Everyone knows the famous line “Every time the bell rings an angel gets wings.”
But there’s an even more inspiring message to be gleaned from Hollywood history: Sometimes when a movie flops, it gets a second chance.
Surprisingly, this is what happened to Frank Capra’s seasonal classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which many today consider the greatest Christmas movie of all time.
You would never know it given the fame and ubiquity of the iconic title, but the film starring James (Jimmy) Stewart and Donna Reed was not a huge box office hit in its time and was even panned by many critics. Sad.
,[Capra] Striving for big, meaningful emotions and not falling into embarrassing theatrics too often,” wrote Archer Winston in The Post.
Bosley Crowther in The Times said, “From the reviewer’s point of view, the weakness of this picture is its sentimentality.”
George Bailey would eventually become the richest man in town. However, it took more than 30 years before it was almost lost to history.
When “It’s a Wonderful Life” was released in theaters on December 20, 1946, it was not unpopular. The star-studded premiere took place here in New York at Broadway’s Globe Theater (now the Lunt-Fontanne, home of the musical).death Becomes Her,
The film from the famed “It Happened One Night” director grossed $3.3 million at the box office – a strong take under most circumstances.
The problem was that Capra’s budget had ballooned and the film needed to do almost double the business to recover losses. One of only two pictures made by Capra’s Liberty Films, “It’s a Wonderful Life” failed to recoup its high cost. In short, it was a flop.
Nevertheless, the film was nominated for five Oscars – including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor – but did not win any. The big winner at the Academy Awards and at the box office was William Wyler’s enduringly brilliant “The Best Years of Our Lives.”
So then, how did ‘Life’ become so wonderful?
In 1974, the copyright on Capra’s film was up for renewal – at the time, each term lasted 28 years – but owner Republic Pictures accidentally released the property into the public domain. Suddenly, anyone could broadcast it for free.
And broadcast it, they did. In the mid-’70s, Jimmy Stewart’s frequent heart-warmer TV shows became extremely popular with Baby Boomers, whose tastes were radically different from those of their Silent Generation parents. Capra’s film got another chance and exploded.
The director said, “It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” told the Wall Street Journal In 1984.
“The film has a life of its own now and I can watch it as if I had nothing to do with it. I’m like a parent whose child grows up to be president. I am proud…but that child has done this work.
Well, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is back to making bank. Republic took its case to the Supreme Court in 1993 and recovered the lost copyright. Paramount purchased Republic in 1998.
This year, countless families will sit down to watch The Real Holiday, whose director surprisingly had no grand yuletide aspirations.
Capra said, “When I first saw it I didn’t even think about it as a Christmas story.” “I like the idea.”
