Now a few weeks in, the "Summer Movies of 1998" tournament has been pared down to the final four, with a couple of surprises tossed in.
Box office totals usually tell the greatest story about the overall success of a film, at least to studios, producers, and financiers. Audiences might vote with their pocket books upon a film's initial release, but how do these films hold up over time? The summer movies of 1998 tournament tells a story of a movie that dominated the box office 20 years ago. And three others that did decent, but have advanced to the final four.
Gone are such films like Armageddon, The Truman Show, Almost Heroes, Baseketball, Snake Eyes, and Air Bud.
Two of the better soundtracks from films from the summer of '98 have punched their ticket while one, Bulworth, bowed out in the final eight.
One wonders if any of these 64 films released between the months of May and August of 1998 would have garnered a "Most popular film" nod from the Academy (at least that's what I think the newest category is called. Don't fact check me.)
Some movies did in fact get nominated in other categories. Titles like Saving Private Ryan, Armageddon, The Truman Show, The Mask of Zorro, and Out of Sight were among the films nominated (with even a few winners).
Four titles. Four films with slightly different audiences. All vying for the made-up title and tournament I created a few weeks ago. They will forever live on in... well, on this blog post and on the internet.
Who needs an Academy Award when you can have all of this?
Tale of the tape: He Got Game vs Can't Hardly Wait
May (#7 He Got Game) vs. June (#8 Can't Hardly Wait)
"Basketball is like poetry in motion, cross the guy to the left, take him back to the right, he's fallin' back, then just J right in his face. Then you look at him and say, 'What'?"- Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen).
He Got Game, written and directed by Spike Lee, took down titles like Godzilla and Bulworth to make it this far. The film focuses on Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) and his relationship with his father Jake (Denzel Washington), who happens to be in prison. Jesus is an up-and-coming basketball star who has multiple choices when it comes to college, each with their own consequences and rewards.
The film grossed $21,554,585 in the United States and also stars Milla Jovavich and Rosario Dawson.
"Nobody drink the beer, the beer has gone bad."- William (Charlie Korsmo)
Can't Hardly Wait, written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, is the "teenage comedy that could", at least as far as this tournament goes.
Jennifer Love Hewitt stars as Amanda Beckett, the most popular girl in school who also happens to be newly single. The action mostly takes place at a high school graduation party, where Ethan Embry's Preston attempts to deliver into Amanda's hands a letter stating his love. Multiple stories for multiple characters play out throughout the film, with appearances from Jenna Elfman, Barry Manilow's Mandy (about a dog?), and a band called Loveburger that doesn't get a chance to play.
The USA box office for Can't Hardly Wait was $25,339,117 and also stars Seth Green, Jerry O'Connell, and Lauren Ambrose.
Tale of the tape: Saving Private Ryan vs Dead Man on Campus
July (#1 Saving Private Ryan) vs August (#9 Dead Man on Campus)
"He better be worth it. He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer lasting light bulb."- Captain Miller (Tom Hanks)
Written by Robert Rodat and directed by Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan was the highest-grossing film in 1998 (the top three for the year -- also Armageddon and There's Something About Mary -- all were released in July).
Saving Private Ryan is set in World War 2 where, after the invasion of Normandy, a unit led by Hanks is directed to find a Private James Ryan (Matt Damon), whose brothers were all killed on D-Day. The film went on to gross $216,540,909 in the United States and also starred Vin Diesel, Edward Burns, and Jeremy Davies, among others.
"You can't be suicidal if you're singing showtunes."- Cooper (Mark-Paul Gosselaar)
Dead Man on Campus was supposed to be Gosselaar's big step away from the image of Zach Morris (he even darkened his hair). Unfortunately, things didn't quite turn out that way and film ended with a gross of $15,062,898.
In a weak August region that was any film's game, this classic film bested titles like Blade and The Slums of Beverly Hills to make it to the final four. The film tells the story Cooper and Josh (Tom Everett Scott) who decide the only way they are going to pass college is by getting a roommate to commit suicide. Hi jinx ensue, Jason Segal shows up (who, by the way, also appears in Can't Hardly Wait) and we get one of the greatest scenes of all time with Cliff (played by Lochlyn Munro):
The film was directed by Alan Cohn and has four credited writers. Given story credit are Anthony Adams and Adam Larson Broder. Screenwriter credits go to Michael Traeger and Mike White. White wrote such classics as Good Girl, Orange County, School of Rocks, and The Emoji Movie.
Voting is now open on Facebook (a new twist) and Twitter. Votes will be combined and the finals will take place over the weekend.
Remember, vote wisely. This is chess it ain't checkers...What? It's neither? Fine. Enjoy it no matter the case.
All box office numbers were gleaned from the films separate pages on IMDB
Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org
He Got Game is a production of Touchstone and 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Dead Man on Campus is a film by Paramount and MTV Films
Visit jason-haskins.com to stay up-to-date with Jason's projects.
Comments