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

[baumer]

Thanks Kalo.

[Jonwo]

I wonder how many thought in 1992 that Aladdin would outgross Home Alone 2?

 

i do like Batman Returns but I do agree with some of the points, Warner Bros clearly thought the same hence replacing both Keaton and Burton in Batman Forever

 

The soundtrack of The Bodyguard is incredible even if the film itself is only decent at best. I assume the combo of Whitney and Costner helped it become a huge hit OS

[John Marston]

Also in 1992 we had Alien 3 and The Coppola Dracula being two of the most (if not th most at the time) frontloaded films of at the time 

[baumer]

1993....the year Spielberg shattered records....and grew up.  Or so they say.  

 

 

 

 

      

 

I'm going to start 1993 off with a tribute to my favourite director.  Steven Spielberg.

 

Spielberg made his splash in 1975 when he directed his second film.  JAWS was the best film of 1975 and the best film ever made, and in my humble opinion (as most of you know by this point) it's a perfect film.  It was sadly only nominated for 4 Academy Awards and sadly Spielberg wasn't one of those nominated.  This happened to him again in 1985 when The Color Purple was nominated for 11 Oscars and he was not recognized in the directing category.  I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but Oscars are famous for petty omissions.  Maybe Spielberg slept with someone's wife.  Maybe members of the academy at him for being partially responsible for changing the way films were made.  There could be any number of reasons that Spielberg was ignored in both JAWS and Color Purple.  Even beyond those two films, when he was nominated for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T., those films would generally win tech awards but never anything for the picture, the acting or the directing.  Spielberg, as it was rumoured, was just too young and too successful at too young an age.  So instead you had forgettable films and directors like Annie Hall, Woody Allen win best picture in 1977. In 1981, a good film won best picture in Chariots of Fire.  And you had a Hollywood legend and icon win best director in Warren Beatty for Reds (ever heard of Reds?  Nope, most haven't.) Then you had the "important" film of 1982 win, Gandhi.  Spielberg made escapist films.  Spielberg made films for children.  Spielberg was too young and hadn't paid his dues.  There were all kinds of whispers and innuendo coming out of the Hollywood elite as to why Spielberg was being ignored.  One anonymous academy member was quoted as saying that he could name 50 films better than E.T. in 1982.  I'd love to know who this twat is.  Even Richard Attenborough was surprised that Gandhi won.  The theories of jealousy just would not go away.  

 

Finally in 1993, all of this changed as Spielberg did what no other director in film history had ever done.  He made two films in one year.  The first shattered box office records and the second is perhaps one of the top films ever made, according to critics and Hollywood and this is something that just simply could not be ignored.  Jurassic Park was something Spielberg gambled on.  He didn't take a salary for Jurassic Park, instead opting for a percentage of the gross.  He also didn't have time to do post production on Jurassic Park as he had to get Schindler's List done so it could get a winter release.  Schindler's List was green lit only on the condition that Spielberg agree to direct Jurassic Park first. Spielberg did so, but left post-production work to George Lucas, while Spielberg left to begin work on Schindler's.  Not only did Spielberg not take a salary on Jurassic Park, he refused to take one for Schindler's List.  So he basically worked for a year without a single paycheck coming in.  He refused to take any money from Schindler's List because he didn't want to profit off of the Holocaust.  To this day (according to Kathleen Kennedy and Spielberg himself) Spielberg hasn't taken a dime from Schindler's List.  

 

And so finally, in 1993, the Academy could no longer ignore Spielberg.  First he goes out and smashes the opening weekend record with Jurassic Park.  It also became the first film to gross more than 900 million world wide and maybe even more importantly, Jurassic Park was a life line for Hollywood.  The year had started off kind of slowly and even the summer wasn't off to the best start.  Before Jurassic Park, Indecent Proposal was the biggest film of the year with just over 100 million.  World Wide, Stallone's Cliffhanger took in 225 million.  So the year was not off to a good start.  But as soon as Jurassic Park hit the multiplexes, things changed.  ”It jump-started the whole summer,” says Warner Bros. distribution president Barry Reardon. ”Jurassic is making the market grow,” said Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen.  Soon after, Sleepless in Seattle, The Firm and In The Line of Fire did big business.  And according to the industry, Jurassic Park was at least partially responsible for this.  

 

Jurassic Park even did 3.1 million in midnight business...before midnight's were even a thing.  Jurassic Park became the highest-grossing film released worldwide up to that time. Following $3.1 million from midnight screenings on June 10, the film earned $47 million in its first weekend, with the $50.1 million total breaking the opening weekend record set by Batman Returns the year before. By the end of its first week, Jurassic Park had grossed $81.7 million, and stayed at number one for three weeks. It eventually grossed $357 million in the U.S. and Canada. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 86.2 million tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run. The film also did very well in international markets, breaking opening records in the United Kingdom, Japan, India, South Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan, ultimately earning $914 million worldwide,  with Spielberg reportedly making over $250 million from the film.  It surpassed Spielberg's own E.T. the Extraterrestrial as the highest-grossing film ever worldwide, and became second to E.T. in North America earnings.  Jurassic Park's record was only surpassed in 1998 by Titanic, the first film to gross over $1 billion.  ”He bet on himself and won,” said Lawrence Kasanoff, producer of James Cameron’s True Lies. ”He produced a blockbuster.”

