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

[Maxmoser3]

What Women Want broke Scream 2's ow record in 2000. 

[Fancyarcher]

6 hours ago, Jonwo said:

I'm more shocked What Lies Beneath cost more than Cast Away! In the era where home video and TV were very profitable, the budget was easily made back and then some.

 

Hope you mention Chicken Run @The Last baumer

I imagine star salary played a part in WLB budget, that and maybe the shooting location (it was shot in my home state BTW).

[baumer]

Once again, I apologize here guys.  Life is just very busy right now.  I will get to 2001 on the weekend for sure.

[baumer]

Well, the dreaded has happened and I've basically ignored this thread for two months.  I know it sounds like a broken record now, but I promise I will get back to this during the week.  I have to do the top 25 of 1997 on the weekend and then after that I will get back to this.

 

I apologize for the delay.

[Maxmoser3]

2001 in a box office sense, is amazing!

Winners(monthly):

January consisted of not really big blockbusters... but Save The Last Dance did very well for a dance film as it grossed an excellent $91 million and was Julia Stiles biggest hit in a lead role. As 10 Things I Hate About You only made $38 million, and Down To You mustered $20 million the year before. The Wedding Planner still proved to be a nice success for J-Lo as it debuted with a decent $13 million and made an excellent $60 million domestic total and a worldwide total of near $95 million of a $34 million production budget! 

 

February had the big one, as Hannibal debuted with $58 million on a non-holiday weekend and at the time broke two records with the best opening weekend debut for an R-rated film which was held by Scary Movie a few months beforehand, and broke Titanic’s record for the best President’s Day weekend number. The film earned $35 million(165 million vs $130 million) than its predecessor, and made over $350 million WW off a $87 million production budget! It proved that February wasn’t a dump month after all, and did quite well for a sequel after 10 years. Using Ridley Scott after Gladiator’s sucess and even attaching Julianne Moore instead of Jodie Foster, as well as super bowl marketing was excellent!

 

The only two other hits of the month weren’t even close to Hannibal’s amazing run. Recess: School’s Out did ok for a small budget and performed way better than The Doug Movie, it grossed nearly $40 million off a $23 million budget. Comedy remake Down To Earth did reasonable for a comedy with Chris Rock starring vehicle with a decent $64 million domestic total. As it was the only Chris Rock vehicle to make over $60 million, or even $40-$50 million ever! But it wasn’t close to the original film’s (Heaven Can Wait) domestic total with Warren Beatty with $81 million and a $311 million total in adjusted 2017 attendance. 

 

March was starting to still be in the mixed bag part of 2001. The Mexican made $66 million which for a Crime Comedy the debut was the best for the genre and outgrossed comparable titles such as Out Of Sight, and also made nearly $150 million WW which wasn’t bad for a $57 million budget. Exit Wounds did ok for Steven Seagal headlined film as it made nearly $80 million off a $50 million budget which was ok but nothing amazing but was an improvement from his bombs such as Fire Down Below or The Glimmer Man. The Brothers did well for an urban dramedy not like The Best Man in 1999 but for a $6 million produced film grossed close to $30 million as it made a decent $27 million. 

 

The main hit of March was Spy Kids as it started  with a decent $26.5 million debut for a $35 million budget and was crown for a few weeks and $112 million total which was great for a studio that wasn’t the big five then. 

 

April was slim pickings for winners at the box office. Along Came A Spider did quite well for an R-rated thriller and made $13.5 million more than its predecessor($74 million vs $60.5 million), and had great legs for the month. Making $105.2 million worldwide off a $60 million which Kiss The Girls didn’t have overseas numbers available. The on

ly other striker winner was Bridget Jones’s Diary as it debuted with $10.7 million under 2,000 screens and even had small drops without holiday holds. And earned a very sucessful $71.5 million and a worldwide total of $281.9 million off a modest budget of $25 million. Something that Miramax could be jumpin like excited minions at that time, although Universal took the spotlight with the later sequels.

 

May speaking of Universal. Universal had an amazing summer starting with The Mummy Returns, the sequel to the film that started Summer Starts and surprised Universal after all of the bombs from ‘98 and ‘99. The Mummy Returns did an excellent $68 million and made a very good $202 million total and $433 million worldwide which was a small improvement from its predecessor but managed to be quite a sucess off a $98 million budget. 

 

While franchises improved from their predecessor, one started a franchise Shrek got off to a decent start with $42.3 million. Which was DreamWorks Pictures best debut right next to Saving Private Ryan’s $34 million debut. And making nearly $270 million domestic off a $60 million budget. Then while wom wasn’t impressed with this depiction of this event in history, Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor got off to a decent start with $59 million and made nearly $200 million in the states. 

