After a heyday in the 1950s, for many years musicals were considered
not just box office poison, but something not to be attempted at all.
In 1994, James Brooks’ I’ll Do Anything — originally conceived and filmed as an old-fashioned movie musical,
with songs by Prince, Carole King and Sinead O’Connor, among others —
was famously gutted and released as a straight narrative, courtesy of a
couple savage test screening reactions. This millennium however, the
tune has changed. The film that most single-handedly helped transform
the moribund state of the musical was director Baz Luhrmann’s dazzling
2001 pop costume opera Moulin Rouge,
a worldwide smash to the tune of $120 million, and a Stateside critical
darling if theatrical under-performer (total gross: $57 million). The
very next year, Chicago rode a cleared path of public
consciousness and acceptance to $170 million in theaters, 13 Oscar
nominations and six victories, including a win for Best Picture.

Since then, though, musicals’ track record has been rather
hit-and-miss. A lot of the bigger-name stage modern Broadway
adaptations (Rent, Phantom of the Opera) have bombed or at least drastically underperformed, while High School Musical
became the Disney Channel’s highest-rated original programming of all
time, and a bonafide zeitgeist sensation. This summer, the buoyant,
teen-centric Hairspray punched through (a cult John Waters
flick remade into a stage musical remade into a film, for those keeping
score) to the tune of $120 million, introducing audiences to newcomer
Nikki Blonsky and showcasing John Travolta in a whole new light.
Hollywood must be pulling their hair out trying to figure out a formula
for the success of modern musicals, one that they can then apply to
their precious “four-quadrant” rubric. Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe, then, presents both challenges and some seeming hand-in-glove benefits. After an extended period of limited play the film has expanded nationwide, and while it still hasn’t cracked 1,000 theaters, it’s inching toward $20 million in theatrical receipts, something that can’t be said for the fast-falling Elizabeth: The Golden Age. For the full review, from FilmStew, click here.