Film Reception

RECEPTION

The Insider did very poorly in the box office, making only $60,289,912 worldwide despite a production budget of $90,000,000.  Don Eisner, chief executive at Walt Disney Company (Disney owns Touchstone Pictures, which released the film) reportedly apologized to Don Hewitt, saying he was sorry that they ever made the film.  Michael Mann has theorized that part of the issue may have been that, because of the complex plot of the film, the audience was not able to identify what the film was about.

Marketing and advertising issues played a role in the movie not taking off with audiences, despite positive reviews from critics and seven Academy Award nominations.  In an interview that talk show host Charlie Rose did with director Michael Mann soon after The Insider was released, Rose asked, "This movie seemed to have had everything a good movie needs to do big time box office business - a very good director, very good actors, a contemporary story, conflict, and controversy played out on the front pages of magazines and newspapers - yet it didn't do well at the box office.  Why do think that is?"  Mann answered, "You know, I don't think people knew what the picture was about.  If someone said to me, 'Would you want to go make a picture about 60 Minutes?' Or, 'Do you want to go make a picture that's about don't smoke cigarettes?' I wouldn't want to make that picture, I wouldn't want to see that picture.  And that's not the film I made.  So in that sense, perhaps some of the controversy hurt us.  It's really a question about marketing.  We didn't open to the levels that any of us wanted, and Disney was very courageous to finance the picture, and back the picture, and supported it with significant advertising dollars, but I don't know if we were really ever able to get the message of what the picture is in the content of our campaign.  It's a difficult thing to put into a bottle; it's an art form all on its own."  Mann admitted it is a complex film, further saying, "It's a thriller, it's a psychological thriller."  He noted that the news market at the time may have had an affect as well, pointing out that a pending Brown & Williamson lawsuit had raised concern over what materials could be used in advertising. Mann said that in general, the press and reviews play maybe a 25% factor in generating excitement for a film, and the rest is 30 second commercial spots.

From the perspective of a bunch of media smarties, is this lack of success concerning? We think so.  We feel that The Insider's messages about integrity, honesty, bravery, and critical thinking within corporate and journalistic contexts should be heard by everyone.  Though this movie did dramatize some of the facts for effect, it did not prostitute its core message with over-fictionalization, sexy movie stars, needless violence, or any other amount of classic "blockbuster" tricks.  The acting and dialogue were engrossing because they were so poignantly real and down to earth.  Movies like The Insider cause you to think, and can potentially change the way you absorb media messages in the future.

Left to right: Don Hewitt (Phillip Baker Hall), Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), and Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer).

Sadly, it seems that, at large, the medium of movie making has lost its ability to really excite audiences with messages that matter.  The Insider pulled in $7 million its opening weekend; Pokémon: The First Movie, which opened the same November weekend in 1999, pulled in an estimated $34 million.  Why would audiences see a movie about journalists, a man with an average family, and a bunch of lawsuits?  Colorful creatures based on video games sell tickets and popcorn.  Like Mann said, even he wouldn't have wanted to see his movie.

The answer is not for visionary filmmakers like Michael Mann to lower their expectations and make movies that Americans want, but to continue to make movies with messages we need to hear.  And the rest of Hollywood needs to raise its game.  Our hope is that as society realizes that much of what we think we know about the world comes not just from our journalists and newscasters, but also our movie directors, we will become more critical consumers of all forms of mass media, including entertainment.  It is not realistic to assume that we should altogether shun entertainment as "mindless" and worthless, but we can seek out entertainment that also informs, that elevates our minds rather than shutting them off.  We should seek out films that challenge our perceptions instead of just coddling them.  We feel that movies like The Insider do just that.