Club 50 Wrap-Up: 1997

Years Completed:
1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 
1998 | 1999 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 
2007 | 2010 | 2009 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014

I'm back with yet another Club 50 wrap-up. I'm way past the halfway point now, but there's still many more to go. Next up is 1997.

Any discussion about 1997, especially looking at the box office, must begin with Titanic. For years, it was the highest grossing movie of all time. It had a solid $100 million lead on the next closest movie domestically until Avatar took its place in the winter of 2010. Adjusted for inflation, it is fifth, behind Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, The Sound of Music, and E.T., which are all from such different eras that's it's hardly fair to compare them. Most incredibly, it dominated the worldwide box office. In an era when movies simply didn't make that much money internationally, it took in $1.8 billion* (currently $2.18 billion thanks to a 3-D re-release). Titanic still holds the box office record for 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th weekends. The numbers are insane. The results James Cameron gets are incredible.

*Some Context: The only other movies to make >$1 billion overseas are Avatar and 3 movies from 2015. At the time, the next closest movie was Jurassic Park with $620 million. Titanic almost doubled that!

Titanic wasn't the only story though. Outer space science fiction was all the rage that year (kind of like most years). Not only did the Star Wars re-issues make beaucoup bucks, altogether making $250 million. Men in Black came in 2nd for the year (a distant second). Contact was the most ambitious SciFi movie of the year. The Fifth Element was the most fun. Starship Troopers was the craziest. There was even another installment in the Alien franchise that no one asked for.

There were only 6 sequels that year. Many did well, but they were uniformly let-downs. The Lost World couldn't match Jurassic World. The video game for Tomorrow Never Dies was entirely forgettable. Batman & Robin was so poorly received that Batman went into hibernation for almost a decade and moved as far away from it in tone as possible. Speed 2: Cruise Control is a pun that still makes me groan. Alien Resurrection was entirely forgettable or worse depending on who you ask. Scream 2 came away the least unscathed, but even that wasn't nearly as clever as the original.

It was a good year for Oscar movies though, both in terms of quality and the box office. Not only was the Oscar winner, Titanic, the top of the box office. Fellow contenders As Good as It Gets (6) and Good Will Hunting (7) made the top 10. L.A. Confidential (24) was comfortably in the top 50 as well and The Full Monty (44) snuck in.

To wind down each year as I complete them, I'm going to hand out a few superlatives or anecdotal awards to highlight some of the highs and lows of the year's top 50 box office earners.

First Seen: Hercules

There's a decent chance that I saw one of the Star Wars re-issues first. 1) That really shouldn't count. 2) I'm pretty sure I didn't, because I strongly doubt I'd forget that. That leaves Hercules, which I'm quite certain I saw in theaters. I think this is the last year that my de facto first movie was whatever Disney animated feature came out.

Last Seen: Alien Resurrection

Sometimes the last movie is just the result of whatever Netflix randomly doesn't have in stock. I also have the sneaking suspicion that someone is trying to bury this.

Happiest Surprise: Men in Black

There weren't any big surprises good or bad for 1997. I was aware of almost all the movies. The best contenders I could find were In & Out, which is pretty slight by now, but has a premise that still tickles me, and Men in Black. That one's not much of a surprise either (Will Smith did just save the world from aliens the year before). The surprise of it is that I never would've guessed it would be as good as it is.

Biggest Disappointment: Batman and Robin

C'mon. Is there another option? Sure, Cruise Control wasn't great. We all figured that though. I'm still not convinced that George Clooney wouldn't've been a good Batman though.

Looked Better Then: Face/Off

Maybe this was as big a joke in 1997 as it is now and I was too young to realize it.

Looks Better Now: Good Will Hunting

I kind of wanted to put The Fifth Element here since its craziness has held up surprisingly well. Or, maybe Anastasia for existing without a home so successfully (It's not a Disney movie at all, but most people assume it is). I'm sticking with Good Will Hunting. "But," you say, "Wasn't it incredibly popular, earned rave reviews, and made Oscar winners out of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as well as others?". You have a good point. My rebuttal is that it now, sadly, stands as Robin Williams' only Oscar. In 1997. Damon and Affleck have only increased their stock both critically and commercially. Then there's the matter of Good Will Hunting simply continuing to hold up well after 20 years. How's dem apples?

Favorite: Good Will Hunting

Just try and not watch it if you catch it on while flipping through the channels*.

*A phrase that dates me more and more.

2nd Favorite: Hercules

I've had a rocky history with this one. I was very into Greek mythology by the time this came out, so it bothered me a lot how little it adhered to the myths. As I've gotten older, I've learned that that doesn't matter so much, and more importantly, that's great music.

3rd Favorite: Men in Black

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are one of the best comedic duos to come out of the 90s.

Honorable Mention:

In & Out

What happened to Kevin Kline? Did Wild Wild West burn that many bridges? Or has he been relaxing as he's aged? Regardless, this is a stupid movie that I enjoy.

Titanic

Honestly, I'm in awe of this movie. It's one of only a few real "Event movies" in my lifetime. James Cameron is a master.

Least Favorite: Flubber

There's a lot of 2-star bad movies in 1997, not any 1-star bad ones. Alien Resurrection and Starship Troopers were forgettable. Speed 2: Cruise Control would be forgotten rather than panned if 1) it wasn't a sequel and 2) had a better title. Batman and Robin probably gets more hate than it deserves (including from me). I'll stick with Flubber because I was surprised how little I enjoyed it the whole time.