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

[baumer]

25 minutes ago, CoolEric258 said:

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.  

 

Is go back and talk about any year that you wish. And I actually have that DVD with the ice pick. Basic Instinct for my taste was one of the finest films of the 1990s. I think it's easily Paul Verohoevens best film and Sharon Stone really was phenomenal in it as was Michael Douglas and Wayne Knight actually got the job in Jurassic world based on his performance in Basic Instinct. Steven Spielberg said he watched Basic Instinct waiting for the credits and wrote down Wayne Knight's name and then had him in mind for his role in Jurassic Park LOL

[baumer]

39 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

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).

 

The Last Action Hero is something I think a lot of us thought would do much much better. It was obviously at the Apex of Arnold's career and a self-referential movie that makes fun of him saying I'll be back and so on, how could you go wrong LOL

[75Live]

42 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

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).

 

2 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

The Last Action Hero is something I think a lot of us thought would do much much better. It was obviously at the Apex of Arnold's career and a self-referential movie that makes fun of him saying I'll be back and so on, how could you go wrong LOL

 

I actually like the movie and feel it's a little ahead of it's time with things like A New Nightmare and Scream coming out not much later.  So maybe people didn't get it?  

[baumer]

Yes I definitely liked the Last Action Hero as well. But just speaking from a strictly box office point of view it certainly disappointed. But how can you not like a film that has Sylvester Stallone dressed as the Terminator LOL

[John Marston]

I've read that the marketing for Last Action Hero might have confused audiences on exactly what type of film it was 

[75Live]

3 minutes ago, baumer said:

Yes I definitely liked the Last Action Hero as well. But just speaking from a strictly box office point of view it certainly disappointed. But how can you not like a film that has Sylvester Stallone dressed as the Terminator LOL

 

It's his best performance ever

 

but no argument that BO wise the movie was a big disappointment.  Although I do remember the tie with Burger King i believe and I had some of the stuff  

[baumer]

Ill be home soon. Will get Sp93 done soon.

[Sterling]

Thought I would use my first post to say how much I've enjoyed following this series. Excellent work @baumer and I look forward to the upcoming entries!

 

I wish I would have been old enough to follow the Jurassic Park phenomenon as it unfolded. Truly an all time great box office run.

 

As far as 1992 is concerned, I think it's worth mentioning the performance of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. I was shocked to discover that it adjusts to $187 million and was number 1 for four straight weekends. For what essentially was a Lifetime Movie with no star power to gross almost $200 million (adjusted) is an astounding result. Can anyone here who followed box office back then speak to why it struck such a chord with audiences? Was it that it acted as a sort of spiritual successor to Fatal Attraction?

Edited July 11, 2017 by Sterling

[baumer]

10 hours ago, baumer said:

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.  

 

 

On to part two.....The film that won Spielberg his first Oscar.  With Spielberg leaving Jurassic Park in good hands with his best friend and fellow wunderkid film-maker, George Lucas, Spielberg left the comforts of Hollywood and ventured to cold and desolate and seemingly haunted Krakow, Poland.  Principal photography began on March 1, 1993 with a planned schedule of 75 days. The crew shot at or near the actual locations, though the Płaszów camp had to be reconstructed in a nearby abandoned quarry, as modern high rise apartments were visible from the site of the original camp. Interior shots of the factory in Kraków were filmed at a similar facility in Olkusz, while exterior shots and the scenes on the factory stairs were filmed at the actual factory. The crew was forbidden to do extensive shooting or construct sets on the grounds at Auschwitz, so they shot at a replica constructed just outside the entrance. There were some antisemitic incidents. A woman who encountered Fiennes in his Nazi uniform told him that "the Germans were charming people. They didn't kill anybody who didn't deserve it". Antisemitic symbols were scrawled on billboards near shooting locations, while Ben Kingsley nearly entered a brawl with an elderly German-speaking businessman who insulted Israeli actor Michael Schneider. Nonetheless, Spielberg stated that at Passover, "all the German actors showed up. They put on yarmulkes and opened up Haggadas, and the Israeli actors moved right next to them and began explaining it to them. And this family of actors sat around and race and culture were just left behind."

