The Easter week starting March 28 brought five new wide releases to North American theaters, compared to three from the previous week. These included The Frighteners and Taken, both produced by Daenerys Entertainment; The Devil's Own from Sony Pictures; Disney's fantasy comedy The Sixth Man; and Paramount's indie drama The Magic of Old Friends under its Orion Pictures label.
Of these films, the most expensive was The Devil's Own, a $90 million production starring Harrison Ford and River Phoenix, who reunited for the first time since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The movie tells the story of Frankie, a young member of the Irish Republican Army, and his complex bond with a middle-aged British police officer.
The original The Devil's Own starred Harrison Ford alongside Brad Pitt, but this time Sony had a different casting journey. Pitt declined the role in favor of Face/Off, leading Sony to approach Keanu Reeves. Reeves, uninterested in the story, recommended his friend River Phoenix for the part.
In this alternate timeline, River Phoenix avoided his tragic death from a drug overdose years earlier and had since gained acclaim, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight Rises. With Phoenix's rising stardom and his previous collaboration with Ford, the casting was a strong selling point, and Sony gave the green light.
Unfortunately, the entire project turned into a disaster.
The Devil's Own suffered from issues similar to Waterworld, the infamous flop that derailed Kevin Costner's career. On-set conflicts between the director and the stars led to constant disagreements, frequent rewrites, and significant delays. The budget spiraled out of control, and when the film finally hit theaters, it was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews. The film's average media score was a dismal 3.5. To make matters worse, the two lead actors were so dissatisfied with the production that they barely participated in promotional efforts. Rumors circulated that Harrison Ford outright refused to appear on Saturday Night Live to promote the film.
The results were predictable.
In contrast, Disney's The Sixth Man and Orion's The Magic of Old Friends were both low-budget productions with no big-name stars and middling reviews. Inevitably, they suffered the same fate as last week's Power Rangers, fading into obscurity as they were overshadowed by stronger competitors.
This left Daenerys Entertainment to dominate the Easter box office once again.
Riding high on the success of its Valentine's Day release strategy, where three films were marketed as a package, Daenerys employed a similar approach for Easter. The Frighteners, directed by Peter Jackson, and Taken, starring Jet Li, premiered on the same day, March 26, at a joint event held at the Universal Studios theater in Burbank.
Beyond the premiere, the marketing campaign for the two films was an unrelenting blitz across print, television, and online platforms, fueled by a steady stream of clever publicity stunts:
Peter Jackson's The Frighteners was heavily promoted as a precursor to his upcoming The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Jet Li showcased his martial arts skills on The Late Show with David Letterman. Quentin Tarantino, after watching Taken, told reporters it had "blown his mind." John Woo publicly endorsed Jet Li and praised his performance in Taken. Ming-Na Wen, best known as Dr. Jing-Mei Chen on ER, talked about her experience transitioning back to the big screen in Taken. The two "rookie" directors, Peter Jackson and Doug Liman, playfully challenged each other to a box-office competition at the premiere.
Through relentless promotion, these two medium-budget films, which together cost only $55 million to produce, were framed as cinematic heavyweights, creating massive hype.
When the reviews were lifted the day after the premiere, they erased any lingering audience doubts. The Frighteners scored a strong 7.7, while Taken earned an even better 8.1 on average. Starting from March 28, the two films unsurprisingly claimed the top two spots on the box office charts, dominating the Easter weekend and drawing audiences away from older releases like The Cable Guy and Species II.
As the weekend concluded and a new week began, the mood in North American stock markets remained bleak, but the film industry was thriving.
By the end of the box-office week from March 28 to April 3, the North American market had generated $137 million in total weekly revenue, setting a new high for 1997 and rivaling the numbers typically seen during the summer blockbuster season.
The competition between The Frighteners and Taken culminated in a surprising result: Taken emerged as the victor.
Directed by Doug Liman, one of Simon's recent discoveries, Taken starred Chinese martial arts icon Jet Li alongside Ming-Na Wen (of ER) and rising star Sam Rockwell. This action-packed crime thriller cost $25 million to produce and earned $31.37 million in its opening week.
At first glance, its debut gross seemed slightly lower than Species II's $33.14 million from the previous week. However, Species II had opened on 2,679 screens, with a per-screen average of $12,300. In contrast, Taken opened on only 2,203 screens, achieving a significantly higher per-screen average of $14,200. If Taken had been given as many screens as Species II, its debut gross would have easily surpassed it.
The Frighteners landed in second place.
Opening on 2,563 screens, The Frighteners grossed $28.37 million in its first week, with a per-screen average of $11,100.
While not as strong as Taken, this was far from a failure.
