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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!!!!!!!

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Tauren Warlock Cult Classic

Tauren Warlock

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21 hours ago, Stutterng baumer Denbrough said:

 

What year was Memento?

I thought it was 2000. As Maxmoser3 pointed out, it was released in 2001. I think it was the film that launched Nolan's career and got him his first Oscar nom- Best Original Screenplay. Without it, Warner Brothers wouldn't put that much faith in Nolan early on and hand him the Batman films to direct.

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baumer Cinematic Universe

baumer

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I want to apologize for seemingly abandoning this thread.  Life got busy and it became hard for me set aside 2 hours to do each year.

 

I will be in LA visiting @Squadron Leader Tele and @Water Bottle this week and then when I return I promise I will get this done by the end of the year.  The year 2000 will be done by the end of the week.

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baumer Cinematic Universe

baumer

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After a two month absence, I'm back.  I apologize for the delay.  Work, life and a shitty internet connection from my ISP, prevented me from being able to put the time into this that was needed.

 

But here we go with the year 2000.

 

The year 2000 was an interesting year in that the number one film domestically featured Jim Carrey at his apex, Ron Howard on a roll and a Christmas film finishing number one for the first time 1990.  Then at number ten you had a 100 million dollar budgeted horror film with an A-list cast and a director making his second appearance in the top 10.  Here's how 2000 shaped out.

 

In the number one spot was the aforementioned The Grinch.  Starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch, he probably should have been nominated for an Oscar.  He was that good.  

 

Directed by Ron Howard and written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman based on the 1957 story of the same name by Dr. Seuss. The film was released by Universal Pictures. 

Because the film is based on a children's book, many additions had to be made to the storyline to bring it up to feature-length, including some information about the backstory of the title character. Most of the rhymes that were used in the book were also used in the film, though some of the lines were to some degree changed, and several new rhymes were put in.

The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a box office success, spending four weeks at #1 in the United States and grossing $260 million and over $345 million worldwide, becoming the second highest-grossing holiday film of all time, with Home Alone being the first. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, and was also nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

 

Box office wise, the film was a monster success.  It took in 55 million the first weekend and then fell a scant 5% in the second weekend, taking in 52 million.  By the time Christmas rolled around, it was in its sixth weekend and took in another 14 million over the 4 days.  The Grinch made 235 of its 260 million over its first six weeks heading into Christmas.  It's certainly one of those films hated by many at our site, but most loved by those who saw it.  

 

According to the DVD special features, the prosthetic make-up Jim Carrey wore, took about three hours to apply, and one hour to remove. It is rumored that Carrey felt so confined and uncomfortable in the latex skin, that he sought counseling from a C.I.A. Agent, who taught him torture-resistance techniques.  He was paid handsomely (20 million plus a percentage of all merchandising) to make the movie, but he went through hell every day to make him look the part.  

 

The Whoville set was built mostly on the backlot of Universal Studios behind the Bates Motel. During a break in filming, Jim Carrey surprised and scared tourists on the Universal Backlot Tour, by running out of the hotel wearing a dress and brandishing a knife. Nobody recognized him, and the tour guide at Universal Studios will tell you the story when you pass by the hotel on the Backlot Tour.

 

Coming in at number two was one of the more surprising hits world wide.  Cast Away had a budget of 90 million and took in 233 million domestic and a whopping 430 million world wide.  The most interesting thing about Cast Away is the film's shooting occurred between 1998 and 2000, but was not shot consecutively. Tom Hanks gained 50 pounds during pre-production to make him look like a pudgy, middle-aged man. After a majority of the film was shot, production was halted for a year so that he could lose the weight and grow his hair and beard to look like he had been living on the island for years. During the year-long hiatus, Zemeckis used the same film crew to make another film, What Lies Beneath.

