Box office?
How did this film do?
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MovieChat Forums > Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) Discussion > Box office?
Adjusted for inflation, this film earned the equivalent of $225 million dollars in the USA alone, at a time when a "hit" movie would have been glad to earn the equivalent of $75 million, so it was a very big hit. In fact, at the time, it was the most financially successful movie that Universal Pictures had ever had.
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Sadly, it was also Julie's last hit. After a succession of hits since beginning her career in film in 1964 -- Mary Poppins and the Americanization of Emily (both 1964), The Sound of Music (1965), Torn Curtain and Hawaii (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) -- she finally had her first flop with Star! (1968) which she followed with an even bigger flop Darling Lily (1970). She then was relegated to television and only made two more films in the '70s.
She may have had a meteoric movie stardom, but boy did she shine brightly while it lasted. First of all, she won the Best Actress Oscar for her debut film/role (Mary Poppins). Also, she not only starred in but headlined (as in was billed first) the #1 movies of 1964 (Mary Poppins), 1965 (The Sound of Music), and 1966 (Hawaii). Furthermore, The Sound of Music also became the highest-grossing film of its time, breaking Gone with the Wind's 25-year-old record. What's more, Julie made Quigley's annual Top Ten Money Making Stars list four years in a row. In 1965 she was #4, in 1966 and 1967 she was #1, and in 1968 she was #3. In fact, Julie was the last woman to earn the #1 spot for over three decades. It would take until 1999 for a woman to be #1 again when Julia Roberts topped the list. Even then, only two other women have done it ever since -- Sandra Bullock in 2009 and Jennifer Lawrence in 2013 -- so that should give you an inkling what a great feat it is for women to achieve.
In the mid-sixties there was no bigger movie star than Julie Andrews. Even though her place at the top lasted only 4 years, she achieved more in those years than most people hope to in a lifetime career. How many actors hope to get just one classic film/role, never mind two (Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music)?
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Victor/Victoria wasn't a hit? S.O.B. wasn't a hit? 10 wasn't a hit?
share"10" was most definitely a hit, as was "The Princess Diaries" many years later. So yes, it's inaccurate to state "Thoroughly Modern Millie" was the last box office hit Julie Andrews appeared in.
"SOB" and "Victor/Victoria" weren't flops, but they weren't exactly smash hits, either; without access to their studio balance sheets, I'd say they landed in the break-even category. However, there's no question the latter performed better than the former in ticket sales, and also received more in the way of Oscar recognition - 7 nominations in total, including nods for Andrews, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren and Blake Edwards (plus a win for Henry Mancini & Leslie Bricusse in the music score category).
I remember a lot of publicity/interest around The Tamarind Seed and reoccurring news items about Julie Andrews as a sex symbol. It's not as if she disappeared - perhaps more the case they stopped making certain types of films?
shareI remember it being very successful.
It had its "roadshow engagement" - then was distributed to general theaters.
I remember seeing it with my grandmother - who could relate to the film since she had been a flapper.
The movie theater where we saw the film had production sketches and even some of the dresses (on mannequins) in the lobby.
I seriously think it was Julie's biggest hit following "The Sound of Music."
I DO remember at some point how Audrey Hepburn was beginning to eclipse Julie in the 70s with performances in "Wait Until Dark" and "Bloodline".
I remember some gossip columnist remarking on how much times had changed: "Used to be no was more 'out' than Hepburn, and no one more 'in' than Andrews."
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I DO remember at some point how Audrey Hepburn was beginning to eclipse Julie in the 70s with performances in "Wait Until Dark" and "Bloodline".
Actually, "Wait Until Dark" was released in 1967. It was very successful and Hepburn received an Oscar nomination for it, but "Thoroughly Modern Millie," released earlier that year, was an even bigger box office hit.
After 1967, Hepburn retired from films for about 9 years. She returned with "Robin and Marian" in 1976; "Bloodline," her next film, was released in 1979. But neither was particularly successful from a financial standpoint, although her reviews for the former film were fairly good. On the other hand, "Bloodline" fared badly with critics. But with only two movies released in the 70s, Hepburn certainly wasn't eclipsing Andrews; she was appearing too infrequently in motion pictures by that point.
If anybody eclipsed Andrews (from the late 60s through the 70s), it was Barbra Streisand. share