Blaze and Steel Magnolias were being filmed at the same time, Blaze in my hometown, and SM in Natchitoches, about 40 miles away.
Our mayors had a running bet on who would have the bigger box office, with a steak dinner riding on it.
Guess who won? :D
Steel Magnolias, I'm sure, but if I were to place a bet on those two movies at that time, my money would have been on the Paul Newman movie.
shareBlaze..... By Far---its a kick ass movie with a kick ass title and a kick ass Paul Newman perf... underrated movie def that not that many people today know of...where as a lot of people know Steel Magnolias because its frequently on tv....(and that cast helps a lot)
shareSteel Magnolias isn't well-known just because it's been on TV a lot...it opened big, and a lot of people went to see it. I remember when Oprah dedicated an entire show to it. At that time, it was very unusual for movie stars of that caliber to go on a daytime talk show. Blaze was decent, but a bomb at the box office.
shareFrankly, "Steel Magnolias" is a much better movie than "Blaze," so it was destined to be a bigger hit. Despite a decent performance by the late, great Paul Newman, "Blaze" is one of his weaker films. This plays like a TV movie with nudity and cussing.
shareSTEEL MAGNOLIAS outgrossed BLAZE by more than 2 to 1. If you knew how to use the IMDB instead of to spout off, you'd see SM took in $40 million in rentals to $19.1 million for BLAZE. Only Paul Newman fans saved this turkey.
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"Why do people always laugh in the wrong places?"
--Joanne Woodward
I'm sure Steel Magnolias won but thru the years Blaze got more repeated viewings in my household. Blaze tells me more about the spirit & the fine people of the state of Louisiana.
Momma cooking over the stove wearing her new fur coat gets me every time.
Being a foreigner, I've always loved movies set in the Deep South of USA & these 2 movies were great. Steel Magnolias probably captured a bigger audience because of the combined star power of the entire cast & the chemistry they had. They shouldn't have premiered them simultaneously - instead wait a year coz they could have ridden on the other's success. I can't say if about the failure tho but I loved them both.
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