 

Tom Hanks at this time was in the stage of his career that made him a legend.  Starting in 1992 with his comeback film, A League of Their Own, to the Ron Howard conspiracy film, The Davinci Code, Hanks could do no wrong, had no real missteps and was worth every penny the studios paid him.  He garnered 4 oscar nominations and 2 wins in this time period and he was the first actor to win back to back best actor oscars since Jimmy Stewart.  His presence in Cast Away made it a box office giant.  This is a film where after the quick first act, Hanks spends the rest of the movie in silence or talking to a volley ball.  The film succeeded because the audience loved Tom Hanks.  There's no other explanation for it.  Don't get me wrong, it's a fine film but for this to have captured the imaginations of audiences all over the world, you have to have someone in the lead role that people want to spend time with.  Hanks is that man.  None of us really know him but we know the smile, the persona and the image that he projects in interviews.  Bill Paxton has been quoted as saying that Hanks is probably the nicest person he has ever met in Hollywood.  Others have said the same.  I think this went a long way to making this movie a success.  

 

In the film, Wilson the volleyball serves as Chuck Noland's personified friend and only companion during the four years that Noland spends alone on a deserted island. Named after the volleyball's manufacturer, Wilson Sporting Goods, the character was created by screenwriter William Broyles, Jr.. While researching for the film, he consulted with professional survival experts, and then chose to deliberately strand himself for one week on an isolated beach in the Gulf of California, to force himself to search for water and food, and obtain his own shelter. During this time, a volleyball washed up on shore. This was the inspiration for the film's inanimate companion. From a screenwriting point of view, Wilson also serves to realistically allow dialogue in a one-person-only situation.

One of the original volleyball props was sold at auction for $18,500 to the ex-CEO of FedEx Office, Ken May. At the time of the film's release, Wilson launched its own joint promotion centered on the fact that one of its products was "co-starring" with Tom Hanks. Wilson manufactured a volleyball with a reproduction of the bloodied handprint face on one side. It was sold for a limited time during the film's initial release and continues to be offered on the company's website.

 

Number three in North America and number one world wide for the year 2000 was the follow up to Tom Cruise's career defining film, Mission Impossible.  While the original did well, this one did even better.  Mission Impossible took in about 450 million WW while the sequel took in 546 million.  

 

We have come to know Cruise as a daredevil and I'm not sure if it started on this film, but it sure as hell cemented his reputation as a nut  The famous rock climbing sequence was filmed at Dead Horse Point in Utah. Tom Cruise was on cables which were then digitally removed. Ron Kauk was the climbing double and the overhang stunt was performed by main stunt double, Keith Campbell. John Woo was so scared each time but "Tom insisted on doing it".  So while there were stunt doubles, that is really Cruise hanging off the mountain.  Director John Woo wanted to choose a different way to introduce Ethan Hunt, but Cruise loved the opening so much that he refused to do the film unless this sequence was in it.  

 

Mission Impossible is also famous for face peeling scenes.  The scene where Tom Cruise "peels off his face" to reveal Dougray Scott was achieved in one shot by shooting both actors against a greenscreen. Cruise, not wearing a mask, was simply told to place his hand in a pre-arranged position under his chin then pull his hand across his face. Scott wore a plain mask with sensors that could provide a computer with a three-dimensional view of his face. He then peeled off this mask to finish the scene. Cruise's face was superimposed on the mask as it is pulled away and the two images morphed together in the computer; the background of the 747 cabin was added in to replace the greenscreen. (Watch the scene with frame advance and you will see a slight transitional "swirl" on the mask halfway through the scene). Kevin Yagher contributed some more traditional latex mask effects for other face-peeling scenes.

 

Mission Impossible II remains the highest grossing opening weekend of the series and of Cruise's career as it took in 57.8 million.  This is 2 million higher than Rogue Nation.  It took in 96 million in Japan which was it's highest grossing territory outside of the US.  

 

Coming in at number 4 for the year was the best picture winner, Gladiator.  Gladiator is an historical drama directed by Ridley Scott.  It stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed (in his final role), Djimon Hounsou and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when Commodus, the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murders of his family and his emperor.

 

 The film won multiple awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Crowe and three other Oscars at the 73rd Academy Awards. It has also been credited with rekindling interest in entertainment centered around ancient Greek and Roman culture, such as the TV series Rome.  It took in 187 domestic and 457 WW and vaulted Crowe to the top of the A-list.  It also has one of the coolest mini monologues in film history, imo.  

 

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

 

It's the scene that won Crowe his Oscar imo.  

