Jim on Film
Page 2 of 3

(c) Disney

I have yet to hear much more than indifference toward Garry Marshall’s well-intentioned Raising Helen, including from myself. Starring the very talented and endearing Kate Hudson, it was more comedic than romantic, but either way, it never really quite soared into romantic comedy heaven as the material’s potential indicated. While production costs were not disclosed, its $37 million gross probably covered the production costs without making up for marketing. Either way, with the talents of Hudson, John Corbett, and Joan Cusack, the film had a much higher entertainment and financial potential than was realized.

(c) Disney

Around the World in 80 Days was an acquisition from Walden Media, and in addition to looking rather stupid from the previews, its box office numbers (almost $23 million) would confirm that $110 million in production and $30 million in marketing was too much to spend on it. Because it was an acquisition, it’s possible that the studio will not lose too much money from the venture, but considering that it took a valuable summer release slot, Disney should be looking at the potential profits it lost by not releasing its own film at that time. After all, it was to be the big Disney family film of the summer.

After the success of Friends, every network wanted its own comedy centered on attractive men and women bonding while making everyone laugh, but none of them stuck around. After the success of Britney Spears, every major recording label jumped to release records by thin young women who had voices bigger than their IQs, some of whom have lasted, most of whom have not. After the success of the Backstreet Boys and ‘NSync, those same record labels jumped to have boy bands on their labels, none of which really stuck around for too long. After the ratings hit of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, every network television station put game shows on the air, none of which have survived in evening time slots. After the surprise success of The Princess Diaries, every studio rushed out with their own version of the Cinderella story, only one of which has been moderately successful. With the Academy Awards given to and the box office success of Gladiator, we are now seeing an increase in gritty historical epics, and Disney’s money was on Jerry Bruckheimer’s King Arthur, a version of the classic British legend that managed, according to many critics, to remove the imagination and fantasy from the original tale. With a budget of $120 million and an additional $40 million spent on marketing, it is highly unlikely that the film will recover much more than half of these costs in its domestic release. The problem was that the film was not a product of vision became a product of a trend, and worst of all, it was only a perceived trend.

(c) Disney

Adding The Ladykillers (budget/marketing totaling $60 million and a box office gross of almost $40 million) with the dismal returns of the dismal Teacher’s Pet movie and the lower-than-expected gross of Home on the Range, there’s something wrong. The only real successes the studio has had this year were Miracle, which probably wasn’t as big a success as the studio would like us to think, and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, which managed a spectacular opening weekend despite mixed reviews.