A horrendous box office failure, this 71-year-old classic hit another movie’s budget

This film, which was released 71 years ago, is considered a classic of cinema, in order to survive it was necessary to remove someone else’s budget. Needless to say, the second movie was pretty bad! Welcome to the behind-the-scenes look at one of the scariest low-blows in Hollywood history.

There are two musicals in the competition

We are at the beginning of 1954. Director Vincent Minnelli directs Brigadoon for MGM, a dreamy musical comedy about two Americans discovering a very strange and unique Scottish village.

At the same time, the studio is also preparing The Seven Women of Barbarossa, directed by Stanley Donen, a musical western set in 1850 Oregon, the story of a pioneer who takes his young wife to his native farm, where there are six single brothers. .

The films were shot simultaneously, except that during production Minnelli underestimated the cost of recreating the Scottish countryside and its surroundings in California studios – the director refused to shoot in Scotland due to bad local weather. MGM, on the other hand, tried hard to save money, refusing to shoot the film in Technicolor and reverting to a cheaper and lower quality process (Metrocolor).

Except that’s not enough. MGM needs to find and find more money… on its other productions!

Ms AutobiographyJane Powell, the female lead in The Seven Women of Barbarossa, recalls:

MGM executives were about to give up

“The studio was putting all its money into Brigadoon and felt it couldn’t afford two musical extravaganzas at once, so the bigwigs at MGM were going to give up. Fortunately, our producer, Jack Cummings, convinced them to go ahead with it. He suggested. We cut our budget, Let’s save by all possible means (…)”.

Two films eventually saw the light of day, except that Brigadoon, then on a budget of over $3 million, brought in only a 2.25 and instantly became a colossal flop, and “Little” Seven Women Barbarossa with a budget of 2.54. million, brings in 9.4 million, so it’s a brilliant success that brings profit.

That’s how it happens, even in Hollywood, to bet on the wrong horse.