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

By baumer, in Box Office Discussion

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Kalo Global Phenomenon

Kalo

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Really great 1999 write ups, I don't love the Phantom Menace like I used to, but you cannot understate how much influence that film had on my life, I absolutely loved it when I saw it, and I was not a huge Star Wars fan before that, has hard as that sounds to believe today. It is to this day my most watched film of all time. and probably always will be. I think I still might be able to quote it word for word. 

 

I really liked your take on The Matrix as well, I do believe that most of the world is basically sleepwalking through life in a way.

 

Being a really sensitive kid I remember the Matrix being the first R rated film series I really got into, I was pretty much obsessed with it when I was 12-13. (I don't think I saw it until a year or two after it was out though) and I would try and do the martial arts fighting all the time too. 

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Barnack Global Phenomenon

Barnack

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On 8/13/2017 at 4:35 AM, The Stingray said:

1999 was the year I started paying attention to box office. For me the highlights of the year were The Phantom Menace getting overshadowed by The Matrix, and The Blair Witch Project and the birth of found footage.
 

That is a bit of an exaggeration, the birth was at least since, many movie did it in the 60's/70's at least:

 

For example in 1961

https://www.fandor.com/films/the_connection

 

But it was really popularized and became a big deal in 1980 with Cannibal Holocaust (the found footage bit was really pushed by the marketing, actor that played roles of people dying in the movie had in the contract a close that they could not shown themselve in place were they could have been took in photo, public, in Italy for quite a long time, so much that they had to stop at one point during a trial for murder and bring them back to show that it was fake).

 

Blair Witch was a re-popularization/boost of an already existing genre, a bit like Avatar with 3D.

 

I would imagine story like those overshadowing Phantom Menace not getting close at all to Titanic and being expected to be a monster, but in hindsight it had ridiculous long leg, still the biggest second biggest ever for a 50m or more opening I think, with an over 6.0x multi.

 

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Barnack Global Phenomenon

Barnack

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16 hours ago, filmlover said:

The Blair Witch Project is really the only time you could attribute a movie's entire success to the Internet. Various other attempts at trying to build hype via exclusively the World Wide Web (namely, Snakes on a Plane) have fallen completely flat over the years.

That is a good topic I imagine.

 

An other candidate could be Borat ? Is viral bit before the movie were big on the Internet I think.

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baumer Cinematic Universe

baumer

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Come on dude, I know there were found footage movies before The Blair Witch Project but it obviously popularized the genre more than any other film in history. I thought I made that pretty clear when I mentioned Cannibal Holocaust and The Last Broadcast.

 

Did u read the rest of the article? I mentioned Cannibal Holocaust.... maybe before you correct someone read the entire thing. I've done my research with this and I remember the time very well and I also own Cannibal Holocaust on DVD.

 

Lol i even mentioned that Deodato was brought to trial. Thanks for repeating it.

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75Live Global Phenomenon

75Live

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11 hours ago, Stutterng baumer Denbrough said:

Well, for those of you who like long write ups for each year, I just finished the rest of 1999.  I hope you enjoy.

 

@75livesinDerry

@Kalo

you know I always like a good write up :)   I just haven't had time to really reply lately.  Hopefully I'll be able to if work allows 

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75Live Global Phenomenon

75Live

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as for the Blair Witch Project, yes it wasn't the first found footage film, but just like Scream it invigorated a genre which still found footage films being made today.  It still is the best one as it really is one of the rare few that actually made sense to have found footage.

 

The one thing even beyond that for TBWP is the marketing campaign was the first, and really to this day, that used the internet incredibly as a method to promote a movie .  By making it seem "real" with released press articles and the missing persons stuff, it got people interested in a new way.  It obviously worked.  Yes some people felt "cheated" but I think most realized they just enjoyed the film and realized what a good marketing ploy it really was.  And just like many movies tried to copy the found footage idea, they also tried to use the internet in the same way, but none really came close

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baumer Cinematic Universe

baumer

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Here's the part of the BWP where I mentioned everything Barnack was saying:

 

Coming in at number ten is perhaps one of the most influential films of all time, and no that is not hyperbole.  The Blair Witch Project came out in the summer of 1999 and here we are in 2017 and it just now FINALLY looks like the found footage film is dead and buried.  But before The Blair Witch Project, no one had even really heard of the found footage film.  There were isolated films of course.  In 1980 perhaps the second most famous found footage film was released.  Cannibal Holocaust is certainly the grand daddy of all the found footage films.  It was known mostly for it's real animal killings and famous court case where the director was arrested and had to prove that he didn't really kill his actors.  All of them showed up to court to prove they were still alive.  Ruggero Deodato was then cleared of all charges.  Cannibal Holocaust had a place in found footage history, but imo, for the wrong reasons. 

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Ms Lady Hawk Box Office Gold

Ms Lady Hawk

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Blair Witch... OMG! That movie was scarier because of its low budget. The filmmakers were able to make it feel like the viewer was watching something real off of a video camera. Chilling!!! The late 90s were fantastic for movies. I do wonder whether Titanic would have been the phenomenon that it was if it were released today. Sometimes movies are released at the right point in time and that helps to make them timeless. 

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La Binoche Blockbuster

La Binoche

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5 hours ago, The Stingray said:

Not many major box office stories I can think of from 2000. Crouching Tiger and the return of the sword-and-sandal epic with Gladiator, are the only ones that come to mind.
 

Steven Soderbergh finally delivered on all his Sex, Lies & Videotape promise with the 1-2 punch of Erin Brockovich and Traffic. After the success of Sex, Lies ushered in the independent film movement, he spent over a decade flopping and unable to make a movie because he wanted to do it his way. Then he finally agreed to relinquish some control. The result: the critical and commercial triumphs of Erin and Traffic.  

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Kalo Global Phenomenon

Kalo

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43 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Another box office run from 1999 that deserves special mention is Stuart Little. $15M opening, $140M total. That's a multiplier over 9. Crazy run (also, fun fact: Shyamalan was among the writers).

 

I actaully quite liked Stuart Little. 

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