The relatively close performance of the two new films compared to last week's The Cable Guy and Species II was mainly due to the intense competition in the marketplace.
In third place, Species II dropped 49% in its second week, earning $16.90 million for a cumulative total of $50.04 million. While its domestic total will easily surpass the original, the steep second-week drop indicates it will fall short of $100 million, likely finishing between $70 million and $80 million.
Fourth place went to The Cable Guy, which suffered an even sharper decline, dropping 53% in its second week to earn $12.72 million. With a cumulative gross of $39.79 million, it is expected to finish around $50 million domestically, just breaking even against its $50 million combined production and marketing budget. Daenerys Entertainment will have to rely on international markets and post-theatrical revenue streams to recoup its investment.
Fifth place was The Devil's Own.
Despite its disastrous reviews and production woes, the $90 million film managed to earn $11.49 million in its first week. This is largely due to audience curiosity about just how bad the film could be. However, compared to its budget, this opening was abysmal, and Sony Pictures' CEO Norio Ohga likely needed both hands to clutch his chest in despair.
Further down the chart, sixth place was held by Bridget Jones's Diary, which saw a 27% decline to earn $6.14 million. The film is clearly beginning to lose momentum, and the remaining new and old releases didn't perform well enough to merit much discussion.
Culver City – VIP Theater at an AMC near Sony Pictures Studios
When the lights came on, neither of the two men in the screening room stood up. Instead, they sat in silence, exchanging uncertain glances.
The two men were John Calley, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, and Chris Lee, President of Columbia Pictures. They had just finished watching Taken, starring Jet Li.
It was Saturday, April 5.
The past few days had been difficult for both men. The box-office failure of The Devil's Own had drawn sharp criticism from Sony's top executives. Even today, despite it being the weekend, both had been summoned to the studio offices for a scolding from Norio Ohga, Sony's Japan-based chief.
Both Calley and Lee felt somewhat wronged.
Sony Pictures had undergone frequent leadership changes in recent years. Calley, a Hollywood veteran with credits like The Exorcist during his time at Warner Bros., had only joined Sony last year. He brought Lee on board to handle Columbia Pictures.
However, The Devil's Own was a project greenlit long before their tenure began.
The film's chaotic production could partly be blamed on the leadership transition at Sony Pictures. Both men believed they shouldn't bear the full responsibility for its failure.
Since their arrival, they had been granted limited authority—a result of their predecessors' missteps. Their roles often felt more like those of puppets than true executives.
This lack of autonomy was a recurring issue at Sony Pictures and one of the main reasons for its frequent leadership turnover.
Neither Calley nor Lee would admit it, but they were considered second-tier executives in Hollywood. Without sufficient control over finances and personnel, running a major studio successfully was next to impossible.
After a moment of silence, still processing the visceral action sequences of the film they'd just watched, Calley finally broke the ice. "Chris, what do you think we should do next?"
Chris Lee offered a helpless smile, his thoughts lingering on Taken.
Daenerys Entertainment had cleverly taken inspiration from last year's Rush Hour starring Jackie Chan, while also creating a distinct identity for Taken. Jet Li's martial arts style was raw and brutal, a stark contrast to Jackie Chan's comedic, acrobatic fighting. The supporting character played by Sam Rockwell had a more subdued presence compared to Chris Tucker in Rush Hour, almost qualifying as a secondary role. Yet, Rockwell's character effectively balanced the film's racial dynamics, ensuring mainstream audiences could still find a relatable figure.
This strategic casting and storytelling approach was just one of the film's many strengths.
First, the high-concept storyline—non-stop global action—kept audiences engaged without a dull moment.
Second, the film's emotional core centered on family, resonating across racial divides.
Third, Jet Li's transformation from a mild-mannered immigrant to a ruthless, unstoppable force tapped into Hollywood's favorite popcorn-movie formula of ordinary people becoming superheroes.
Finally, the recent resurgence of interest in martial arts added an extra layer of appeal.
All these elements combined to create a near-perfect film. Failure would have defied reason.
Lee knew Calley's question boiled down to one thing: should Sony follow this trend?
Of course, they could.
Lee, having worked with Hong Kong's film industry, was well aware of the plethora of martial arts stars eager to collaborate with Hollywood.
However, the real challenge was whether Sony could replicate Taken's success.
It was widely understood in Hollywood that non-mainstream films—those outside the typical black-and-white casting paradigm—carried significantly higher risks. Without fresh ideas that could captivate audiences, imitations were far more likely to fail than succeed.
Hollywood's long history showed that the top-grossing films each year, even among conventional genres, were rarely the result of mere trend-following. True success came from innovation, not imitation.
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