When is a hit not a hit? This is a question that has long dogged the legacy of Dick Tracy, a film that had the biggest opening weekend in Disney history, made about $103 million in the US alone, ended the year as the #9 film of 1990, and tied with The Godfather Part III as the second most-nominated film at the 63rd Academy Awards - yet still awaits a sequel. Now, you and I know a studio, especially Disney, will greenlight three sequels and a spin-off TV show if they make a penny's profit. So what happened with Dick Tracy?
Money, honey. Director-producer-star Warren Beatty was infamous for budget overruns and this was no different, as he went about $20 million or so over budget. Additionally, Disney, inspired by the marketing blitz for 1989's Batman, spent millions on toys, tie-ins, and other products, like Dick Tracy watches, Dick Tracy clocks, Dick Tracy coloring books, and so on: they sold, but not as much as Disney had hoped (though, as a child, I inherited my older cousins' Dick Tracy and Mumbles action figures, which I later gifted to my younger cousins; where are they now, I wonder?). Variety reported the total cost of making and marketing the film was about $101 million...and it is said that a movie has to make twice its budget to earn a profit. It's since gained a kind of cult status, thanks to its style and its run on television (can you believe they used to allow Madonna's nipples during the day on network TV just because they were behind negligee in a PG-rated Disney flick??).
Was it any good though? I'll get to that somewhere down below, amidst the other Spring 1990 releases.