 

June was more smaller films. The Animal debuted better than Deuce Bigalow but came close to $60 million, and made $84 million worldwide which wasn’t bad for a $47 million budget. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider still does but broke the record for best film based on video game opening weekend and overall the top grossing video game film in states! 

 

The other two main winners of June, one started off a franchise and the other did ok for a sequel but didn’t rejuvenate anything but profit wise did fine. The Fast And The Furious did outstanding numbers with an amazing $40 million and $144 million domestic total as well as $207.2 million worldwide off a $38 million budget which would later on in the future become a twice in a row $1 billion WW making franchise! And it did quite well for a film that featured then not any big blockbuster stars! 

Dr. Doolittle 2 did decent for a sequel as it made $25 million ow but made $112 domestic off a $70 million budget but it’s overseas wasn’t close to its predecessor’s $294 million. But wasnt a complete failure for Murphy as it turned out to be profitable 

 

July had more modest budget films help make some cash. 4th Of July weekend mainly had Cats & Dogs lead with $21.7 million 3-day and $35 million 5-day and made a quite sucessful $93.3 million stateside total and $200.6 million worldwide off a $60 million budget, and did reasonable for WB as family films for them then weren’t that sucessful(minus Space Jam or Free Willy). 

Although this would have been considered a loser prior to another entry in the franchise. Scary Movie 2 opened half of less than its predecessor, but made an $71.3 million and $141.2 million worldwide off a $45 million budget. Much better than Scary Movie 5 12 Years later but bled harsh in comparison to the original.

Kiss Of The Dragon did reasonable for a solo Jet Li action film and $13.3 million ow and $36.8 million domestic and $64.4 million WW off a $25 million budget. Which isn’t bad at all. 

 

For the rest of the month(when you consider the hits): Legally Blonde did well for a Reese Witherspoon headlined pic with a $20.3 million debut and finished close to $100 million with an excellent $96.5 million and $141.7 million WW off a modest price tag($18 million), and proved to be one of her biggest hits until a year later. The Score did a small heist with $71 million domestic and $113 million WW off a $68 million budget.

Jurassic Park III didn’t stomp the park in a big way but still chewed up $181 million domestic total and $368 million WW off a $93 million budget. Which was less than its predecessor’s but still quite sucessful

America’s Sweethearts proved to be quite strong as counter-programming as it made $30.1 million opening weekend, making it Julia Roberts second best debut right behind Runaway Bride and grossed a nice $93.6 million off a $46 million budget. 

With sequels coming in full force during the summer, a big remake also came out. The Planet Of The Apes was director Tim Burton’s best debut as a director and then was actor Mark Wahlberg’s best debut until Transformers: Age Of Extinction 13 Years later and made $180 million off a $100 million budget and made $362.2 million WW.

 

August Rush Hour 2 broke the August record with an astounding $67.4 million and finished with $226.1 million domestic and $347.3 million off a $90 million budget, making it Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker’s biggest ever! And The second top grossing buddy action-comedies right behind the original Men In Black and the best debut ever for a buddy action-comedy still to this day! The Princess Diaries proved to be sucessful counter-programming as it debuted with $22.8 million and had decent holds for the rest of the summer and early fall. The film made a decent $108.2 million and  $165.3 million off a $26 million budget.

 

Two other sequels had made a helping as well for August. The first one being American Pie 2 which debuted with $45.1 million which was well more than half of its predecessor’s debut two summer’s before. It was also the film in the franchise to be number one for more than one week and made $145.1 million which was $42.6 more than its predecessor and made almost $290 million WW off a $30 million budget. Making it the highest grossing R-rated comedy of 2001, and the 2nd top grossing R-rated film of 2001. 

The next kinda sequel that did fine was Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back which earned the same as Dogma without the controversy with $30 where Dogma made $30.6 million with controversy. But considering it was more about the stoner duo and no controversy it was a fine total. 

 

While there are two more August releases left that did well. I will mention one more for the month, and they were both horror films. But Jeepers Creepers did very well on Labor-Day weeekend as it broke the record for labor-day and made $37.9 million total and nearly $60 million WW off a $10 million budget. 

 

This is going to be lengthy part 2 of the September-December winners will be next later on Sunday and then the huge flops in 2001. As well @Christmas baumer I can’t wait to see your list of 2001. Will you be talking about anything that I haven’t heard of? Or the Big main ones, since 2001 had looked like the big event year starting at the box office and wow this was a big year! A lot of stories to share, and even the big duds are interesting. Driven and Town & Country all came out around the same time, and anybody remember Franchise Pictures? 