 

The production was famous for being a hell of sorts.  Crowe developed his reputation of being a prick to work with, from this film.  Because this is too long to write out and I think it bears posting, this is just copied straight from Wikipedia:

 

Ridley Scott was approached by producers Walter F. Parkes and Douglas Wick. They showed him a copy of Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1872 painting entitled Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down). Scott was enticed by filming the world of Ancient Rome. However, Scott felt Franzoni's dialogue was too "on the nose" (lacking subtlety) and hired John Logan to rewrite the script to his liking. Logan rewrote much of the first act and made the decision to kill off Maximus's family to increase the character's motivation.

Russell Crowe describes being eager for the role as pitched by Walter F. Parkes, in his interview for Inside the Actors Studio: "They said, 'It's a 100-million-dollar film. You're being directed by Ridley Scott. You play a Roman General.' I've always been a big fan of Ridley's."

With two weeks to go before filming, the actors complained of problems with the script. William Nicholson was brought to Shepperton Studios to make Maximus a more sensitive character. Nicholson reworked Maximus' friendship with Juba and developed the afterlife thread in the film, saying "he did not want to see a film about a man who wanted to kill somebody."

The screenplay faced many rewrites and revisions. Crowe allegedly questioned every aspect of the evolving script and strode off the set when he did not get answers. According to a DreamWorks executive, "(Russell Crowe) tried to rewrite the entire script on the spot. You know the big line in the trailer, 'In this life or the next, I will have my vengeance'? At first he absolutely refused to say it."

Russell Crowe described the script situation: "I read the script and it was substantially underdone. Even the character didn't exist on the pages. And that set about a long process, that's probably the first time that I've been in a situation where the script wasn't a complete done deal. We actually started shooting with about 32 pages and went through them in the first couple of weeks."

Of the writing and filming process, Crowe added, "Possibly, a lot of the stuff that I have to deal with now in terms of my quote unquote volatility has to do with that experience. Here was a situation where we got to Morocco with a crew of 200 and a cast of a 100 or whatever, and I didn't have anything to learn. I actually didn't know what the scenes were gonna be. We had, I think, one American writer working on it, one English writer working on it, and of course a group of producers who were also adding their ideas, and then Ridley himself; and then, on the occasion where Ridley would say, 'Look, this is the structure for it – what are you gonna say in that?' So then I'd be doing my own stuff, as well. And this is how things like, 'Strength and honor,' came up. This is how things like, 'At my signal, unleash hell,' came up. The name Maximus Decimus Meridius, it just flowed well."

Maximus' habit of rubbing soil before each fight references the attachment and affection to his former life as a farmer. In a conversation with Marcus Aurelius Maximus says the fecund soil of his farm is "black like my wife's hair". Crowe wrote the speech himself, drawing on his feelings of homesickness for his own ranch.

 

My brother has a friend who had a cup of coffee in Hollywood (in terms of a career) and he had a very brief scene with Crowe on A Beautiful Mind.  He has nothing but praise for Crowe as he worked on a Toronto set with him.  So there are always two sides to the story.

 

Whatever crap went on behind the scenes, the film came out brilliantly.

 

Coming in at number 5 is another film in a long list of films that would probably be ignored in today's film climate.  But in the year 2000, with Mel Gibson also being at the apex of his career, What Women Want was a huge smash hit and up until this point, was his highest grossing film.  Directed by Nancy Meyers, the film tells the story of a conceited womanizer who uses women and doesn't understand them.  And then, on a twist similar to the body switching films in the 80's, Gibson's character gets zapped by an electrical shock and can then hear exactly what all females are thinking.  At first he is horrified by this but then he uses it to his advantage in his love life and business career.  

 

WWW was made for 70 million and took in 180 domestic and 375 WW.  

 

In the scene where Mel Gibson waxes his legs in his bathroom, he actually did wax his legs, and it did not hurt him nearly as much as it hurt him in the movie. He kept taunting all the women on-set, saying, "Come on, this doesn't hurt at all!"

 

The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, and Marisa Tomei; and three Oscar nominees: Alan Alda, Valerie Perrine, and Bette Midler.

