A-List: Box Office Surprises
By Josh Spiegel
March 5, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
So, even though some people are shocked (I'll admit to not expecting a movie with a title character whose name sounds like upchucking would do that well), positive surprises at the box office are more frequent than they might think. Some couldn't have happened to better movies, while some happened to...well, movies that weren't so great. Surprises don't always happen quickly; some movies managed to make tons of money while barely ever cresting the top spot in Hollywood.
Not all of the movies on this list are going to be the best of their year in terms of quality. These days, the Oscars don't always like to award the movies that are most successful, even though they surely have in the past. Either way, it's interesting to take a look back at movies people kept going to see - movies that benefited from that magical idea, word-of-mouth. These are among the movies that have had good legs; frankly, these are the movies with the legs of a supermodel. So, pick your favorite supermodel's legs to compare with these movies...the A-List now presents the biggest box office surprises.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I'll come out and say it: I don't like this movie. I could spend a long time telling you how much I don't like this movie (my working at an independent theatre that never stopped showing the film once it came out in Spring 2002 added to my initial ire), but that's not important right now. What is important is how incredibly successful My Big Fat Greek Wedding really was. It's one of the 100 highest-grossing movies of all time, with just over $240 million to its name. Here, though, is proof of how great this film's legs were: it was never the number-one film in any of the 52 weeks it was in movie theatres. Yes, this movie was in theatrical release for a full year, and only got as high as the second position; that only happened after its 20th week! It's an unspoken truth that, thanks in part to its massive box office performance, My Big Fat Greek Wedding ended up getting an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Though people may have wondered why this film appealed so well, from up-close experience, having a non-offensive PG-13 comedy that relates to people of any ethnic background (or most) is helpful to getting tickets sold. Too bad it wasn't a good...sorry, I nearly went on a rant.
Titanic
Just when you thought you'd have to stop hearing about this film, I had to bring it up again. Sorry about that, but this film was, in many ways, surprising when it showed up at the box office. For a movie that had been hyped as potentially the end of James Cameron's career - it was, at the time, the most expensive film ever made with reshoots to boot - Titanic was tremendously successful, not only within its first few weeks, but for a long time afterwards. The enormity of how well this film did was rehashed over the summer as many people wondered if this film would be dethroned by The Dark Knight as the highest-grossing movie ever made. The Dark Knight only got to $530 million and change, and is likely the closest possible contender for a while. Why? The way the box office worked just over a decade ago is plain different. How else could you explain Titanic being the number one film at the box office for 15 straight weeks? Shockingly enough, this is not the record for most weeks at the top; Steven Spielberg's classic E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial holds the record for 16 weeks, but that was nonconsecutive. Even so, Titanic had a success that's impossible to realize now, when new competition continues battling older movies each week. The surprise here isn't that it was a big hit, but how big of a hit and how long-lasting it truly was. Its success, apparently, will go on. I know, we were so close to not making any jokes, but I couldn't help myself.
There's Something About Mary
The king of all gross-out comedies and possibly the last great one, 1998's There's Something About Mary is now in the zeitgeist, thanks to its truly hilarious and disgusting opening sequence, along with so many other envelope-pushing jokes from Peter and Bobby Farrelly. Still, this movie, like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, was not quick to jump to the top of the box office. Though it doesn't hold the record for the longest time to be number one (that goes to the classic 1988 comedy A Fish Called Wanda), having only taken eight weeks, There's Something About Mary is worth noting. The reason why is its eighth-weekend take, getting it the top spot, was less than its opening weekend gross by $3 million. It's not shocking for a movie to make less during its eighth weekend than its first, but "Mary" lasted at the box office for far longer than might be expected, and even gained strength down the road. This newfound strength helped "Mary" become number one over Labor Day Weekend. All in all, There's Something About Mary ended up making more than seven times its $23 million budget, and helped skyrocket Ben Stiller to fame. So, if anyone's happy or unhappy about the Meet The Parents series, you may thank or blame the Farrellys and...well, possibly yourself!
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
It literally pains my fingers to type that clunky title, but you can avoid the truth for only so long before you accept it as gospel. There's no denying that the Hannah Montana concert film, released in early 2008, was a huge surprise, if only because the people who predict this thing may have underestimated exactly how big Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana...or Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana are to the tweener set. The biggest surprise (for me, at least) is that this film is the current record holder of having the highest per-theater average for a wide release, with over $45,000 per each of its 683 first-week theaters. Yes, this movie is above The Dark Knight. Apparently, even Batman can't withstand the blistering force that is Miley Cyrus. Part of the reason (possibly the only part) that Hannah Montana did so well was the Disney marketing machine. Kids were told that they only had the one week to see the movie; when it's between paying hundreds of bucks for a concert ticket or only a few bucks for a movie, parents are going to choose the latter, especially with their kids driving them crazy. Even though Hannah Montana ended up staying at the theaters for 15 weeks, it made just about half of its $65 million in its first three days, surprising lots and lots of people who may not have even been sure who Miley Cyrus was.
300
It's only fitting to bring up this swords-and-sandals comic-book flick with Watchmen looming over us all like a huge thundercloud; admit it, you're reading this on your phone while you're in line for the midnight screening, right? It's OK, I don't blame you. Anyway, Zack Snyder, the helmer of Watchmen, got his biggest break with 300. Though he was also behind the relatively successful remake of Dawn of the Dead, 300 was his big hit, making over $70 million in its first weekend, in the presumed dull month of March. Even more, there were no big stars in 300, and it was based on a Frank Miller graphic novel that, while being successful for a graphic novel, wasn't widely recognized. The previous Frank Miller graphic novel-to-film, Sin City, wasn't exactly a huge hit, making just under $75 million domestically. Still, with a huge marketing campaign, gory and stylized action, and enough shirtless men to attract female audiences, 300 was a surprisingly potent smash, making more than $200 million by the time it left theaters. Even though it's still not known exactly how much money Watchmen will make this weekend and in the future, suffice to say that Warner Bros. Pictures hopes it makes the success of 300 look tame.