Written by Drew Deitch | Published
Before blockbusters were allowed to be just superhero movies or outdated sequels, the 1990s offered a slew of original, big-budget adventures that audiences were willing to take a chance on. I’d give anything to go back a decade when you love the movies Tremors, Anacondaand Deep blue sea They were given big budgets and a chance to shine at the box office.
One such film that didn’t quite work at the time is Event horizon (1997). Directed by the man who did good Mortal Kombat Film (Fight me, I know how to kill) Event horizon It tells the story of an experimental spaceship that mysteriously goes dark on its maiden voyage and the crew sent to find out what happened.
The scientist behind the spaceship’s new experimental engine, Dr. Weir (Sam Neill), is keeping some secrets from Team Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and his working-class crew. Once they arrive at the ship and discover everything that has happened, all hell begins to break loose, quite literally.
Event Horizon bombed at the box office, But why?
A familiar enough ghost tale (this is much better than Ghost Ship), Event horizon It decided it wanted to up the ante by being one of the most ambitious sci-fi horror films cinemas have seen in a while. That’s when things started to look shaky.
With an announced budget of $60 million (that’s roughly $120 million today), Event horizon It is an expensive production with many elaborate sets and effects. You need time to pull it all off. Wouldn’t you know that Paramount, which gave the green light to such a huge financial project, ended up rushing the film’s shooting and editing?
The failure of Event Horizon is the fault of James Cameron and Titanic
Why was it rushed? Blame James Cameron and his film The Big Boat for not being released as scheduled, which forced it Event horizon To squeeze a lot of what you want to do into a lot less time. Presumably this resulted in the film being significantly modified from director Paul W. S. Anderson’s original vision. A rushed production doesn’t always lead to a failed final film, but it certainly doesn’t help matters and it certainly didn’t help here.
It probably didn’t help either Event horizon She doesn’t have the star power to sell herself to the widest possible audience. Even just four years removed from Jurassic ParkHe was not an actor that audiences would follow in the more serious films. Laurence Fishburne, although well-established and respected at that point in his career, had yet to become more famous and beloved thanks to Matrix. Cowboy Curtis wasn’t moving tickets, sorry. While the rest of the cast are solid, entertaining actors, none of them wanted to convince people to go see a movie where this happens:
This is likely a major factor behind this Event horizon It failed at the box office. Whereas patients like me will always be frustrated Hellraiser in space, Event horizon The big concept is a hard sell to the average moviegoer. See, the Event Horizon is a ship that can fold space to travel incredible distances in an instant. The problem is that this requires opening a portal to the Hell Dimension (oops!), and in the end, everyone ends up being attacked or possessed by an unknown evil force.
The odds and critics were stacked against the success of the sci-fi horror film
There’s a lot of haunted house horror fun to be extracted from this situation, and Event horizon It manages to have some legitimately scary moments along with all the extreme effects. But audiences aren’t usually keen on this kind of mash-up. They were very busy that weekend in 1997 when they went to see it Policeman land Yes, I don’t blame them. Policeman land rules.
still, Event horizon Is it an original sci-fi horror movie with a less than stellar cast that was trying to do something after being squashed by the studio? The odds were definitely stacked against her, and Event horizon Tank in the box Office, opening at Venue 4 just before the third week’s shows Spawn. Spawn.
Maybe the 90s weren’t as cool as I remember. Event horizon It languished in theaters until it was pulled after grossing $26 million domestically, less than half its reported budget. Oh. As far as bean counters are concerned, this was a failure.
What about the audience who attended? What did they think? They were not nice Event horizon Absolutely. CinemaScore is a polling company that asks opening night audiences to give the movie they just saw a letter grade (because I guess movies are the same as math homework), and the average grade given by respondents was a D+, which is pretty bad for them. Just to give some comparison, the CinemaScore for Spawn It was C+!
Notable film critics did not help improve the film’s reputation. Roger Ebert gave Event horizon Only two out of four stars, noting that it is based on the famous science fiction story by Stanislaw Lem Solarisand does not provide much interest through a horror film that promotes this idea. This may be a bit of a fair criticism, Roger, but that two-star rating certainly hurt the film’s perceived value to a certain number of educated film fans. Meanwhile, he gave Spawn three and a half stars. Out of four!
Event Horizon has finally found an audience
Thank God for the story Event horizon It didn’t end there. The film did surprisingly well on home video, and Paramount tried to convince Anderson to restore footage that had been abandoned due to the production rush. Unfortunately, these items have been destroyed or cannot be located. This legendary version of Event horizon Which we will unfortunately never see helps get fans more interested and supportive of the film.
At present, Event horizon It got a lot more love than its initial theatrical release. There’s a Blu-ray download of the Collector’s Edition, which is a 4K Ultra HD release, and you can find plenty of videos online where fans delve into the film and its production, with Christopher Nolan perhaps being a fan of it as the memorable “wormhole show” scene The one played by Sam Neill gets the nod from Nolan Interstellar.
As of this recording, A Event horizon The TV show is still in development to give the story more room to experiment with its distorted ideas. The film clearly cut a corner that sci-fi and horror fans would still want to visit.
Suffice it to say, Event horizon It was a failure that proves that box office is not what makes or breaks a film’s legacy. Although it took some time, Event horizon It crawled out of the chaos of its theatrical run to become a legitimate favorite that new fans are still discovering today. Important films and stories will find their way to the audience that wants them.