DVD: Clint Eastwood's Tsunami Movie, and 3 Other Examples of Bad Pop-Culture Timing
Given that it opens with a tsunami so realistic that it got an Oscar nomination for its special effects, Hereafter (out this week from Warner Home Video) got yanked from theaters in Japan even as it hits video store shelves in the United States. But that sort of ouchy coincidence happens all the time in every corner of pop culture. For instance:
· The Greatest American Hero: This popular TV show told the story of schoolteacher Ralph Hinkley, Jr. (William Katt), who's given a costume by aliens that endows him with superpowers. The show first aired on March 18, 1981, and 12 days later, John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. On the episode of the show that aired the night of the shooting, the sound of a passing airplane was used to cover up the teacher's last name; subsequent episodes overdubbed students, changing their references to him to "Mr. H," until the show finally changed his last name to "Hanley" later in the first season.
· Assassins: Stephen Sondheim's brilliant musical about successful and would-be presidential assassins (including Hinckley) got stymied by historical events twice on its way to Broadway. The show was first staged off-Broadway in December 1990, with the intention of moving it to the Great White Way within a few months. But then Operation Desert Storm happened in January of 1991, and producers worried that audiences wouldn't be in the mood for a bleak musical about the dark side of the American Dream. A revival of the show was set to finally open on Broadway a decade later, in November 2001, but this time 9/11 waylaid the production. It wasn't until 2004 that the show finally got its Broadway moment -- even winning five Tony Awards -- but some say the reason the show closed that summer was so as not to coincide with the Republican National Convention happening in New York that August.
· Glitter: Another bit of bad timing around 9/11 happened with Mariah Carey's gloriously disastrous screen vehicle. The movie was originally scheduled to open on Labor Day weekend of 2001, but got pushed back three weeks when the singer was hospitalized for exhaustion. A lot happened over those 21 days, and when the movie finally opened it not only faced critical drubbing but also caused a lot of cringing among audiences over the several appearances of the Twin Towers during various parts of the movie.
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Comments
Um - Anyone remember "The China Syndrome" opening 12 days before the 3 Mile Island incident?
I did remember -- but that was actually a case of *good* timing, where the movie suddenly seemed very prescient about an environmental risk. China Syndrome was actually on its way to flop-dom when Three Mile Island happened, and suddenly it was at the center of the cultural conversation and wound up becoming a big hit.
Or what about the DC sniper and Phone Booth, I believe. Didn't they end up pushing that release like 18 months because innocent people were being shot pumping gas, which isn't too far from another mundane thing... talking at a payphone.
Wouldn't that be more prescient than poorly timed?
^Yes. This.
Alonso, how could you forget Buffy and Columbine? 🙂
They had to delay airing a very good episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it dealt with what at first seemed like a student planning to shoot people at the high school.
Or what about Kimberly blowing up Melrose Place - the scene had to be edited down because of the Oklahoma City bombing.
And while I can't remember the exact details, I seem to recall FOX edited the pilot of 24 because of the events of September 11th. I could be wrong about that though.
Still, fun article.
glitter being on there is funny....people didnt cringe cuz of the twin towers being there they cringed cuz the movie was one of the worst piles ever made!!!
What about 'Donnie Darko' with its story propelled by a piece of an airplane crashing into a house, scheduled to come out soon after 9/11? They pushed it back but didn't find success until a few years later on DVD...
What about Ben Affleck's directorial gem Gone Baby Gone? That had a plot line similar to the whole Madeleine McCann incident and had to be pushed right back. Personally, I don't think films that coincidentally mirror real life tragedies should be compromised. We, as film-goers, should have the imagination and balls to be able to toughen up and lose ourselves in a fictional device without preconceived worries and doubts.
Collateral Damage was delayed due to the terrorism theme creating conflict with the post-911 terrorist tensiin.
Disasters can help or hurt movies. It really depends on the event and the movie. I remember the LOTR movie changing their title to avoid the twin towers reference.
Timing is everything. If you release a movie at the wrong time, you movie will become a box office flop. It is better to delay a film than to rush it into theaters.