The success of a movie franchise can be easily foretold by its box office performance, but Tom Hanks has a deeper reflection on the fate and life span of films. After admitting he despised some of the movies he made over the decades, the Oscar-winning actor singled out his favorite one.
Tom Hanks rose to fame for his breakthrough roles in a series of comedy films such as Splash (1984), The Money Pit (1986), and Big (1988). His most memorable movie appearance would undoubtedly be in Forrest Gump (1994), a project he initially questioned the potential of.
Tom Hanks On His Failed Directorial Debut That Turned Into A Contemporary Favorite
Speaking with The New Yorker, Greyhound star Tom Hanks shared some important points for people who make movies for a living:
“The first Rubicon you cross is saying yes to the film. Your fate is sealed. You are going to be in that movie. The second Rubicon is when you actually see the movie that you made. It either works and is the movie you wanted to make, or it does not work, and it’s not the movie you wanted to make.”
The actor expounded on his idea, noting the most significant points when it comes to filmmaking:
“That has nothing to do with Rubicon No. 3, the critical reaction to it — which is a version of the vox populi. Someone is going to say, ‘I hated it.’ Other people can say, ‘I think it’s brilliant.’ Somewhere in between the two is what the movie actually is. The fourth Rubicon is the commercial performance of the film. Because, if it does not make money, your career will be toast sooner than you want it to be. That’s just the fact. That’s the business. The fifth Rubicon is time.”
One can say that a film’s success is measured in different ways. A blockbuster movie can rake up money and be forgotten after a decade while another motion picture could underperform at the box office and still be relevant even after fifty years.
Hanks reflected on his directorial debut project That Thing You Do! which he wrote and starred in. The movie wasn’t a major hit with the crowd, but later on, became a cult classic.
“I loved making that movie. I loved writing it, I loved being with it. I love all the people in it. When it came out, it was completely dismissed by the first wave of vox populi. It didn’t do great business. Now the same exact publications that dismissed it in their initial review called it ‘Tom Hanks’s cult classic, That Thing You Do!’ So now it’s a cult classic. What was the difference between those two things? The answer is time.”
Hanks admitted there is no surefire way to tell if a movie is going to be successful, as the process is “so slow and so specific.”
How Shawshank Redemption Turned From Box-Office Flop To Cult Classic
The same thing happened with Shawshank Redemption, a project Hanks once refused to star in. Instead, he chose to star in Forrest Gump, the movie that earned him the Best Actor award at the 67th Academy Awards in 1995.
Shawshank Redemption underperformed at the box office upon its release, only earning $16 million against a budget of $28 million. During the time of its theatrical premiere, it failed to resonate with the audience, and seats were nearly empty.
It managed to redeem itself many years later after the release of home video sales and cable television. Its message of hope finally echoed into the hearts of its viewers. Fans could say it was a long time coming, as the movie is now hailed as one of the best and biggest cult classic films ever made.
Meanwhile, Tom Hanks is set to appear in the upcoming Wes Anderson project, Asteroid City, which will premiere worldwide on June 23, 2023. The actor also recently starred in Marc Forster’s A Man Called Otto.
That Thing You Do! and Shawshank Redemption are available on Netflix.
Source: The New Yorker