 

Nancy Meyers was hired to re-write the script (uncredited) before she was asked to direct it. She said " I got to say a lot about what I was going through in my life. There are speeches and nuances that were pretty much what was going on with me. I spent six months on it, and I didn't keep a lot of what was there."

 

The film did well certainly because of Gibson but it helped that Helen Hunt was fresh off her best actress win a few years back.  Her and Gibson had good chemistry and it helped sell the film.  

 

The Perfect storm came in at number six and I can remember a really interesting prediction by Premiere Magazine in the summer of 2000.  Every year they would release their predictions for the summer box office and most professional pundits that year had The Patriot (Gibson's big summer release) as one of the big winners of the summer and not many had TPS high on their list.  Premiere felt otherwise.  They correctly predicted that because of the ensemble cast (Clooney wasn't nearly as big then and outside of his disastrous turn as Batman he was more known as the guy from ER), the special effects and the marketing, The Perfect Storm would win the summer.  They were almost proven right as TPS came in a few dollars short of Gladiator, which on the summer.  

 

The Perfect Storm wasn't cheap to make as the budget is listed at 120 million but it did take in 182 domestic and 328 WW.  However this was also an era where HV was very profitable and this one made bank on hV.  

 

The cast was something to marvel at.  In addition to George Clooney, you had Mark Wahlber, John C. Reilly, William Fichtner, Michael Ironside, Diane Lane, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Karen Allen and Bob Gunton.  I was directed by Wolfgang Petersen.  It definitely had a lot of recognizable names and it told a (based on) true story of the crew of the Andrea Gale who disappeared in a storm, a perfect storm.

 

THIS IS ALL I HAVE TIME FOR RIGHT NOW GUYS.  INSTEAD OF PUTTING IT ASIDE, I'LL POST THIS AND THEN GET THE REST DONE LATER TODAY.

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Maxmoser3 Blockbuster

Maxmoser3

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2000 was a strong way to start off a new decade, after people thought they weren't going to make it through January 1, 2000.

 

but  great sucess stories include the then record breaking debut of Scary  Movie, considering star power wasn't huge marketing in the film. And had lot of merchandise and spoofed a very strong horror franchise at that time that it outgrossed even all of the Scream films.

 

Legs will also strong in 2000 with films such as Final Destination, Meet The Parents, Exorcist re-release, What Lies Benneath, Cast Away, Gladiator, Space Cowboys, Grinch, and Bring It On.

 

Other successes include Traffic, The Cell, Scream 3, Snow Day, Whole Nine Yards, Romeo Must Die, and Mission Impossible 2. Way too many more to choose from.

 

the duds of the year were Battlefield Earth as it is one of the biggest bombs ever.

 

speaking  of Battlefield Earth, Franchise Pictures had a murderous 2000. As Get Carter, Boondock Saints, and Battlefield Earth killed them. Whole Nine Yards was the only mild profit for them ever.I think Red Planet was franchise as well that bombed.

 

Two sequels to big hits from the 90's were both atrocious drop offs and failures. Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas flat out bombed, and couldn't even make it to $30 million. 

 

The main flopping sequel that saw a major drop off was Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. The first film was marketed everywhere and had an amazing marketing campaign. This had just the first film's success that's it. The film's plot didn't drag the audience in, and dissapeared from theaters before the end of the year. 

 

Another bomb was Adam Sandler's Little Nicky. Having The Waterboy's slot seemed ok. But mixed word of mouth, and subject matter was a little more difficult. But Popeye's Chicken is the shiznit! 

 

Now films that sparked controversy. U-571 had sparked controversy due to being inaccurate, but didn't had a love story like a film a year later.

 

overall 2000 was a very leggy year, and some insane runs. And featured mostly original films making over $100 million. In the top 10 domestic  alone half were original films. 

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BOOYAH SUCKAS Cult Classic

BOOYAH SUCKAS

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In my opinion Cast Away is probably the 3rd most impressive star vehicle of all time, behind only beverly hills cop and I am Legend. Nobody else in the title role could have even brought in anywhere near as much. Tom Hanks is certainly the biggest movie star of the modern era, beating out Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, and Will Smith. 

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