 

Following an extensive $65 million marketing campaign, which included licensing deals with 100 companies, Jurassic Park not only became a hit with audiences,  it was well received by critics, who praised its special effects, John Williams' musical score, and Spielberg's direction. Following a 3D re-release in 2013 to celebrate its 20th anniversary, Jurassic Park became the 17th film to surpass 1 billion in ticket sales, and the film ranks among the 25 highest-grossing films ever. The film won more than twenty awards, including three Academy Awards for its technical achievements in visual effects and sound design. Jurassic Park is considered a landmark in the development of computer-generated imagery and animatronic visual effects, and was followed by three commercially successful sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001), and Jurassic World (2015). The fifth film, titled Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is scheduled for a June 2018 release(much to @Telemachos ) chagrin.

 

And this was just the start of Spielberg's year.  I'll get to the rest of it, including his emotional speech at the Oscars.  Make no mistake about it.  1993 was the year that Spielberg finally, could not be ignored.  

[75Live]

Yeah it was already a joke before this, but if they snubbed Spielberg again in 1993 then they should have just stopped the whole Oscars event and closed up shop

[baumer]

I remember seeing SL with 5 other friends.  We drove home that night in complete silence.  

[Plain Old Tele]

Minor caveat: plenty of directors have directed two (or even more!) movies within one calendar year of release, but (IMO) what made Spielberg really stand out was the breadth and range of those two films. To make an incredibly thrilling and crowd-pleasing sci-fi action/adventure film and then go and make a furiously honest, brutal, and frank look at the Holocaust and make it feel stunningly personal for millions who never had any personal experience about that terrible point in history is pretty extraordinary.

[baumer]

3 hours ago, Telemachos said:

Minor caveat: plenty of directors have directed two (or even more!) movies within one calendar year of release, but (IMO) what made Spielberg really stand out was the breadth and range of those two films. To make an incredibly thrilling and crowd-pleasing sci-fi action/adventure film and then go and make a furiously honest, brutal, and frank look at the Holocaust and make it feel stunningly personal for millions who never had any personal experience about that terrible point in history is pretty extraordinary.

 

My point wasn't that they directed two films in a calendar year.  My point was that no one besides Cameron (who did it with the same movie) directed the all time highest grossing film of all time AND the best picture of the year.  I apologize if I didn't word it correctly.  

[Plain Old Tele]

Just now, baumer said:

 

My point wasn't that they directed two films in a calendar year.  My point was that no one besides Cameron (who did it with the same movie) directed the all time highest grossing film of all time AND the best picture of the year.  I apologize if I didn't word it correctly.  

 

Ah, my mistake, I read it wrong.

[baumer]

3 hours ago, Telemachos said:

 

Ah, my mistake, I read it wrong.

 

No, I probably didn't word it correctly.

[Jonwo]

With the money Jurassic Park made, I'm not surprised Spielberg didn't take a salary for Schindler's List. Everyone wanted the film when it was pitched, Fox had Joe Dante to helm it if they got it and WB had Tim Burton and Columbia had Richard Donner. 

 

Its amazing how the CGI still holds up, I imagine seeing the dinosaurs for the first time would have amazed audiences 

 

Spielberg seems to have years where he has two very different films, 2002 was Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can, 2005 was War of the Worlds and Munich and 2011 was Tintin and War Horse. 

[Brainbug]

Spielberg is a living legend. One of the great figures of Hollywood history. Im so glad that i can witness this man still working on movies. Bring on Ready Player One. 

 

 

[Plain Old Tele]

Yeah, JP shaped up to be a blockbuster no matter who directed it -- it's such a perfect concept for a summer movie and it was already a bestseller book. The only question was how big would it be. (And, of course, the funny thing is I thought LAST ACTION HERO might give it a run for its money).

[baumer]

And once again, thank you to all who have read and commented.  Makes the research and the writing all worth while.

[Jonwo]

Just now, Brainbug said:

Spielberg is a living legend. One of the great figures of Hollywood history. Im so glad that i can witness this man still working on movies. Bring on Ready Player One. 

 

 

 

I am looking forward to The Papers but Ready Player One sounds like on paper something that could be Spielberg's biggest hit in a while 

[Eric the Fall Guy]

Apologies for going back to 1992, but this was just a fascinating trivia factoid I had to share. So I watched Basic Instinct for my Film Studies class last semester (for those wondering about my opinion, I thought it was overall pretty decent, although the film definitely loses some of its spark when Catherine Trammel isn't on screen), and my professor told my class that the film was originally released on DVD with an ice pick. A little weird for the studio releasing the DVD with a murder weapon, but it's a nice touch.  

[Giesi]

Fiennes as Amon Göth might be my favourite acting performance ever. The way he portrayed this terrifying and psychotic mass murderer was extraordinary, shooting down jews while being bored of the "everydayness" in the nazi camp. It made me a fan of him.

[Plain Old Tele]

Just now, Giesi said:

Fiennes as Amon Göth might be my favourite acting performance ever. The way he portrayed this terrifying and psychotic mass murderer was extraordinary, shooting down jews while being bored of the "everydayness" in the nazi camp. It made me a fan of him.

 

Yes, he was mesmerizing.

[Premium George]

5 minutes ago, Giesi said:

Fiennes as Amon Göth might be my favourite acting performance ever. The way he portrayed this terrifying and psychotic mass murderer was extraordinary, shooting down jews while being bored of the "everydayness" in the nazi camp. It made me a fan of him.

And he was toned down from the real person, so that people find him believable. Yet in screenings, people complained about him being over the top.

That's what I read in many articles.

[John Marston]

I read somewhere that George Lucas actually oversaw Post production for JP while Spielberg worked on Schindler