[Maxmoser3]

2001’box office winners continued:

 

September was when box office started to wind down with slower box office,’and 9/11 also happening in the world.

 

What helped out most of the month wasn’t a September release but was a holdover from August, horror film The Others debuted with $14 million the precious month but  held out into September and an amazing $96 million and over $200 million WW on a modest budget. The Others also became the highest grossing horror film

of 2001.

 

Hardball was also a small hit for audiences wanting escapism with $40 million and $44 million WW off a $32 million budget. Hardball was a small profit for a Keanu Reeves starring vehicle as everything after The Matrix had became box office duds.

Don’t Say A Word made $17 million ow at the end of September which was a better debut than Kiss The Girls or Along Came A Spider. And was miles better than the debut of Breakdown. But Don’t Say A Word was also a nice hit with $55 million and $100 million WW off a $50 million production budget.

 

October was the month of duds. But Training Day did quite well, as it had the(until The Departed 5 Years later) best debut for a Dirty Cop film, the best debut for Denzel Washington, and the 2nd best debut (right behind Meet The Parents) for the month of October! The film had great legs, and made $76.9 million which outgrossed the norm for a dirty cop film and made almost $105 million WW off a $45 million production budget. The film also brought another win a few months later with Denzel Washington bringing home an Academy Award for Best Actor. 

 

November brought back the goods. And have one amazing story to share with a wizarding lad and the creatures that actually harmless that hide in our closets or under our bed at night. 

 

Monster’s, Inc. was Pixar’s biggest hit as it started November great. The film outgrossed Toy Story 1 & 2, and made $255 million.

 

While Monsters, Inc. was a big hit for Pixar, the main attraction was Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone broke The Lost World: Jurassic Park’s opening weekend record with $90 million and became the highest grossing film of 2001 both domestic and worldwide as it made $317 million domestic and made almost $1 billion worldwide. 

 

Another profitbale film but not blockbuster. Shallow Hall did well as well for counter programming and made $70 million and $141 WW. It didn’t do Dumb & Dumber or other Farrelly Bros. Films prior, but was the film to do actually not bad at the box office. Although word of mouth was slimming down and not gaining. 

 

December saw a remake, Tom Cruise, and another book adaptation did great numbers. 

 

Another 60’s remake came out in 2001. Ocean’s Eleven which was a remake of a film with The Rat Pack(Frank Sinatra, Dean Martín, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford), as well as co-starring Angie Dickinson. Anyway the remake made the jackpot! As it had the best debuts for Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts,  and had a great $38 million which had broke What Women Want’s opening weekend record for the month of December. The film had a great run with $183.4 million total and $450.7 million WW. Making it the top grossing heist/caper film(until Inception), and the top grossing film to be taken place in Las Vegas(until The Hangover).

 

Spesling of remakes, another remake came out the weekend later with Vanilla sky starring Tom Cruise. But a remake of a Spanish film called Open Your Eyes with Cruise’s co-star Penélope Cruz. The film had reunited Tom Cruise with director Cameron Crowe after 5 years after Jerry Macguire and debuted with $25 million well ahead Jerry’s $17 million debut. Vanilla Sky made $100 million domestic which was the best total for a mind bender film until 2010. The film also did a excellent $203 million WW off a $68 million budget.

 

The next big winner that will be the final winner for 2001(others weren’t bombs but small profits for December). Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring took Ocean’s December crown away, and delivered a stellar $47.2 nothing like Harry Potter’s $90 million debut. But had became the second highest grossing film both domestic and worldwide for 2001. As it made $313 million and over $870 million WW.

 

In General:

the only other film that is interesting is comes to mind is Memento. As it did $25 million domestic for a small budget, and did fine for a film in limited release

 

other than that there were other small hits. But wow there were some big tankers that came out that year, that I will save for later. Then the box office doesn’t down from there as 2002 saw several surprises that no body saw. 

[RichWS]

Still have a soft spot for that trifecta of Jurassic Park III, Apes and Rush Hour 2. I remember posting on the Box Office Report forum a lot that summer. 

 

Apes and Rush doing 67-68m back-to-back was incredibly exciting as a teenage geek.

[MovieMan89]

2 hours ago, RichWS said:

Still have a soft spot for that trifecta of Jurassic Park III, Apes and Rush Hour 2. I remember posting on the Box Office Report forum a lot that summer. 

 

Apes and Rush doing 67-68m back-to-back was incredibly exciting as a teenage geek.

