private Ryan was first domestically, Armageddon topped it world wide.  Armageddon and SPR kind of saved the summer as it the industry was disappointed with what had gone down so far.

 

We'll get to all of that later. 

[Kalo]

On 8/1/2017 at 8:28 PM, Stutterng baumer Denbrough said:

And finally coming in at number 13 is the film that single-handedly brought the horror genre back from the grave.  We'll get to this in a moment.;...but first some background on Scream.

 

scream is a 1996 slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Released on December 20, 1996, Scream follows the character of Sidney Prescott (Campbell), a high school student in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, who becomes the target of a mysterious killer known as Ghostface. The film combined black comedy and "whodunit" mystery with the violence of the slasher genre to satirize the clichés of the horror film genre popularized in films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th. The film was considered unique at the time of its release for featuring characters who were aware of real world horror films and openly discussed the clichés that Scream attempted to subvert.

 

Based partly on the real life case of the Gainesville Ripper, Scream was inspired by Williamson's passion for horror films, especially Halloween (1978). The script, originally titled Scary Movie, was bought by Dimension Films and was retitled by the Weinstein Brothers just before filming was complete. The production faced censorship issues with the Motion Picture Association of America and obstacles from locals while filming on location. The film went on to financial and critical acclaim, earning $173 million worldwide, and became the highest-grossing slasher film in the US in unadjusted dollars. It received several awards and award nominations. Scream marked a change in the genre as it cast already-established and successful actors, which was considered to have helped it find a wider audience, including a significant female viewership.

 

 

The script for what was then known as Scary Movie went on sale on a Friday in June 1995, but received no bids.  By the following Monday, the script had become the subject of a significant bidding war among a host of established studios, including Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Morgan Creek Productions.  Producer Cathy Konrad read the script and felt it was exactly what the Weinstein brothers of the fledgling Dimension Films — then a part of Miramax — were looking for. Dimension had previously released several horror films and intended to focus on that genre. Konrad brought the script to Bob Weinstein's assistant, Richard Potter. Believing it had potential, he brought it to Weinstein's attention.  Studios began to drop out of the bidding as the price of the script increased, and the final two bidders were Oliver Stone, who was at the time working under Cinergi Pictures, and the Weinsteins of Dimension Films. Williamson agreed to a bid of $400,000 from Miramax, plus a contract for two sequels and a possible fourth unrelated film. Williamson said he chose Dimension because he believed they would produce Scary Movie immediately and without significantly censoring the violence in the script.

 

 

Bob Weinstein approached Craven early in the planning stages, because he felt Craven's previous work in the genre that combined horror and comedy would make him the perfect person to bring Williamson's script to screen. Craven was already busy developing a remake of The Haunting and was considering distancing himself from the horror genre. He was growing weary of what he felt was an inherent misogyny and violence in it. Weinstein approached other directors, including Robert Rodriguez, Danny Boyle, George A. Romero, and Sam Raimi.  Williamson said that they "didn't get it"; he was concerned that having read the script, many of the directors believed the film to be purely a comedy. Craven was approached again but continued to pass in spite of repeated requests. When production of The Haunting collapsed, Craven was freed from that commitment and found himself in need of a project.  Meanwhile, Drew Barrymore had signed on to the film at her own request. When he heard an established actress wanted to be involved, Craven reasoned that Scary Movie might be different from other films of the genre he had previously undertaken, and he contacted Weinstein to accept the job.

As the film neared completion, the Weinstein brothers changed the film's title from Scary Movie to Scream. They were inspired by the Michael Jackson song of the same name. Bob Weinstein considered Scary Movie to be an unsuitable title as, in addition to the horror and violence, the film contained elements of satire and comedy; Weinstein wished for that to be better conveyed by the title. The change was effected so late into production that congratulatory gifts bore the original name. Williamson and Craven immediately disliked the new title, and considered it "stupid".  Both later remarked that the change turned out to be positive, and that Weinstein had been wise to pick the new title. Following a screening of the film in front of a test audience and Miramax executives, Craven was offered a two-picture contract for sequels to Scream.  In short, the film tested through the roof.

 

 

The casting was an interesting story as well.  Drew Barrymore was initially sought after to play the lead.  But when she read the script, she asked to play Casey.  Being a fan of the movie Psycho, she felt that the audiences would be thrown for a loop if she, like Marian Crane did in Psycho, died early in the film.  This idea worked beautifully as Barrymore was given the AND billing in the early trailers for the film.  Her early demise set the tone for the movie.

 

In terms of the box office, Scream made more than 100 million domestic, but when first released, the studio thought they had a dud.  The film was released in December, five days before Christmas. The studio did this because during the holiday season, family friendly movies are usually released, and the studio wanted to give the horror audience something to see during a time when no horror movies would be out. It opened at #4 with $6.4 million, which led the studio to believe the film had flopped. However, the film's good word of mouth is what led to its success at the box office. With every week it went up or stayed at the same place in the box office. Scream's budget was 14 million and it took in 173 million WW.  

 

Scream was responsible for the recrudescence of horror.  This was 1996.  Friday the 13th was done and the supposed final chapter just three years earlier went out with a whimper with 15 million.  Nightmare on Elm Street went out with a quiet 18 million for Wes' New Nightmare.  The last Halloween made 15 million.  The slasher giants from the 70's and 80's were no longer fresh and audiences were staying away.  Studios could no longer throw tiny budgets at straight to video horror films and make a tidy profit.  In 1996 before Scream, the highest grossing pure horror movie was Stephen King's Thinner which took in 15 million.  The genre was dead and it needed something to kick start it.  

