Movie Duds That Became Hits

Philip Wuntch
August 6, 2008

Movie executives can blame it on the Net. Before Internet became integral to our lives, the merits of upcoming movies often floated on rumor alone. Now, virtually every movie Web site includes reports from secret screenings and private previews. However, there was a time when little was known about a movie until shortly before it opened in New York and Los Angeles.

The rumor mill labeled the following films as potential duds. You may have heard of some of them.

Titanic. The blasted thing was going way over budget and over schedule, and director James Cameron reportedly was terrorizing cast and crew with outrageous demands. After Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio immediately started filming The Man in the Iron Mask. Co-star John Malkovich said, “Everyone handled Leo with kid gloves. He came to the set straight from Titanic, and word on the street was that it would be the biggest bomb of all time.” It became the highest-grossing movie of all time, and the race in on to see if The Dark Knightcan topple it.
Romeo + Juliet. Poor Leo couldn’t get a break from the rumor mill. Baz Luhrmann’s Shakespeare update kept the Bard’s prose but moved the setting to the contemporary SoCal suburb Verona. Exhibitors and movie executives didn’t know how to handle the flick, which paired Leonardo with Claire Danes. Released in 1996, one year prior to Titanic, the film turned into a “sleeper” hit, with teen girls coming back for more. It established DiCaprio as a romantic star, and frequent viewings by teen fans also helped keep Titanic floating for months and months a year later.
The Graduate. Paul Newman was partly responsible for this iconic movie’s success. Newman’s military comedy The Secret War of Harry Frigg had been booked in top theaters for 1967’s holiday season. But after studio brass saw the film, they pulled it for drastic re-editing. So, in those longago non-multiplex days, many prominent cinemas suddenly found themselves without a holiday attraction. In desperation, they booked this offbeat comedy that had little going for it except a Simon & Garfunkel score. Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross were unknowns, and Anne Bancroft meant prestige but not big bucks. Exhibitors just hoped that The Graduate would last through the holidays. Instead, its strong legs forced them to cancel future bookings.