Urgent query: Where are buoys of summer?
Summer 1998 blasted off with "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact," two giant movies with identical settings and near-identical plots. How did that happen?
On the July 4 weekend of 1999, Barry Sonnenfeld, the man who gave us "Men in Black," one of the happy surprises of the decade, served up "Wild Wild West," the only comedy in memory that offered not a single laugh. How did that happen?
And things are just as strange this summer: Two $100 million-plus movies went head-to-head on July 4, both appealing primarily to adult audiences, not to the kids who've just gotten out of school. It's "The Patriot" vs. "The Perfect Storm," with patriotism taking the fall. How did that happen?
It gets worse: Look down the list of upcoming summer 2000 releases and there's not great cause for ebullience. Where are the other "event pictures" of summer? Where are the special surprises for the adult audience -- a "Truman Show" or even a "Saving Private Ryan"?
Sure, I look forward to seeing Robert Zemeckis' portentiously titled "What Lies Beneath." Amy Heckerling, who directed "Loser," always has a surprise up her sleeve for teenagers and there are a few other items to look forward to. But very few. How did that happen?
AS A BELIEVER IN SELF-FULFILLING prophecies, I'll advance one tentative theory: The multinational entertainment corporations keep boasting about the glories of vertical integration, but also keep complaining about the waning economics of their film divisions. To hold down risks, they've slashed studio operating budgets, reduced filmmaker deals and pulled in partners to share production and marketing costs.
Which leads us to a disquieting question: In cutting risk, have they also inadvertently cut quality?
The numbers suggest something is amiss.
Even though the July 4 weekend showed a modest jump over last year's dismal results, the summer figures still lag 10% behind 1999. This is not exactly a shot in the arm for those thousands of multiplexes that have sprung up in the U.S. and around the world.
The studios have always argued: Give us better theaters and the audience will respond. Now exhibitors are rightfully demanding: Give us better movies so audiences will have something to respond to.
This is not to suggest that summer 2000 is a bust.
"Gladiator" surely represents one of the boldest, best-crafted examples of filmmaking in memory and it has a shot at the $200 million mark in the U.S. alone. "Mission: Impossible 2" looked like it came off an assembly line, but a smart one at that. It could easily be a $500 million winner worldwide.
Joining them in the winner's circle were two films aimed primarily at a niche market, "Shaft" and "Big Momma's House."
And then there's "Chicken Run," which served as a much-needed reminder that it's still possible to produce successful animated movies at a sane cost. After the debacle of the weirdly titled "Titan AE," such a reminder was badly needed.
Mixed in with these, however, were too many entries from the "how-did-that-happen?" category. Kids are not always easy to please, but "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" didn't even come close.
For that matter, what went wrong with the Farrelly brothers? "Me, Myself and Irene" seemed to have everything going for it: A great concept, a clear playing field in the grossiosity arena plus Jim Carrey, newly liberated from his "Andy Kaufman-Cable Guy" shtick.
The movie, however, ran out of gas after the first half-hour. Lacking new inspiration, the Farrellys kept trying to out-gross themselves, all the while replaying the same jokes. Their fans responded with a 50% second-week drop-off.
Are the Farrelly movies destined to become dumb and dumber? Tell us it ain't so, fellas.
Which leaves us with the decision to open "The Perfect Storm" against "The Patriot" -- the gutsy distribution gamble of the summer.
Sure, the calendar provided an opening weekend that was theoretically seven days long, but these were two downbeat, "heavy" pictures. At 2 hours 40 minutes, "The Patriot" was a violent, R-rated picture about a war that's always proved to be box office poison (yes, some wars are "glam" and some aren't).
There had to be a big winner and a big loser in this face-off. Once again: How did that happen?