"I was hit in the face with my personal life. My upbringing. My Jewishness. The stories my grandparents told me about the Shoah. And Jewish life came pouring back into my heart. I cried all the time."—Steven Spielberg on his emotional state during the shoot.

 

 

Shooting Schindler's List was deeply emotional for Spielberg, the subject matter forcing him to confront elements of his childhood, such as the antisemitism he faced. He was surprised that he did not cry while visiting Auschwitz; instead he found himself filled with outrage. He was one of many crew members who could not force themselves to watch during shooting of the scene where aging Jews are forced to run naked while being selected by Nazi doctors to go to Auschwitz.  Spielberg commented that he felt more like a reporter than a film maker – he would set up scenes and then watch events unfold, almost as though he were witnessing them rather than creating a movie.  Several actresses broke down when filming the shower scene, including one who was born in a concentration camp. Spielberg, his wife Kate Capshaw, and their five children rented a house in suburban Kraków for the duration of filming.  He later thanked his wife "for rescuing me ninety-two days in a row ... when things just got too unbearable".  Robin Williams called Spielberg to cheer him up, given the profound lack of humor on the set. Spielberg spent several hours each evening editing Jurassic Park, which was scheduled to premiere in June 1993.

 

When the film was released, it became an instant hit not just domestically, but world wide.  It made more than 300 million which means that Spielberg's two films he directed grossed more than 1.2 billion dollars.  This is the film that critics say he grew up on.  He became a man.  He became a film maker and as such he was awarded his first best director Oscar.  I call bullshit on this.  Spielberg didn't grow up in 1993.  He just made a film that was "important" enough that the academy simply couldn't ignore.  Schindler's List is an out of body experience and one of the few films that got inside of me.  It's expertly made, full of rage and emotion and Spielberg created some truly mind blowing shots.  But this wasn't any better than Jaws or ET.  It wasn't better directed than Raiders of Close Encounters.  But because it's a film of historic importance, the academy felt that now, at the age of 47, he had matured enough that he deserved the Oscar.  The thought process is all wrong imo.  Spielberg has made many classics and they each, in their own way deserved to be recognized more.  Schindler's List may have been the film that elevated Spielberg's status to a bunch of troglodytes, but it should not have taken that long to get there.

 

 

 Though the film won seven Oscars in 1994 — including best picture and best director — and cemented his legendary status, Spielberg reportedly lost interest in filmmaking because of the emotionally draining nature of the film. Spielberg says he contemplated retirement. He had no desire to get back in the game. 

"I just didn't," Spielberg said, explaining his four-year hiatus after the release of the film. "I could not."

In response to a question about whether working on "Schindler's List" sent him into a depression, Spielberg initially said yes and then backtracked.

"I've never been depressed," he said. "I was sad and isolated, and as well-received and successful as that movie was, I think it was the trauma of telling the story and forming the Shoah Foundation."

In the years after the film's release, according to THR, Spielberg spent his time "sending videographers to interview Holocaust survivors," but he began to lose interest in feature films.

"I started to wonder, was 'Schindler's List' going to be the last film I would direct?" Spielberg recalled.

But in 1997, Spielberg said, the prospect of directing a sequel to one of his most commercially successful films "seized [him] one day like a thunderbolt," and he returned to the movie industry with the release of "The Lost World: Jurassic Park."

"I just needed time," Spielberg said.

 

I was 3 years old when JAWS came out.  In fact I saw JAWS 2 before I saw JAWS.  I liked JAWS 2 better at one point, perhaps when I was 7 years old.  There was more shark and the kids on the boats were cooler than the three men on the Orca.  By the time I turned 12, Indy and Rambo and Predator were my favourite films.  ET was mixed in there as well.  I had a friend named Travis Kennedy, who simply loved JAWS and any time we would talk about our favourite films, he would gush over JAWS.  It would take me until I was about 16 years old (1988) before I started to love and appreciate JAWS the way I do now.  For my 17th birthday, my grandmother (who was famous for buying us ugly and itchy sweaters with birds on the front of them, for Christmas) bought me the greatest gift I had ever received.  She got me JAWS on VHS.  I was so thrilled I almost kissed her....almost.  

