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By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Hollywood is full of cautionary tales about studios getting too involved in a movie’s production, which could force an executive to cherry-pick a role, add a giant mechanical spider, or, in the case of Joe Dante’s 1987 classic, Interior spaceBad marketing decisions. A satirical version The fantastic journey, Interior space It was filled with Dante’s trademark twisted sense of humor and a unique combination of simple physical comedy and intellectual science fiction concepts that made it a success through sheer force of will.
The problem is that the movie was so good that Warner Bros. executives didn’t think it needed marketing. As a result, they launched one of the worst film marketing campaigns of the 1980s.
A fantastic trip to Martin’s short
Interior space It starts out as serious as a movie about miniaturizing pilot Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) and injecting his ship into a rabbit can be, until it takes a very hard turn into a manic comedy. The ship, to keep it out of the reach of an evil secret organization, is injected into grocery store clerk Jack Putter (played by an unhinged Martin Short).
This triggers a race against time to restore Tuck to his normal size before he runs out of oxygen by obtaining the two computer chips needed to run the program. Jack has to team up with Tuck’s ex-girlfriend, Lydia (Meg Ryan), impersonate criminal agent The Cowboy (Journey to the stars: Voyager icon Robert Picardo), and keep your anxiety under control.
Unlike The fantastic journey, which leaves an entire crew in one man unconscious, Interior space allows Jack and Tuck to interact. It was a brilliant twist that separates Dante’s twisted vision from the original and gives Short and Quaid plenty of opportunities to play off each other.
A live action cartoon
You can say that Interior space should not be taken seriously. According to Joe Dante, the original script was simpler until Steven Spielberg picked it up for his new studio, Amblin Entertainment, and encouraged his team to push the script to the point of turning it into a live-action cartoon.
Against all odds, the studio loved it and the film became a huge cult classic. However, when it first hit theaters, it was considered a huge disappointment.
Dante has been candid in interviews about what went wrong of inner space theatrical run, explicitly mentioning the film’s poster, which shows giant fingers holding a small Tuck and his boat. It’s hard to see anything except your fingers, and the poster conveys none of the sci-fi madness that made the film a favorite among those who gave it a chance.
Even the film’s title, which Dante compared to a ride at Disneyland, fails to convey the feel or tone of the story. That makes sense, since it was a working title they kept after they couldn’t find anything better.
From theatrical failure to home video box office success
In the cinemas, Interior space It grossed around $52 million, which isn’t bad for a family sci-fi comedy, but the budget was reportedly $26 million. However, when the film hit VHS, it exploded, grossing approximately $50 million through rental copies thanks to word of mouth. While the term “cult classic” may be overused today, even Dante admits that the film didn’t attract attention until it was available in stores.
Interior space is a delightfully strange film filled with the kind of physical humor and silly jokes that Hollywood has become allergic to as studios now pretend comedies don’t exist. The practical special effects don’t hold up today, but that’s now a big part of the film’s kitsch charm. If you’ve never seen the movie, you should give it a chance, if only for Martin Short’s manic performance from the top of his SCTV fame.
Hollywood doesn’t make them like that anymore, and even then, they had no idea how to market a film that dared to break the mold. Today you can find Interior space like, of course, a rent paid in YouTube, AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango at homeand Google Play Movies.
