Movies about movies

On movie Web sites, the event was heralded with Olympian fervor. Tropic Thunder had dethroned The Dark Knight as weekend box-office champ.

But curb your enthusiasm. In no way does Tropic Thunder auteur Ben Stiller qualify as Michael Phelps, with Mark Spitz as Batman. Thunder’s weekend haul of $25.8 million was solid and respectable, particularly for a comedy whose R rating allegedly excludes the all-important teen-male demo.

But a spectacular gross, it was not.

Audiences seldom fully embrace movies about movies — and by extension, biopics about movie stars. Show biz tabloid shows dominate late-night cable. Most celebrity tell-all autobiographies find eager readers. But movies about moviemaking and movie stars have an erratic history.

Let’s start with two classics:

Sunset Blvd. An instant classic with 1950 critics, this provocative drama was greeted cautiously by audiences. Generally, the larger the market, the bigger the audience. It broke records in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. But then there was the rest of the country. It fared with moderate success in smaller urban areas. But its fate in small towns was similar to William Holden’s in the movie’s opening scene; it was DOA. That same year, the Broadway saga All About Eve found more audience support.

Singin’ in the Rain. Its classic status gained momentum around five years after its 1952 release. When first shown, its performance was solid but not splashy enough to justify jumping through rain puddles. MGM musicals of the same period, such as An American in Paris and Show Boat, reached blockbuster levels. Maybe SITR’s sharp, non-saccharine wit lacked the sweetness mid-century audiences preferred in their musicals.

Pages: 1 2 3