 

I watched that movie every night for two years straight.  That's about 700 times.  Once I got to understand the brilliance of it, it became like a drug.  I just couldn't put it down.  Spielberg, like he did in JAWS and Raiders and ET, eventually did the same thing in Schindler's List.  He could make us understand what he was feeling.  He had a hard time filming Schindler's List so we better have a hard time watching it.  The girl in red.  The kid hiding in the shitter.  Goeth using Jews as target practise.  The asshole Nazi who tried unsuccessfully to shoot the JEW because he couldn't make product fast enough.  Schindler's emotional breakdown about how he could have saved more.  And so on.  These are scenes that have stayed with me and Spielberg had a hand in this.  

 

During his acceptance speech for best director, Spielberg mentions that he has friends who have won the Oscar....and that he had never held an oscar before this night.  He also says that the film could have never have been made without a Holocaust Survivor named Polak Pfefferberg, who Oscar saved.He's the man who talked Thomas Keneally into writing the book.  Also during his speech he mentions his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, who rescued him for 92 days during the film of the movie as he found it to be unbearable at night sometimes.  

 

I mention all of this because I personally find 1993 to be one of the greatest years in film.  It's not that Jurassic Park and Schindler's list are two of my favourite movies ever made, because they are not.  I liked Jurassic Park and I respect Schindler's List immensely.  But to do what Spielberg did, to create two masterpieces in two very different ways, is nothing short of miraculous.  Box office wise, Spielberg had the number one film domestically and WW and the number 9 film domestically but number four WW.  It's a feat that I personally don't see being duplicated.  It would be like Christopher Nolan releasing TDK and Dunkirk in the same year and Dunkirk going on to win best picture.  It was truly a special year for arguably the greatest director of all time.

 

I'll get to the rest of 1993 later tonight.  But Spielberg deserved a tribute all to himself.

 

 

 

 

[ProtoMan]

6 hours ago, baumer said:

Yes I definitely liked the Last Action Hero as well. But just speaking from a strictly box office point of view it certainly disappointed. But how can you not like a film that has Sylvester Stallone dressed as the Terminator LOL

 

Agreed. It was a very fun movie.

 

I remember this was Arnold's first starring movie after T2 and there was a lot of rumblings and rumors that the movie wasn't going to be good prior to release. But since Arnold was the biggest movie star at the time there was some optimism that the movie would overcome this. Unfortunately, no.

 

I think this was the turning point in his career that he never quite recovered form. Before this, he had a nice streak of classics. He did have True Lies a couple of years later but it just wasn't the same in my eyes. It was up and down from here.

 

 

[Plain Old Tele]

LAST ACTION HERO didn't just have Arnold at the height of his star-power, it was directed by John McTiernan, who was coming off his amazing personal "trilogy" of PREDATOR, DIE HARD, and HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. 

 

And back to SCHINDLER'S LIST for a moment: before it, Spielberg had been fond of using very grand and broad filmmaking techniques for his epics: sweeping crane shots, beautifully composed images. He abandoned all this with SL, going with a raw, visceral approach that's starkly beautiful because it didn't rely on the obvious. 

 

(It's worth pointing out that he took a looser approach with J PARK as well, never going past five takes per setup.)

[baumer]

3 hours ago, ProtoMan said:

 

Agreed. It was a very fun movie.

 

I remember this was Arnold's first starring movie after T2 and there was a lot of rumblings and rumors that the movie wasn't going to be good prior to release. But since Arnold was the biggest movie star at the time there was some optimism that the movie would overcome this. Unfortunately, no.

 

I think this was the turning point in his career that he never quite recovered form. Before this, he had a nice streak of classics. He did have True Lies a couple of years later but it just wasn't the same in my eyes. It was up and down from here.

