Heaven’s Gate, Michael Cimino (1980)
The studio that created this movie was United Artist. Many other studios had turned down the script. The new management crew at United Artist was anxious to prove themselves and was willing to take on more risks.
Heaven’s Gate was “proposed at seven and a half million dollars, eventually budgeted at roughly eleven and a half million, and written off finally at forty-four million”. As a result of this failure, Transamerica sold to the company to M-G-M.
Stephen Bach was the head of production when Heaven’s Gate was released. Bach also wrote a book about the making of Heaven’s Gate, which became a classic depiction of how Hollywood functions. His book tells in detail how the company eventually lost control in the making of the film. There are a “series of fine, juicy anecdotes indicating why U.A. turned down what it did and financed what it did, and why it lost projects it wanted and had to settle for others.” Stephen Bach lingers on the high stress of Hollywood productions. Even going as far as mentioning heard attacks as a badge of honor.
The fact is, that when a production schedule can go from 7 to 40 million, whatever the details of errors and misjudgments, the main culprit has to be lack of leadership. Unlike most studios, the new U.A. did not have a strong leader like the ones they had lost to Orion.
To make matters worst, in spite of its beautiful imagery, the film was so poorly edited that the audience could not follow the plot. This resulted in a major box office flop.
In the U.S, the movie failed to get good reviews. It had a better reception in Europe but not on a sufficient scale to save the company from bankruptcy.
Heaven’s Gate did make a comeback. From time to time, the movie would be re-released in a version cut down to 216 minutes. It met with great success in Europe, being recognized by the Cannes and Venice festivals, but it could not make enough profit. A film that cost 44 million (about 122 million nowadays) never even recouped a fraction at the box office.
http://www.paulrossen.com/paulinekael/heavensgate.html
Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean (1962)
Lawrence of Arabia is a masterpiece released in 1962 by director David Lean and producer Sam Spiegel. It is constantly rated as one of the best movies of all times and has attracted outstanding reviews. It had an estimated budget of 15 million and made 70 million gross worldwide (until 2004). It was produced by Horizon Pictures and released by Columbia Pictures.
This movie is based on The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It is the curious story of how British officer T.E Lawrence became the instigator and the leader of the Arab revolt. Spiegel and scriptwriter Bolt and Wilson were offered large sums of money by studios who wanted to produce the film. Spiegel rejected offers because he wanted to keep control on the production. It is thought that no Hollywood studio would have allowed Lawrence of Arabia to be edited the way it was with long scenes and without action.
It is also said that Wilson wrote the first draft of the script and Lean was dissatisfied. This led to hiring Robert Bolt. The characters and scenes were Wilson’s inventions but the script was Bolt’s.
The movie was filmed on location in Jordan, Morocco and Spain.
At times, the filming seems to have been delayed because the movie started shooting before the script was finished. Wilson had quit early. He was succeeded by Beverley Cross, but then the final version had to be finished by Bolt. Bolt himself was not free of trouble. He got himself arrested for participating in an anti-nuclear demonstration. Spiegel had to force him to sign a recognizance of good behavior in order to continue the project.
It should be noted that although the movie shows the Arabs as glorious warriors, several Arab countries banned this movie because they felt it offended their history. Egypt was a notable exception being the only Arab country to have a wide release.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_of_Arabia_(film)#Pre-production
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg (1982)
I was eating a Reese’s Pieces when my father started reminiscing about the “good old days”. He said that Reese’s Pieces didn’t exist in his days and so on and so forth… He told me that it was because of E.T. that Reese became a popular candy brand. I remembered about product placement and decided to research the details.
E.T the Extra-Terrestrial is a Steven Spielberg’s (co-producer and director) science fiction movie from 1982. The idea of E.T. emerged from Spielberg’s imaginary friend whom he had created when his parents were divorced. The film was done for a modest budget of 10.5 million and was a resounding success, released by Universal Pictures and said to have surpassed Star Wars at the box office.
The success was such that is was re-released in 1985 and 2002 with different shots and additional scenes added to the original version.
E.T. was a 1.5 million dollar costume and took three months to create. Each body part was meticulously planned and designed. The creature’s face was “was inspired by the faces of Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway.” The neck, eyes, head… were assembled from all over the place. The eyes were important, as it was suppose to “engage the audience”. The producer Kennedy even went as far as visiting the Jules Stein Eye Institude to get better knowledge on this subject. And Spielberg said that E.T. was “something that only a mother could love.” The original E.T. was designed by Ed Verreaux at 700, 000 and Spielberg was unsatisfied.
Spielberg was looking for a partnership with a candy company “that would promise a promotion for his film”. It’s odd to think that Spielberg needed some money, or even that Mars and M&M turned his proposal down. As for product placement, Mars, Incorporated missed out on a great opportunity but declined to be used in the movie because they “found E.T. so ugly […] believing the creature would frighten children.” This was an opportunity for The Hershey Company and made a hit with Reese’s Pieces.
When E.T. was released in Texas, Houston, it was number one for six consecutive weeks at the box office. By 1983 the film had exceeded Star Wars, “as the highest-grossing film of all-time”. 359 million in North America and 619 million worldwide was the money they made when it stopped playing at theaters. It is said that Spielberg earned “$500,000 a day from his share of the profits”. Also the profits The Hershey Company rose by 65%.
After E.T., Reese’s Pieces could be found on the shelves of every grocery stores in America.
http://www.snopes.com/business/market/mandms.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNJHEQEVByk
http://io9.com/5950664/weird-facts-that-you-didnt-know-about-et-the-extra+terrestrial
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251820/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/10/local/me-alvin10
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/25/business/spielberg-s-creativity.html
Film Theory and Criticism 