Ay, glad to find a fellow summer '01 box office fan. That's when I first got into box office so it holds a certain nostalgia for me. Especially tracking JP3's and The Mummy Return's run. Pretty hilarious now to know how weak those two are in the history of big box office runs, but at the time it seemed very impressive to 11 year old me.  

 

EDIT: Woah, looks like Mummy Returns was the second biggest OW ever at the time. No wonder it seemed like a big deal. Insane to think that in 16 years its went from #2 to #113. 

Edited November 27, 2017 by MovieMan89

[Kalo]

[Porthos]

On 4/20/2017 at 9:28 AM, Christmas baumer said:

1978 was a huge year for the box office.  

 

The most interesting thing about Superman, imo, is that this shoot, along with many others in the 70's would make the problems and reshoots that our members are so eager and apt to discuss as a reason the film is in trouble in some or many ways, look like a walk in the park on a sunny April afternoon.  The 70's were notorious for producers fucking over their cast and crew.  Superman (and JAWS 2, which will be discussed soon) was a volcano waiting to erupt.  Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon) was hired to direct not only the first Superman but the sequel as well.  They were filming them back to back, kind of like Lord of the Rings.  Producer Ilya Salkind bought the rights for Superman in 1973.  And he turned out to be a thief and a liar in many instances.  Donner later said that at the end of the shoot, if he had been in the same room as Salkind, he would have killed him.  Salkind brought in another director, Mark Lester, just in case Donner would not finish directing all of Superman II.  Donner had finished 75% of the film before they stopped filming the sequel to just concentrate on the first film.  To say the production reached a boiling point is putting it mildly.

As @Christmas baumer has discovered, I just found this thread and have been peppering him with likes.    But in case people glossed it over at the time, I REALLY want to bring this back up for some attention.  

 

Hollywood has ALWAYS had troubled productions of various severity (there's a reason why the poison pens like Hedda Hopper never ran out of material back in the day), but some of the ones of the 70s and early 80s make Josh Trank's famous F4 implosion look like a toddler having a tantrum on the beach.

 

I did a quick scan ahead and didn't see it mentioned beyond a passing reference, but one of the ones that stayed with me decades later was the infamous Twilight Zone accident in 1982 where three actors were killed (two of them children) and six other people injured when a helicopter crashed during the shoot.  This made national news back then and made enough of an impact that I still recall hearing about it decades later.  I don't think it is hyperbole to say that the fallout of that tragedy changed movie making and for the better.

 

I'm not going to even attempt to do the research that Baumer has done for this, so let me just quote something from Wikipedia, with a minor bit of editing:

Quote

The Directors Guild of America's safety committee began publishing regular safety bulletins for its members and established a telephone hotline to "enable directors to get quick answers to safety questions."^[25][27] The guild also began to discipline its members for violations of its safety procedures on sets, which it had not done prior to the crash.^[25] The Screen Actors Guild introduced a 24-hour hotline and safety team for its members and "encouraged members to use the right of refusal guaranteed in contracts if they believe a scene is unsafe."^[28]

 

Following the incident, accidents during filming between 1982 and 1986 fell by 69.6%, although there were still six deaths on sets.^[25][28] Speaking in 1987, movie producer Saul David warned, however: "I think ostensibly there will be more caution for a time. But, in effect, if they had the same shot to do again they would find a way to do it. If the audience says it wants more death-defying and terrible stunts, [the filmmakers] are going to give them more death-defying and terrifying stunts."^[28]

 

Film director Steven Spielberg, who co-produced the film with Landis, broke off their friendship following the accident.^[11][30] Spielberg said that the crash had "made me grow up a little more" and had left everyone who worked on the movie "sick to the center of our souls."^[31] With regard to how the crash had influenced people's attitudes towards safety, he said: "No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now than ever before to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn't safe, it's the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell, 'Cut!'"^[31]

 

For those who want to know more about it, there are plenty of links on the net, as well as a raft of research material.

 

I think as it recedes in the mists of time, people forget just how much of a watershed this was.  It's almost certain that some other film would have been the catalyst for worker safety laws when it comes to films, so I can perhaps understand how it's been forgotten by some.  But it also tanked this movie, as it became box office poison when it was released.  It ended up finishing up 25th for the year, and don't think it is much to say that it was thought by some to be destined for something much higher than that at the time, possibly even Top 10.

 

It was a major scandal then and it would have been an huge scandal today. The side-scandal of how the production was handling child actors would have been its own mini-scandal today if it wasn't overshadowed by everything else.

