Most blockbusters seem obvious in hindsight. Movie images have the power to make their own success look inevitable.
The original “Pirates of the Caribbean” hit the summer market in 2003 backed by the marketing magic of Disney’s synergy kingdom. Millions of people had already floated through the theme park ride at Disneyland and Disney World.
Johnny Depp was the swoon of all femaledom. Director Gore Verbinski was coming off a huge hit, “The Ring.” Orlando Bloom was a “Lord of the Rings” star.
Keira Knightley was the fresh face from the indie hit “Bend It Like Beckham.” Jerry Bruckheimer needed no introduction.
Yet to appreciate how important “Pirates” has become to Disney as the sequel enjoys its opening weekend, we must see 2003 as it was: a dodgy environment for buccaneers in blouses.
Disney hadn’t made a live-action hit for the whole family since “Remember the Titans” in 2000. Pirates were the joke-genre of Hollywood, after disasters like “Cutthroat Island.” Johnny Depp was known as an edgy bohemian rebel, not a lovable hero.
Most ominously, Disney’s previous shot at turning a theme park ride into a big-screen success was the eminently forgettable “The Country Bears.”
That film, a head-pounding oddity akin to Chuck E. Cheese without the pizza, made back only $17 million of its $35 million budget, and was described by the Boston Globe as “88 minutes of claw-your-eyes-out animatronic ‘fun.”‘
“Something for everybody”
Were critics, ever disdainful of Bruckheimer, sharpening their cutlasses for “Pirates” that July?
Aye.
“There were plenty of people who said, how can they make a movie out of a bunch of pirates standing around scaring kids on a ride?” said Bradley Silver, chief of the Internet-based marketing company Brandimensions.
But his company noticed a tide moving in the other direction earlier that year, as Internet chatter floated the hot names getting involved in the movie. As Depp, then Verbinski, then Knightley and Bloom signed up for the movie, “the buzz became that this had something for everybody to see,” said Michael Coristine, an entertainment analyst for Brandimensions who tracks up to 50 movies at a time.
“It smelled like a blockbuster,” Coristine said.”
It’s hard to overstate the impact of Depp in the original, said Robin Diedrich, a media company stock analyst for the St. Louis brokerage Edward Jones. Depp invented a chemically and sexually unbalanced pirate, winning new fans with an enthusiasm for lighthearted entertainment.
“Johnny Depp nailed it. It could have been really bad,” Silver said.
“He wanted to be in a movie his kids could see,” said Dennis Rice, director of publicity for Disney’s movie studio. “The surprise was just how funny the movie was for audiences.”
Depp parlayed that surprise into an Academy Award nomination for best actor that year.
Divided reaction
Many of the initial newspaper reviews were generous, yet a core of nationally prominent critics still dismissed “Pirates” as more Bruckheimer drivel.
“We got one thumb up and one thumb down from Ebert & Roeper,” Rice noted.
Critics were expecting “a mindless action-adventure movie,” said Senh Duong, co-founder of the popular Internet review site Rottentomatoes.com. Duong’s site aggregates all movie reviews from around the country, and the first “Pirates” ended up with a 79 percent “fresh” rating – as opposed to “rotten.”
“That was one of the better-reviewed action-adventure movies of the year,” Duong said. “Most of them said, You’ll have a fun time.”
“Pirates” made $46 million in its first three days, a powerful number for a movie marketed by Disney to appeal “from age 8 to 80.” Action was a given, but the humor was what boosted word of mouth, Rice said.
The rest was giddy spectating for Disney and the filmmakers. “Pirates” took in $305 million in the U.S., making it the 21st-highest-grossing movie of all time. It added another $350 million overseas, and sold millions of DVDs.
Rice claims Disney waited to see the audience reaction before thinking seriously about a sequel. Soon after, though, Depp signed on again, as did Verbinski and the other key players. They agreed to film the second and third installments together to reserve time for other projects; “Pirates” III will open next summer.
Great expectations
Financial analysts are now setting up Disney to be a victim of higher expectations. A live action hit may be even more important for Disney now, as the studio’s animated efforts have fallen flat in recent years. Disney has since merged with its sometime animation partner Pixar (“Cars,” “The Incredibles,” “Toy Story”), and Disney wants to prove it still has winning ideas to bring to the partnership.
Diedrich said her firm’s positive outlook on Disney stock includes the assessment that the second “Pirates” will make slightly more money than the first.
That’s a tall mast to climb. Only one movie crossed the $300 million barrier last year, “Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.”
“The sheer fact the first one was such a wonderful surprise places a huge expectation on us for this movie,” said Disney’s Rice.
The buzz monitors at Brandimensions are advising Disney to rest easy.
“They’re sticking with what works, and that’s what the audience wants,” Silver said. “It should do huge business, let’s put it that way.”
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com.
Other blockbusters nobody saw coming
“Pirates of the Caribbean” began with modest expectations, then surprised nearly everyone involved by taking in $305 million in the U.S. and $654 million worldwide. Every few years, the silver screen produces such a surprise hit. We picked a few of the highlights, from a variety of film genres:
- “The Lion King” arrived in 1994 when animation seemed on the decline and immediately revived Disney’s fortunes. The musical launched an ongoing industry of Broadway shows and other derivatives, grossing $313 million at the U.S. box office.
- Miramax brilliantly marketed “The Crying Game” in 1992 as a word-of-mouth movie that no one could talk about. A plot shocker was too big to give away, and most critics and fans respected the secret, pushing the indie to $63 million in sales.
- “Rocky” cost less than $1 million, was the brainchild of then-nobody Sylvester Stallone and sported a naïve underdog plot for a troubled year like 1976. It made $117 million and won the best-picture Oscar.
- A cute kid who sees dead people? Bruce Willis as a psychologist in a cardigan? Whoda thunk “The Sixth Sense” (1999) would bring in $294 million on a production budget of $40 million, and make a career for M. Night Shyamalan.
- “The Blair Witch Project” was made for $60,000 on low-tech video equipment and went on to gross a stunning $141 million in 1999. Proving to be a one-off masterpiece of terror, the style hasn’t been repeated successfully since.
- Critics love to pick on “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” as one of the most profitable bad movies of all time. Fans couldn’t care less. Terrific buzz and a take-your-date atmosphere propelled a $5 million budget with a nobody cast into a $241 million juggernaut in 2002.
- Quentin Tarantino was known for “Reservoir Dogs” but not exactly bankable when “Pulp Fiction” hit in 1994. The quirky, violent masterwork won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and earned $108 million in the U.S., on a budget of only $8 million.
- A documentary. About flightless birds. With two colors: snow white, and gray feathers. A recipe for a hit? Turns out everybody loves a penguin, and “March of the Penguins” earned $77 million last year, trailing only “Fahrenheit 9/11” as the biggest documentary of all time.
-Michael Booth
