And You Thought It Would Fail: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Animal House]]'' was the ambitious foray of the ''[[National Lampoon]]'' magazine into silver-screen entertainment. Universal execs politely allowed the filmmakers to go wild in their own special way, quietly hoping ''Animal House'' wouldn't damage the company's checkbooks. Donald Sutherland famously chose several thousand dollars in payment over a percentage of the box-office gross, expecting the film wouldn't sell. However, ''Animal House''{{'}}s charmingly dark and hard-hitting observations on college life, as well as its undeniably quirky brand of vulgar humor, was so refreshing to moviegoers in the late 70s that the film recouped its $2 million budget 50 times over. Donald Sutherland, as you might imagine, was not pleased.
* ''[[Animal House]]'' was the ambitious foray of the ''[[National Lampoon]]'' magazine into silver-screen entertainment. Universal execs politely allowed the filmmakers to go wild in their own special way, quietly hoping ''Animal House'' wouldn't damage the company's checkbooks. Donald Sutherland famously chose several thousand dollars in payment over a percentage of the box-office gross, expecting the film wouldn't sell. However, ''Animal House''{{'}}s charmingly dark and hard-hitting observations on college life, as well as its undeniably quirky brand of vulgar humor, was so refreshing to moviegoers in the late 70s that the film recouped its $2 million budget 50 times over. Donald Sutherland, as you might imagine, was not pleased.
* ''[[Airplane!]]'' was the first shot at a mainstream movie by the people who made ''[[Kentucky Fried Movie]]''. With its [[Hurricane of Puns|obsession with]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|incredibly lame puns]] and its throwing of conventional plotline out the window, many believed it had box-office disaster written all over it. It became one of the highest-grossing films of 1980.
* ''[[Airplane!]]'' was the first shot at a mainstream movie by the people who made ''[[Kentucky Fried Movie]]''. With its [[Hurricane of Puns|obsession with]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|incredibly lame puns]] and its throwing of conventional plotline out the window, many believed it had box-office disaster written all over it. It became one of the highest-grossing films of 1980.
* As detailed on ''[[The Movies that Made Us]]'', the screenplay for ''[[Dirty Dancing]]'' got ''forty-two'' rejection letters before a studio agreed to invest in it. It was a "girly" movie in an era where tough male action heroes were the norm. having practically run out of studios, Vestron Videos (a company who formerly specialized in direct-to-video releases) agreed to give it a shot with rookie director Emile Ardolino... who'd end up winning an Oscar for it.
* As detailed on ''[[The Movies that Made Us]]'', the screenplay for ''[[Dirty Dancing]]'' got ''forty-two'' rejection letters before a studio agreed to invest in it. It was a "girly" movie in an era where tough male action heroes were the norm, and most saw it as a waste of time. Having practically run out of studios, writer Eleanor Bergstein and her partner Linda Gottlie brought it to Vestron Videos (a company who formerly specialized in direct-to-video releases) who agreed to give it a shot with rookie director Emile Ardolino... who'd end up winning an Oscar for it.
* ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'' was going to be just a forgettable kids' movie about a lost alien, until preview audiences got a grip on its true magnificence and spread the word. It soon out-grossed ''[[Star Wars]]'' and became the top worldwide moneymaker until ''[[Jurassic Park]]''.
* ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'' was going to be just a forgettable kids' movie about a lost alien, until preview audiences got a grip on its true magnificence and spread the word. It soon out-grossed ''[[Star Wars]]'' and became the top worldwide moneymaker until ''[[Jurassic Park]]''.
* ''[[Romancing the Stone]]''. [[Twentieth Century Fox]] was so certain that it would fail, they fired [[Robert Zemeckis]] from directing ''[[Cocoon]]''. This turned out to be a benefit: Zemeckis and his friend Bob Gale then had the freedom to pursue their pet project ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]'', and in the meantime ''Romancing the Stone'' was the surprise box-office smash of the summer of '84.
* ''[[Romancing the Stone]]''. [[Twentieth Century Fox]] was so certain that it would fail, they fired [[Robert Zemeckis]] from directing ''[[Cocoon]]''. This turned out to be a benefit: Zemeckis and his friend Bob Gale then had the freedom to pursue their pet project ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]'', and in the meantime ''Romancing the Stone'' was the surprise box-office smash of the summer of '84.
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