| STUDIO SPOTLIGHT
The runner-up award was claimed by Disney
which had reigned at number one for the last three years. The House of
Eisner ended the year with domestic receipts totaling about $891M as it
made good on its promise to reduce its number of releases. Disney had a
total of 23 releases in 1997, down from 30 last year. $100M+ blockbusters
accounted for $611M in 1996 but should only reach about $206M for this
year's group signaling a slowdown on the higher end of the market. Disney's
highest-grossing film of the year, surprisingly, was George
of the Jungle with $105M.
The year started with some decent business from 1996 holdovers 101 Dalmatians, The Preacher's Wife, and Evita which went wide in January and grossed $50M. Metro ($32M) and Jungle 2 Jungle ($59.9M) took Disney into April when they released back-to-back high school reunion movies Grosse Pointe Blank ($28M) and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion ($29.2M). After a not-so-strong winter and spring, things heated up in the summer - a season when Disney has always fared well in. The studio finally hit number one at the weekend box office with Con Air ($101.1M) which knocked the dinosaurs of The Lost World into second place. The action picture performed very well although some were disappointed that it did not reach the altitude of 1996's Jerry Bruckheimer-Nicolas Cage collaboration The Rock ($134M).
Hercules followed with a mountain of fanfare and marketing and basically followed the same path as The Hunchback of Notre Dame ($100.1M) the summer before. Hercules stopped short of the $100M mark taking in $99.1M. But the real surprise of the summer, and maybe of the year, was the incredible popularity of George of the Jungle. The live-action remake of the classic cartoon swung into theaters with a potent $16.1M opening weekend and stayed a hot item among kids and adults alike. Backup Disney soldiers during the summer included Nothing to Lose ($44.5M), Air Bud ($23.8M), and G.I. Jane ($48.2M). Autumn was the worst season for the studio as its three offerings fell flat on their faces : A Thousand Acres ($7.8M), Rocket Man ($15.5M), and Playing God ($4.1M). Finally, the holiday season brightened things up, as it always does for Disney. The reissue of The Little Mermaid soaked up a respectable $25.5M. The Robin Williams kids flick Flubber spent two weeks at number one and should end up just shy of the $100M club. The final three weeks of 1997 saw the releases of Mr. Magoo, An American Werewolf in Paris, and Martin Scorsese's Kundun. Disney's remaining players on the 1997 roster were Prefontaine ($564k), Shadow Conspiracy ($2.3M), That Darn Cat ($18.3M), The Sixth Man ($14.7M), and Gone Fishin' ($19.7M). |