There are many moviegoers heading to seeZoolander 2this weekend that don’t even remember if and when they saw the firstZoolander.Considering the first movie came out almost 15 years ago that’s not too surprising. Once you realize thatJustin Bieber, who cameos in the film, was only 7-years-old at the time it makes you realize just how long a gap there’s been between the two pictures. There is a whole other audience, however, who simply missed out because something much more important happened just 17 days before its release; the September 11th terrorist attacks. But, before we get into how that century defining tragedy could even tangentially tie into a silly Hollywood movie release, some backstory first.
One of the reasons I became a film journalist is because I actually started out working at the studio level. In 2001 that meant I was toiling in Internet marketing for Paramount Pictures. Sadly,Zoolanderwas not my day to day responsibility as I was often preoccupied with the most stupidly time consuming marketing campaign ever for a mostly forgottenTom Cruiseflick calledVanilla Sky(and already vowing never to work on one of his films again). But, I digress. The modestly budgetedZoolanderwas a movie that was a top priority for everyone at the studio for a number of reasons.
It’s star and director,Ben Stiller, was coming off the monster hitMeet the Parentsand whileThe Cable Guycertainly wasn’t a box office success many in the industry thought it demonstrated what a great talent he was behind the camera. In fact, years later, you could enter a random Hollywood house party and in some corner of the room there would be somebody making excuses about whyCable Guywasn’t a hit. “The movie was two years too early” or “the marketing campaign wasn’t right.” At the time, Stiller had so much goodwill in town he was rarely the fall guy for any of his misses.
More importantly, behind the scenes the main producer onZoolanderwasScott Rudin. At that time in Paramount’s history no one had more power on the lot outside the heads of the studio,Jonathan DolgenandSherry Lansing. As you may have heard, Rudin was often a monster to everyone he dealt with because, frankly, he could be. If Disney hadJerry Bruckheimerand Warner Bros. hadJoel Silver, the Melrose mainstay had Rudin to thank for most of its hits. They might not have always been as lucrative as those prolific action producers’ work, but even the commercial hits had some degree of critical appreciation. Having recently shepherded a number of films that fit that mold,Sleepy Hollow,South Park, Bigger, Longer and Uncut,ShaftandRules of Engagement(directed by Lansing’s husbandWilliam Friedkinand you’re able to imagine how fun that was to work on), Rudin was almost at the height of his influence at the studio (it would peak two years later when he producedSchool of Rockfor a company desperate for a hit of any kind). And if it was a Rudin movie it meant a ton of integrated marketing that was akin to a political campaign. Happily,Zoolanderwas the perfect movie for Rudin’s relentless publicity wars because Stiller and his crew were always up for creating something original to help open the movie.
Just as with the currently laudedZoolander 2campaign there were fake photo shoots and print ads. There were all sorts of integrated interviews and events. Even in those days before social media made it impossible to escape anything it seemed like Derek Zoolander was almost everywhere. And as the film’s release date neared early tracking seemed to indicate it was working. An opening over $20 million or higher was on the horizon which would have been a great start for the $28 million budgeted comedy. Throw in the fact the movie tested so well there were many people at the studio that thought it could be a $100 million comedy or come close to it. Why couldn’t Derek Zoolander be Paramount’s answer to Austin Powers?
Many people’s lives are defined as before 9/11 and after 9/11. As someone working in the movie business in Los Angeles at the time my memories are clouded with the horror of what had happened and seemingly wanting to focus on the mundane tasks of work. Paramount had a movie set for release that weekend – theKeanu Reevesbaseball dramaHardball– and there was significant discussion as to whether any movies would or even should open in theaters that weekend. Would people want to escape for a few hours or was it disrespectful in light of the events only a few days before? The industry collectively decided the show must go on and bothHardballand the Sony thrillerThe Glass Houseopened in theaters. The following week only one movie released wide, the notoriousGlitterwithMariah Careyand that was in only 1,200 or so theaters. Honestly, I can’t remember ifHearts of Atlantiswas supposed to open that particular weekend and got pushed, but there were no real wide releases untilZoolander,20thCentury Fox’sDon’t Say A WordandHeartdebuted on September 28th.
It should be noted there were internal discussions about moving Zoolander to a later date (Warner Bros. moved theArnold SchwarzeneggerthrillerCollateral Damageoff its Oct. 5 date), but the studio was always slightly frugal. Pulling TV spots would have seriously increased the marketing budget and money had already been spent to digitally remove the World Trade Center from the picture. Also, Zoolander was the first true comedy to open after the attacks. Didn’t America need a moment to just distract themselves from the new world order? The eventual blockbuster success ofMonsters, Inc.,Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s StoneandThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Kingeventually proved that theory was right. Zoolanderjust wasn’t one of those movies.
Not only was Stiller’s latest expected to open to over $20 million, but some tracking services and rival studios hadDon’t Say a Worddebuting close to $25 million. Neither outcome came to pass.Zoolanderearned just $15.6 million andWordtook in $17 million. That may not seem like much of a difference but the analytics used by professional tracking services such as NRG (the most prominent player at the time) are often remarkable. There were many times Paramount executives would be furious at NRG when a movie opened to just a million less than what they had projected.
It’s a testament to Stiller’s creativity that the originalZoolandereventually ended up with $45 million in the U.S. as moviegoers slowly began to return to their local multiplex (it’s worth noting things began to turn around at the box office whenTraining Daytook in $22 million the following weekend). From a business perspectiveZoolandereventually became something of a cult film and a strong legacy title for the studio on home video and DVD. That being said, a sequel seemed something like a pipe dream.
When asked Stiller would often talk about a second go around for Derek and Hansel, but he’d always allude to issues with screenplay. HisThunderco-writerJustin Therouxwas brought on to write and direct, but then Stiller found himself back in the director’s chair. Still, after the success ofAnchorman 2Paramount found itself in a nostalgic mood and greenlit the sequel. Was that a mistake?
Critics haven’t been kind to the long awaited sequel (at time of publication it has just a 36 out of 100 score on Metacritic and a 35% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and, worse, tracking isn’t very good either. Over a four-day holiday weekendZoolander 2is expected to come in third behindDeadpoolandHow To Be Singlewith a $20 million opening and at that might be slightly optimistic at this point. Paramount clearly underestimated the appeal of the competition and has almost painfully set Stiller’s $50 million budgeted sequel up for failure.
It just makes you wonder: perhaps this was one comedy franchise that was simply never meant to be?
