|
Biggest Surprises of Summer 2003September 1, 2003
Talking fish and pirates -- who knew? The summer movie season was a dizzying one for the studios, as what were seen as sure-fire properties went down, sometimes in spectacular flames, and other movies that seemed long shots at best grabbed the box office brass ring and shook up the Hollywood scene. But judging form the upcoming production schedule, the studios still haven't learned the essential lesson of summer 2003: Audiences don't want to see action movies or science-fiction flicks or dramas or comedies or animated films or sweeping epics or even movies about talking fish or pirates. What audiences want is what critics have pointed out time and again in reviews and think pieces and what moviegoers themselves have indicated time and again with their ticket purchases. Audiences want good movies, whether they be about pirates or talking fish or unlikely Triple Crown winners or talking horses with gills who grow up to be pirates. And as the price of a movie ticket rises, audiences are less and less willing to give a movie a shot if they've heard from friends and relatives and other sources it's not very good. So the summer of 2003 has some shocking failures and some even more astonishing successes, and we here at BOP were just as taken aback by what did and didn't do well as many of you. Here is a quick run-down of some of the biggest surprises of the season.
5. Freddy vs. Jason Shreds the Box OfficeAnd the winner of the Most Unlikely Box Office Champ Award is this blending of two venerable horror franchises that has pulled off the rare trick of being number one at the box office for two consecutive weeks, a feat not managed by an out-and-out slasher since Scream 3 way back in February 2000. And while on the surface the snobbish would say FvJ flies in the face of the "audiences want good films" precept, what they're overlooking is that the film delivered on its promise and never tried to make itself out to be anything more than what it is: a fun film for the dog days of summer that will offer a few scares, a few laughs, and a rollicking good time in the air-conditioned theatre. A movie doesn't have to be about serious subjects or be considered a great example of the art form to be good.
4. The Italian Job Has Staying PowerIt started small, but turned into the Little Remake That Could. With a solid cast, an interesting plotline, and a need for a title change given the fact that the action was moved from Italy to LA, The Italian Job flew in under the radar, opening on a smaller scale and building an audience the old-fashioned way, through good word-of-mouth. As a result, The Italian Job saw its business increase steadily week to week, and all involved have come out the other side looking like geniuses for being part of one of the few successes of the summer.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean Steals the Box OfficeDisney takes its first spot in our Summer Surprises for a live-action outing. Outside of a few devoted Disney-ites, most looked upon this second film based on an attraction at Disneyland with a great deal of trepidation. After the abomination that was The Country Bears, prognosticators held little hope that this pic based on the swashbuckling ride would do a whole lot better. But Pirates had two things going for it that Country Bears did not: Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer. Depp's over-the-top performance as Jack Sparrow, the mysterious and slightly loopy captain of the pirate ship The Black Pearl is worthy of Errol Flynn himself, and while Depp couldn't really be credited with opening the film – that belongs mostly to Disney's unparalleled marketing machine - he certainly has carried Pirates to its impressive run as a bona fide blockbuster, which surpassed the $100 million mark with ease, sailed past the $200 million and is well on its way to the more difficult $300 million. And all this is domestic gross, folks. And one most certainly can't forget Bruckheimer, who has a knack for turning dross into gold, and likely helped pull together what sounded like an ill-conceived, should-be-straight-to-video novelty into one of the more impressive live-action films in Disney's library.
2. Finding Nemo Drowns CompetitionDisney and Pixar. As close to a match made in heaven as has ever existed in Hollywood. Great things were expected from Finding Nemo simply because it was a Disney/Pixar film, and because it was a children's film being released during Memorial Day weekend, thus insuring legs a-plenty. But no one quite expected the anthropomorphic fishies to trounce much of their more vaunted competition not only during opening weekend, but for several weeks to come as Finding Nemo went on its way to become the most successful animated film in Disney's history. And for the studio that brought us Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, and a host of classic films over nearly seven decades, that's saying something.
1. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Broken EngineWhen Charlie's Angels became one of the more successful little-to-big screen adaptations, a sequel was almost a certainty. But like a record company rushing out a sophomore album before the latest flavor-of-the-month singer falls out of favor, Columbia and/or its parent, Sony, decided to rush the follow-up to market just two years after the original premiered. And the slap-dash effort showed in the final product: the sense of '70s kitsch combined with grrrl power that made the first film so endearing became instead a shrill, shrieking product-placement orgy full of sound and fury signifying...well, actually signifying a really crappy movie. And audiences stayed away in droves.
|
Tuesday, September 09, 2025
© 2006 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.
