Joel Schumacher’s 8MM: 25 Years Later
On the 26th of February 1999, Joel Schumacher’s 8MM was released. The movie follows a private investigator hired to investigate a video discovered by a high society friend. He must keep his work quiet and use his skills to try and figure out if the ‘snuff’ video is real.
Today, I am going to look back at the movie as it celebrates 25 years of release. I will be looking at the typical subjects, box office, critical reception and the cast. As well as looking into other fun facts about the movie.
Joel Schumacher’s 8MM: 25 Years Later
Box Office
8MM has a production budget of $40 Million and only made $36 Million in the US box office. However, the International Box Office turned the movie into a success, with a worldwide total of $96.4 Million. For the subject matter and graphic nature of everything in this movie, it is an extremely good return.
In comparison to other popular releases this year, it is just under watch David Fincher’s Fight Club made. It is also more the cult classic sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest.
Critical Response
8MM has a score of 23% on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus being too sadistic and lacking any suspense. The critics saw it as more of a torture flick and not putting enough focus on the investigation.
Positive
Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times quotes ‘It is a real film. Not a slick exploitation exercise with all the trappings of depravity but none of the consequences. Not a film where moral issues are forgotten in the excitement of an action climax.’
Ian Freer for Empire Magazine quotes ‘The film never really gets under the skin of its central character.’
Negative
Desson Thomson for Washington Post quotes ‘In the uncertain zone between dumb and truly twisted.’
Lisa Schwarzbaum for Entertainment Weekly quotes ‘A pointless, violent, torture-or-be-tortured flick!’
Prime Box Office Nicolas Cage
The late 90s saw Nicolas Cage become one of the biggest action stars of the era. ‘The Rock’, ‘Con-Air’ and ‘Face-Off’ saw him reach new levels. Nicolas worked with John Woo, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, and Joel Schumacher in a matter of years. This proves his work grabbed the attention of the biggest and best directors in the industry, even if the critics didn’t love his work.
Rise of the Phoenix
8MM is one of the early roles for Joaquin Phoenix, in fact, one year later he would go on to star in the Oscar darling Gladiator. Joaquin would receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in that movie losing out to Benicio Del Toro in Traffic.
He has gone on to have an amazing career, which includes an Oscar-winning performance in ‘Joker’. In 8MM, he steals most of the scenes with his character being one of the few that feels larger than life.
The Character Actors Playground
8MM has an amazing supporting cast of character actors. The Late James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, Anthony Heald, Catherine Keener and Chris Bauer. In the movie, they get to highlight their talents with limited time on screen.
The Russell Crowe Idea
Russell Crowe agreed to do the film with Joel Schumacher when the film was slated to be a “dirty, handheld gritty thriller”. Crowe had one stipulation to all this and it was the scene where his character is looking at the kiddie porn and throws it in the trash he throws a cigarette so it would start burning inside the trash can. Schumacher agreed.
Then out of the blue, Nicolas Cage’s agent called Schumacher and told him that he wanted to do the film as well. Schumacher then contacted John Calley at Sony and told him that we can do the film with Crowe as a “low budget, dirty handheld camera thriller” or a much bigger film with Cage. Calley then agreed to do the film with Cage as the lead which eventually led to a much bigger budget.
Joel Schumacher’s 8MM: 25 Years Later
What do you think of 8MM?
