In the 90s, after pretty woman, every film in which Julia Roberts appeared was destined for success. But there was one whose response at the box office was far below expectations: Dying Young (Die young) is its original title (in Spain it was choose a love and All for love in Latin America). The actress always said that it had been a huge mistake to have included the word “death” in the title, and even accompanied by “young”, which definitely scared the public away from the box office. This reflection is relevant because there is another feature film from that decade whose disastrous title turned out to be poison for the box office. And we are not talking about just any film, but about the one that is today the highest rated movie on IMDBthe largest film database in the world, where it has held that position since 2008, when it surpassed The Godfather.
Although with the passage of time his numbers improved, Life imprisonment he hit it at the box office In the first moment. In the United States it premiered on October 14, 1994 and, when it disappeared from the billboard for the first time, it had grossed $16 million. A hoot for a feature film whose budget was estimated between 25 and 28 million dollars.
His story began to change when at the beginning of the following year the Oscar nominations: achieved six, including best film. In the end, it did not win any, but the re-release of the feature film after the publication of the nominations added 12 million more to its collection in the United States. In any case, the 28 that it added in the North American country are a very low amount if we compare it with what the two winners of those Oscars raised in that same market: Forrest Gump, 330; and Pulp Fiction108.
What was the reason for the poor box office success of this prison film directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Well, according to its actors, its title. The original is The Shawshank RedemptionShawshank being the prison where much of the film takes place.
“No one can remember the title,” Robbins has noted on several occasions. “For years after that movie came out, people would come up to me and say, ‘You know, I really liked you in that movie.’ Scrimshaw Reduction either Shimmy, Shimmy, Shake either Shankshaw“.
The feature film is based on a story by Stephen King titled Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. “Why choose Shawshank Redemption as a title when you have Rita Hayworth? That’s what I told them. But when I complained—and I did—they said it was too long and wouldn’t fit on the marquee,” Freeman recalls of his disagreements with the producers.
The original title of King’s story was Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. “So why choose Shawshank Redemption when you have Rita Hayworth? That’s what I told them. But when I complained – and I did – that it was too long and wouldn’t fit on the marquee,” Freeman lamented in an interview. “I told them… You just have to put Rita Hayworth…That will give the film more cachet. But in the end they decided against it, and it took a while for the film to be considered a success.”
The director disagrees
The director of the film, Frank Darabont, disagrees with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. He thinks that the film’s lack of popularity among the public had more to do with the fact that it was “a prison film”, a genre not very popular at the time, and always more appreciated by men than by women.
The film’s accounts squared with the international collection: 45 million dollars more. By the way, in Spain it was released on February 24, 1995. Subsequently, it worked very well on VHS and on North American cable television, and it was in this second life, now outside the big screen, where the feature film grew year after year. until it became what it is now: the highest rated in history on IMDB.