 

 

 

I agree with you about Arnold kind of spinning his wheels after LAH, but True Lies came out one year later and then he did do Eraser, which was still a decent sized hit.  But you are right, he did start to cool off later in the 90's.

[Jonwo]

11 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

I agree with you about Arnold kind of spinning his wheels after LAH, but True Lies came out one year later and then he did do Eraser, which was still a decent sized hit.  But you are right, he did start to cool off later in the 90's.

 

Arnold starred in quite a lot of dubious movies like Junior which came out in 1994 as well as things like Jingle All the Way in 1996. I think he was trying to appeal to all demographics much like Dwayne Johnson today and having mixed results 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Jonwo

[baumer]

12 hours ago, John Marston said:

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

 

This is correct....it's mentioned in the next part I finished about Schindler's List.

[Jonwo]

46 minutes ago, baumer said:

 

This is correct....it's mentioned in the next part I finished about Schindler's List.

 

Interesting that he trusted Lucas to guide post production for one of his films. I wonder if he's done the same with other films when he had a two film year like Tintin which I imagine Peter Jackson lent a hand while he shot War Horse

[baumer]

8 hours ago, Sterling said:

Thought I would use my first post to say how much I've enjoyed following this series. Excellent work @baumer and I look forward to the upcoming entries!

 

I wish I would have been old enough to follow the Jurassic Park phenomenon as it unfolded. Truly an all time great box office run.

 

As far as 1992 is concerned, I think it's worth mentioning the performance of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. I was shocked to discover that it adjusts to $187 million and was number 1 for four straight weekends. For what essentially was a Lifetime Movie with no star power to gross almost $200 million (adjusted) is an astounding result. Can anyone here who followed box office back then speak to why it struck such a chord with audiences? Was it that it acted as a sort of spiritual successor to Fatal Attraction?

 

Thanks so much for reading.  And welcome aboard.

 

As for THTRTC...I remember seeing it at theaters but I don't remember much about the reception of it.  Here is a bit about it from Siskel and Ebert:

 

Gene Siskel stated that he "had trouble accepting the premise of this picture because of the casual way in which the nanny is hired in an early scene by the mother", citing that the premise is unrealistic. However, he gave praise to Julianne Moore's character, saying, "much more believable, is the supporting character of the mother's best friend", and that "the friend is a terrific character, it's too bad she doesn't have more scenes in the picture". He mentioned that his "biggest objection to Hand That Rocks the Cradle is to its scenes with the children in jeopardy or psychic pain". Siskel finally remarked that "there are some fun thrills in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle to be sure, but I found a lot of it distasteful, too". Roger Ebert, however, had a higher opinion of the film, stating that he "found this film worked", and that "It touches on a fear and that's why it appeals to us". Ebert praised De Mornay's performance in the film, saying "she does, I think, a very good job, a very, very sound job of being the villainess in this film and I think it's an effective performance", and that he found the scenes of the children "very interesting because I saw them as a portrait of the evil of that woman"

[baumer]

I have started to get to the rest of 1993 but it'll have to wait until tomorrow.  But I will go at a much quicker pace now and I plan on having this finished before the end of the summer.  Hoping I can get at least 3 years done a week.  That's 8 more weeks.

[baumer]

@TalismanRing....I see you are catching up on the thread.  Thanks for reading.

[TalismanRing]

12 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.

 

Victor Fleming directed Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind at the same time.  Beat that Spielberg.

 

 

[baumer]

3 hours ago, TalismanRing said:

 

Victor Fleming directed Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind at the same time.  Beat that Spielberg.

 

 

 

I got nothing.  I think you win.

 

Yep.  Wizard is about as iconic as the come and GWTW not only is the highest grossing movie of all time adjusted but it killed it at the Oscars.

 

I can't believe I forgot about 1939...I guess the numbers 1993 are great for terrific box office making iconic movies (1993 reverse the 9 and 3 and you get 1939....lol)