Nick Picks | How Soon is Too Soon for Films Based on Real-Life Events?

Welcome to Nick Picks, a regular column by Nick Spake. There are countless important questions regarding the current state of cinema and I’m here to answer them.

This past October brought us some really good and even great films. In terms of box office, however, the month was mostly a wasteland outside of The Martian. One notable movie that surprisingly didn’t connect with the public was Steve Jobs. When this biopic about Apple’s co-founder expanded into wide release, it couldn’t even crack the top five on the domestic box office chart. After another two weeks of underperforming, Steve Jobs was pulled from 2,072 movie theaters.

It’s a royal shame that Danny Boyle’s film couldn’t find an audience as it’s one of 2015’s greatest cinematic achievements, earning a perfect five stars here at Flickreel. On paper, Steve Jobs should have been a certified success. It got mostly positive reviews and generated plenty of early award season buzz. On top of that, its release corresponded with The Social Network‘s, another movie about a modern visionary written by Aaron Sorkin. So why is it that The Social Network made almost $100 million at the domestic box office where Steve Jobs has failed to make half its $30 million budget back? Maybe it’s because people felt it was simply too soon for a movie about the late Steve Jobs.

Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011 to the shock of many. We were all saddened by the loss of this pioneering genius, who accomplished so much and yet seemed to have so much more to offer the world. A Steve Jobs biopic was attempted back in 2013 starring Ashton Kutcher, a mere two years following his death. That film was a failure at the box office and part of that was likely because of its poor critical reviews. Seeing how Boyle’s acclaimed film hasn’t done much better financially, though, it could be that not enough time has passed since Job’s death.

Whenever an influential figure suddenly dies or any kind of tragedy rocks the world, Hollywood usually rushes to make a movie about the subject matter. This traditionally backfires, however, with some people complaining that the timing is all wrong. Take Paul Greengrass’ United 93 for example. The film came out only about five years after 9/11, stirring up much controversy. Despite critics generally agreeing that United 93 was a respectful and deeply emotional depiction of that tragic day, the film only made $30 million at the domestic box office. On it’s opening weekend, it actually lost out to the panned Robin Williams comedy, RV.

That same year, Oliver Stone came out with another 9/11 movie entitled, World Trade Center. While not hailed as a masterpiece like United 93, World Trade Center did receive mostly positive reviews. It also did better at the box office, although the film didn’t leave a huge impression. A lot of people were reluctant to see a movie dealing with 9/11, probably because they didn’t want to feel depressed. That’s not to say people will never go see movies about tragic events or figures, however.

Lincoln became a surprise box office hit in 2012, earning over $180 million at the US box office alone. Schindler’s List was a big financial success back in 1993, despite its haunting subject matter. Hell, Titanic told the story of how over 1,000 people lost their lives and it became the highest-grossing movie of all time until Avatar. One thing all of these movies have in common is that they were all released decades after the tragic real-life events they depict. One could argue that people need time to heal between a tragedy and a Hollywood biopic. Of course one could also argue that the tragic nature of a real-life event isn’t entirely what alienates audiences. It could just be that the story has been too overexposed to generate interest.

One of the reasons The Social Network did well at the box office was because the story behind Facebook’s creation hadn’t been heavily talked about in the media. After Steve Jobs died, however, you couldn’t turn on the TV or go online without hearing about his impact. So when we got Jobs in 2013 and Steve Jobs this year, a lot of people felt like they had already heard this man’s life story. Had Steve Jobs come out in another ten years, it may have actually interested mainstream audiences more. In today’s trendy world, it’s common for a certain topic to be all the rage one minute and then suddenly become passé. Somewhere down the line, however, we may look back on an event in history or a late figure with a fresh set of eyes.

I’ve talked a lot about nostalgia lately. As of now, Jurassic World is the biggest movie of 2015. If the film had come out shortly after Jurassic Park III in 2001, though, people likely wouldn’t have been that interested in the blockbuster. That’s because not enough time would’ve passed for the Jurassic Park franchise to become nostalgically marketable. In a way, nostalgia plays a large hand in movies about real-life events and people too.

Although Steve Jobs will never be forgotten, you don’t hear quite as many people talking about him today as you did following his death. Years from now, however, we’re going to look back at this man’s life again and appreciate him more than ever. Perhaps then more people will seek out Boyle’s Steve Jobs movie and recognize it for the masterpiece it is.