 

Scream was that boost.  The reason it did so well is because it reinvented everything you knew about horror movies.  The characters were not oblivious to other horror films, in fact, not only were they aware but the characters were fans of films like Halloween and Friday the 13th.  Randy, the movie nerd of the group even tells people that there are rules for not getting killed in a horror film.  His four rules are:

 

1. You will not survive if you have sex

2. You will not survive if you drink or do drugs

3. You will not survive if you say "I'll be right back"

4. Everyone is a suspect.

 

Two additional rules come from the killer:

5. You will not survive if you ask "Who's there?"

6. You will not survive if you go out to investigate a strange noise.

 

There were also brilliant yet subtle touches and lines in the film that only a true horror geek would get.  "What's that werewolf movie with ET's mom in it?"  And then you had the entire beginning that was a wink and a nudge to all the horror fans who grew up watching scary movies in their parent's basement.  The killer quizzes Casey about horror trivia and when he asks her who the killer was in Friday the 13th, we, the audience right away shout out JASON VOORHEES!! And then he shows us who is boss by telling us and Casey that we should know that in the original Friday the 13th, Mrs. Voorhees was the killer.  Kevin Williamson's script was fresh and it appealed to people like me, people who have seen one too many scary movies.  We felt vindicated in some ways.  Horror has always been that genre that was kind of looked down upon.  It's about big breasted girls who are running up the stairs when they should running out the front door.  It's about pretty nubile women ready and willing to show is their assets before getting sliced and diced.  It's a genre basically ignored by the academy.  And here comes Kevin Williamson's script that started a bidding war among the Hollywood elite....and it finally got the director it needed to give it some pre-release credibility.  Wes Craven understands the genre and his clever touches helped make Scream the iconic film it is known as today.

 

 

Scream was blessed with a terrific cast as well.  Barrymore was the headliner but you had passionate performances by everyone from Skeet Ulrich to Jamie Kennedy to Neve Campbell to Henry Winkler.  But the one performance that stands out is Matthew Lilliard as Stu, the best friend of Billy.  Together they hatch the plan to kill the students of Woodsboro high.  Stu seems like more of a follower than a leader and Mtthew Lilliard played him brilliantly.  Some of funniest moments in the film were actually ad-libbed by Lilliard.  If you have seen the film, you might remember the scene where Stu asks Sid if she really called the police.  When she says that she really did, Stu cries, "My parents are going to be so mad at me."  This was done on the spot and Craven loved it.  There's also a scene where Billy drops the phone and it hits Stu in the head....Lilliard really did get hurt by that action but instead of break character he stays in it and just says OW and then rubs his head and complains to Billy.  All made up on the spot.  Lilliard, like Benicio Del Toro in Usual Suspects, took a character that was kind of standard and made him into what you see on screen.  It's one of the endearing things about the movie.

 

After Scream was a giant hit, the horror genre took off again.  Less than a year later, I Know What you Did Last Summer took in 75 million.  Scream 2 cleared the 100 million mark again also.  Then in 1998, Jamie Lee Curtis returned to her roots and starred in Halloween H2O, and it more than tripled the gross of the last Halloween film.  And of course, you have 1999.  The uber success of The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense might not have happened if Scream hadn't been the genre reviving movie it was.  The point is, Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven, and yes, the fucking Weinsteins all read the market and took a chance and it paid off in ways that perhaps none of the could have foreseen.  Scream is one of my favourite films of all time.  Although it is just as funny as it is scary, it's moe than just a horror film.  It's a film that validated all the horror loonies like me.  It told us that there were others out there who loved Jason and Leatherface.  It joked about things we loved and it threw us all kinds of winks that only fans of the genre would get.  Scream did more for horror than perhaps any other film did for its genre, except for maybe Star Wars.  Scream is a giant.

 

The horror industry is once again getting healthy again as new film makers are giving us fresh takes on the genre.  We have spent the last 18 years getting overkilled by the found footage genre.  Now you have films like Split, Lights Out and Get Out, just to name a few, that are redefining the genre again.  I feel like it's in good hands once again. 

 

 

 

" I can't, Billy. You already cut me too deep. I think I'm dying here, man!"

 

Stu might be my favorite villain in a horror film ever.  fantastic write up. 

[baumer]

Stu certainly made the film for me.  I liked it without him but with him, it's a classic imo.

And thank you very much for the kind words.

[Kalo]

Really glad someone who likes the Star Wars Prequels is doing 1999.

[baumer]

3 hours ago, Kalo said:

Really glad someone who likes the Star Wars Prequels is doing 1999.

 

And Armageddon.....might do a huge write up for both films.

[Ms Lady Hawk]

I love the Star Wars prequels too. Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were especially really good to me. That conversation that the emperor has with Anakin about Darth Sidious was chilling. I hope to read your write up for them in the review of their respective years. 

[Kalo]

3 hours ago, Diana Prince said:

I love the Star Wars prequels too. Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were especially really good to me. That conversation that the emperor has with Anakin about Darth Sidious was chilling. I hope to read your write up for them in the review of their respective years. 

 

Revenge of the Sith is my 3rd favorite Star Wars movie.