Whenever a film breaks box office records, we all get to hear about it. However, when a new movie does badly, it quietly disappears within weeks of its release, usually with as little publicity as possible.
As the title indicates, this book explores the less successful aspect of movie making – one of the rare few to examine it in such detail. As a result, it delves into the various stages of the process, including the behind the scenes negations, post production marketing and the wheeling and dealing that occurs even before the cameras start rolling,
It samples 26 feature films made between the years 1916 and 2018 which were financial disasters. A chapter of about ten pages is devoted to each specific film and their subjects are as diverse as science fiction, organised crime, historical epics, horror comedy and a few that might be difficult to categorise.
It is written by journalist, Tim Robey who has nearly 25 years experience in reviewing films. Although he is not an academic, the book is well researched with a list of references and an index as well as a number of illustrations. The author is clearly a serious film critic who has thoroughly investigated each movie presented.
One would have to be a devoted movie nerd or an avid student of film theory to have seen all of the features covered, especially as it begins with classics from the era of silent films. There are also some rare entries such as one unfinished silent film (Queen Kelly, 1928) and one that probably never has been on television and was banned for 30 years in the UK (Freaks, 1932).
Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey Faber, London, 2024.
You don’t have to have seen many the films discussed to appreciate the factors that can derail a production. This book elaborates the various mistakes and miscalculations in casting, production and all the other elements – both technical and personal – that can result in a box office disaster. These include: artistic differences, professional egos, escalating costs, adverse weather conditions to name a few. In addition, the author’s analysis is so thorough, one might be relieved to have missed some of these duds.
Despite this thorough analysis of each film’s production and marketing, there are no spoilers as the author never divulges specific endings and rarely reveals actual plot lines in any great detail.
Among all the analysis of what can and does go wrong in the movie business, there is one unavoidable fact: unfortunately, there is no fool-proof barometer to predict public taste and box office returns. The critics and film academies can and do get it wrong – films that win accolades and academy awards (such as the original ‘Dr Dolittle’) can fail spectacularly at the box office. Conversely, films panned by the critics, (like ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Titanic’) end up as mega hits.
This exploration of film flops is full of interesting trivia, reasonable speculation and, above all, the cold hard facts of financial statistics. At times you feel like a fly on the wall eavesdropping on all the intrigues that go on in the making and promotion of a major movie.
Basically, we are left amazed that so much money – millions and millions of dollars – can go down the drain when it comes to feature film production. Equally astonishing is that often – but not always – companies and careers can survive such mega losses and critical failures.
But then that’s ‘show business’!