 

One of the more regrettable films ever made in recent memory, IMO.  But at least some small good came out of that tragedy.  And it's perhaps one reason why 'troubled production' doesn't mean quite what it once meant back in the day for Hollywood.

 

Though some productions really do attempt their best to give it the ol' college try! 

Edited December 26, 2017 by Porthos

[Porthos]

BTW, I fully realize why @Christmas baumer didn't talk much about TZ:TM in his wrapups, as it was a huge box office bomb.  But I think the story of it being a bomb IS a box office story in and of itself.  I can't say for sure how much it 'should' have made, especially as the film was kinda a mess even without the tragedy attached to it, though it does seem to have at least a mixed legacy when purely looking at the film on its own.

 

But I think it should have done much better.  There was a decent amount of buzz in geek circles about the film at the time, and even then The Twilight Zone still had a fond hold on people's memories. But the accident and controversy that erupted from it sunk its prospects and cast a long shadow in Hollywood.

 

So I view it as an amazing negative box office story, in the same way that FF4 was a negative box office story, if for very very different reasons.  Most box office bombs don't deserve stories, of course.  But I wanted to talk about it a bit about this one precisely for the reason why it was a box office bomb.

[kowhite]

I like this thread.

[baumer]

So without getting into too much of a sob story, the real reason I haven't kept up with this has to do with health.  I won't get into massive details, but I have a condition called CIDP which affects my nerves.  It also eats away at muscle and affects motor skills.  These past 6 months my motor skills in my fingers has been pretty poor.  So typing out these long ass posts would have been next to impossible or it would have taken me forever.  The good thing about this disease is that it is chronic but it also gets better at times, on its own.  Right now, my fingers are better than they have been in months.  So i'm ready to tackle this again.  

 

Sorry for the delay and I will get this done.  I will be starting again perhaps tonight and if not tonight, it will be Tuesday for sure.

[aabattery]

Sorry to hear that, baumer. Glad you can get back to it, it's always been worth the wait.

[a2k]

7 minutes ago, baumer said:

So without getting into too much of a sob story, the real reason I haven't kept up with this has to do with health.  I won't get into massive details, but I have a condition called CIDP which affects my nerves.  It also eats away at muscle and affects motor skills.  These past 6 months my motor skills in my fingers has been pretty poor.  So typing out these long ass posts would have been next to impossible or it would have taken me forever.  The good thing about this disease is that it is chronic but it also gets better at times, on its own.  Right now, my fingers are better than they have been in months.  So i'm ready to tackle this again.  

 

Sorry for the delay and I will get this done.  I will be starting again perhaps tonight and if not tonight, it will be Tuesday for sure.

hope you stay very well and have tons of anti-inflammatory foods

 

[75Live]

4 hours ago, baumer said:

So without getting into too much of a sob story, the real reason I haven't kept up with this has to do with health.  I won't get into massive details, but I have a condition called CIDP which affects my nerves.  It also eats away at muscle and affects motor skills.  These past 6 months my motor skills in my fingers has been pretty poor.  So typing out these long ass posts would have been next to impossible or it would have taken me forever.  The good thing about this disease is that it is chronic but it also gets better at times, on its own.  Right now, my fingers are better than they have been in months.  So i'm ready to tackle this again.  

 

Sorry for the delay and I will get this done.  I will be starting again perhaps tonight and if not tonight, it will be Tuesday for sure.

 

really? we are using medical reasons as excuse now?  The CIA got you pushing too many pencils?

 

 

 

seriously, sorry to hear about that condition and take your time and take care of yourself  The list can wait.  Hope you get better  

Edited February 18, 2018 by 75Live

[narniadis]

Sorry to hear that bud - I have inflammation issues due to a health condition and it is no fun, so I can only imagine what yours must be like. 

 

Take your time

[baumer]

Well I have had this since I was 8 years old. So I've been dealing with it all my life. So it does affect me from time to time and every once in a while it goes on for long spurts. It messes up my typing skills and that's annoying more than anything.

 

But I'll be back to this hopefully tonight.

[Dementeleus]

9 minutes ago, baumer said:

Well I have had this since I was 8 years old. So I've been dealing with it all my life. So it does affect me from time to time and every once in a while it goes on for long spurts. It messes up my typing skills and that's annoying more than anything.

 

But I'll be back to this hopefully tonight.

 

I was gonna suggest using voice-to-text for your long posts but we all know how that'd turn out.  

 

This thread's a lot of fun but there's also no rush. Thanks for doing it. 

[baumer]

We would need a translator if I was to use voice to text for these posts LOL