Reader Question: Why do some great movies fail at box office while others succeed?

A question from Mahmoud:

In your opinion why do many great movies fail to get money in boxoffice as Shawshank Redemption, or Hurt Locker or Coens films as Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink, while others as Crouching Tiger, Pulp Fiction, Slumdog Millionaire and Full Monty hit?

Is it a fluke? Bad timing? Marketing problems? Generation thinking?

You mention one of the greatest examples of the “great movie = bad box office” phenomenon in The Shawshank Redemption. The movie, released on September 23, 1994, grossed only $28M, a disappointment considering the quality of the movie and the fact that it ended up receiving 7 Academy Award nominations. It was only after it aired on TNT seemingly every week for like 2 years that it became the cultural phenomenon that it is (currently the #1 rated movie on IMDB.com).

There are two major issues re Shawshank. First is the date of release. While in today’s market, there’s virtually no slack time for movies, back in 1994, late September was considered to be a slow period for box office — after summer blockbusters, kids back in school, and so on. The general thinking was that if a studio released a good movie that connected with adults, the film would have a chance for a nice long run through the fall with little competition. But that assumes the movie resonates with adults. If it doesn’t, there are no kids or teens around to buttress sales.

And here’s the deal: Shawshank did not find an audience when it was in general release, or at least not a big enough one. Why?

The simple fact is that the studio (Columbia) didn’t know how to market it. Check out the trailer:

Honestly if you hadn’t seen the movie, would you know what it was? A prison drama, yes, but would you have any idea what the story was about?

Of course, you can’t blame Columbia that much. They couldn’t promote Andy’s escape because that is a huge surprise. They tried to intimate the dynamic tension between Andy / Hope and Red / Cynicism, but their relationship is so nuanced over the course of 142 minutes, how can a marketing group be expected to adequately convey that in a 2-minute trailer.

Or look at one of the movie posters:

Again if you’ve seen the movie, you know the power of this moment. But in September 1994, what in the world are we supposed to gleam about the story from the image of a man with arms outstretched in the rain? Perhaps the line “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.” would make us think that the bright light which the man is facing is some sort of spiritual destination. But I suspect most consumers wouldn’t have a clue what the movie was about.

The fact is some stories almost defy marketing. They live or die either because of the names of the actors involved, relying on their ability to draw a crowd, and/or the by-word-of-mouth response. Had Shawshank been released in the current age of social networks and Twitter, maybe it would have generated a lot more buzz than it did when it was released. We’ll never know.

There are plenty of good, even great movies that failed at the box office. Another one that comes to mind is The Iron Giant. With a production budget of $70M, the animated feature only grossed $23M. Here is that trailer:

And the movie poster:

Again we’re looking at the same two issues: release date (August) and marketing. A decade ago, August was where studios dumped movies they’d intended to release earlier in the summer, but didn’t feel confident enough they could stand up to the intense competition of what they perceived would be ‘better’ movies from Memorial Day weekend through July 4th. However that thinking assumes that The Iron Giant is a children’s movie, which it most definitely is not. The movie was directed and co-written by Brad Bird, who also did The Incredibles, and both films are smart, funny, visual, and sophisticated enough to appeal to both kids and adults. However as you can discern from the one-sheet, the studio didn’t think that, stuck it in an August release, where it died a quick death.

The choice of release dates and exhibition strategy, along with marketing plans are a couple of major reasons why good movies don’t succeed at the box office. But really the issue almost always derives from the story itself. If it is a cross-genre movie, one that doesn’t have one clearly targeted demographic group, a story that is nuanced and has multiple layers of meaning, that all spells trouble from a marketing and distribution standpoint.

What other great movies have fared poorly at the box office? Perhaps there are other lessons we can learn from them.

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