How The Sixth Sense’s success ended a major Disney studio brand

As a seasoned movie buff with decades of cinema-watching under my belt, I find it fascinating to delve into the intricacies of Hollywood’s triumphs and tribulations. The story of Hollywood Pictures is a tale that perfectly encapsulates the unpredictable nature of the film industry – a rollercoaster ride of successes, flops, and near-misses that ultimately led to its untimely demise.

Although The Sixth Sense was an enormous success, ironically, it may have unintentionally put an end to Hollywood Pictures as a thriving studio!

Approximately a quarter of a century has passed since the release of “The Sixth Sense,” and numerous analyses have been done regarding its influence. However, one aspect that seems to have gone unnoticed is the fact that very few in Hollywood anticipated this supernatural thriller would leave a mark. In fact, in their 1999 Summer Movie Preview issue, Entertainment Weekly failed to acknowledge “Sense” at all.

The movie featured Bruce Willis as a lead actor, but it was an unusual film from an unheard-of screenwriter/director, typically released during the off-peak month of August, where box office flops are often dumped. To everyone’s surprise, it opened to $26.6 million, a record for an August release. Despite mixed reviews initially, positive word-of-mouth and that iconic twist ending propelled Sense to become the second highest-grossing film of 1999, grossing $672.8 million worldwide. It garnered numerous Oscar nominations, such as Best Picture and director, catapulting M. Night Shyamalan into stardom in Hollywood.

It’s clear that the live-action film was one of Disney’s most successful and critically-acclaimed productions, a feat that might have been expected to boost their Hollywood Pictures label significantly. However, quite surprisingly, this success seemed to mark the end of the brand instead.

A short history of Hollywood Pictures

By 1990, Walt Disney Pictures was divided into two primary labels: one for family-oriented content like animated shows, and another, Touchstone Pictures, for more mature subjects. However, Michael Eisner, the CEO, along with Jeffrey Katzenberg, sought to expand Disney’s movie production without being pigeonholed as a “Disney film.” Thus, they established Hollywood Pictures, which sported an iconic logo of a sphinx.

In the early days, Hollywood Pictures gained recognition through their release of the moderately successful movie “Arachnophobia” in 1990. However, throughout their career, they were more infamous for their lack of success rather than their triumphs. They managed to shine briefly in 1992 with the unexpected blockbuster hit, “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” followed by lesser-known but profitable films such as “Medicine Man” and “Encino Man.” Yet, their fame was quickly tarnished due to films that fell flat or were complete failures like the disastrous 1993 release of “Super Mario Bros.

They achieved some successes, such as Tombstone, The Joy Luck Club, and Quiz Show, but these were balanced out by failures like Color of Night or The Puppet Masters. However, they also produced The Santa Clause, which was a hit when released under the Walt Disney Pictures label. This triumph resulted in a change of leadership; studio chief Ricardo Merstes left in 1994 and was succeeded by Michael Lynton.

Interestingly, the final movie projects Merstes approved were instrumental in bringing Hollywood Pictures some prosperity. There was the comedy “While You Were Sleeping,” which catapulted Sandra Bullock to leading lady stardom; the action-thriller “Crimson Tide,” a collaboration between Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer; and “Dangerous Minds,” a film that not only earned $179 million on a budget of $20 million but also had a successful soundtrack.

Nevertheless, the success was often overshadowed by setbacks such as the box office bomb “Judge Dredd” and the critically panned “The Scarlet Letter.” They did produce some critically acclaimed films like “Quiz Show,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” and “Nixon,” but these accolades didn’t translate into significant financial gains.

Over the following years, I found myself witnessing a consistent trend. The year 1996 was particularly noteworthy, boasting blockbusters like “The Rock,” “Spy Hard,” and the critically acclaimed “Evita.” However, there were also flops such as “Eddie,” “The Associate,” and “Jack.” The next two years weren’t much better. With a dozen or more films under my belt, only “Grosse Pointe Blank” managed to shine, while Disney seemed to be struggling under the weight of repeated failures and escalating production costs due to increased demands for higher fees from producers, stars, and others.

Initially, it seemed like The Sixth Sense smashing box office records would have been a turning point for Hollywood Pictures. After all, they had what every studio dreams of – a blockbuster success, critical acclaim, Oscar nominations, and phrases like “I see dead people” becoming popular culture references. However, a deal that ultimately harmed their brand tarnished this achievement.

Why The Sixth Sense didn’t save Hollywood Pictures

Initially, many doubted that “The Sixth Sense” would thrive, even Disney itself harbored such doubts. They had other major films lined up for 1999, like “Tarzan” and “Inspector Gadget.” However, David Vogel, who had assumed the role of Hollywood Pictures chief, recognized the script’s potential and purchased it for $2.2 million, sparking a studio bidding war beforehand.

Vogel did this on his own with the higher-ups not happy about his rogue move and so they fired him a month before the movie opened. Meanwhile, Willis was only in this to start with because he’d caused a mess with a planned Disney film, Broadway Baller, where he had so many problems that he fired the director and most of the crew. That set off a lawsuit that Willis got out of by signing a three-picture deal for Disney. Sense was the second of them, squeezed between Armageddon and 2000’s The Kid (which became a surprise hit). 

Given that Shamalyan was unknown and the story wasn’t widely publicized, Disney executives doubted the film’s success. Consequently, they decided to sell the production rights to Spyglass Entertainment, who would handle international distribution, while keeping only 12.5% of the movie’s total earnings for themselves.

Essentially, despite earning close to $700 million globally for the movie “Sense”, Disney’s share was merely under $90 million due to their deals. In an “only in Hollywood” twist, Hollywood Pictures managed to produce one of the era’s biggest films but ended up with only a small fraction of the profits.

If Hollywood Pictures had secured a more advantageous contract and boosted their earnings with Sense, they could have sustained their operations well into the 21st century. However, following the failures of Breakfast of Champions and Mystery, Alaska, Disney gradually and discreetly wound down the division. There was a brief reawakening in the mid-2000s for some low-cost genre films, with The Invisible being the last film released under the brand in 2007.

It’s not unusual for studios like Disney to doubt a film that ultimately becomes a massive hit. However, it’s odd to see how the tale of Hollywood Pictures, with its highs and lows, concluded not with its greatest triumph but rather what seemed more like the final blow to the brand.

The film “The Sixth Sense” has secured its position in cinematic history, but perhaps its most astonishing twist was becoming a ghostly success for its own production studio.

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2024-10-02 16:27