George Clooney and Michael Keaton are two of Hollywood’s most illustrious leading men, and it’s hard to remember a period when they weren’t completely dominating every film and role they tackled. However, the late ’90s proved to be a precarious time in both prolific actors’ careers, as the movie stars notably appeared in the biggest box office flops that tarnished their otherwise impressive resumes.
Keaton ended up headlining the holiday stinker Jack Frost and Clooney the epic superhero flop Batman & Robin, both of which were major critical and commercial duds that garnered unwanted attention for the actors and left them questioning their statuses in the entertainment industry. As we all know, the pair were able to bounce back after these cinematic stinkers, but some fans may not realize the connection the two shared when it came to these ill-fated projects.
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Jack Frost
Release Date
November 15, 1998
Runtime
101 minutes
Cast
Kelly Preston
, Michael Keaton
, Mark Addy
, Joseph Cross
, Henry Rollins
, Mika Boorem
, Andrew Lawrence
, Eli Marienthal
, Will Rothhaar
, Taylor Handley
, Paul F. Tompkins
, Dweezil Zappa
, Jay Johnston
, Googy Gress
, Wayne Federman
, Trevor Rabin
, Benjamin Brock
, Joe Rokicki
, Cameron Ferre
, Ahmet Zappa
, Steve Giannelli
, Jeff Cesario
, Scott Thomson
, Scott Kraft
, Jimmy Michaels
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George Clooney Dodges a Major Box Office Bullet
Back in the late ’90s, Hollywood leading man George Clooney was steadily taking over the entertainment industry and was not only riding high on the massive success of his role as Dr. Doug Ross in ER but also for his transition to the big screen with his performance in Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk till Dawn. Hoping to continue showcasing his appeal and overall box office draw, Clooney signed on to star in the Christmas fantasy film Jack Frost, which told the story of the titular father and musician who, after dying in a car accident, is brought back to life as a snowman to provide comfort to his devastated young son.
Jack Frost’s snowman was created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, and the animatronic suit was specifically made to resemble Clooney’s facial features in early 1997 when Sam Raimi was still attached to direct. Clooney ultimately left the project along with Raimi in order to star in one of the most notorious cinematic flops of all time: Batman & Robin. In a strange twist of fate, the ER heartthrob ended up being replaced in Jack Frost by one of his famous Batman predecessors, the one-and-only Michael Keaton, whose career would take quite a hit after agreeing to headline the holiday flick.
Michael Keaton’s Notorious Holiday Flop
Both Michael Keaton and director Troy Miller signed on to the film late in the game and had to do some major catch-up to be ready for shooting to begin in March 1998, leading to the Creature Shop and costume designers to try and alter the snowman’s look by changing the chin and lips to better mirror Keaton’s. Despite both Keaton and the studio’s valiant efforts to create a thought-provoking and wholesome holiday hit, Jack Frost became an infamous critical and commercial failure, grossing just $34.6 million during its theatrical run against a projected budget of $85 million.
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Critics did not hold back in expressing their intense disdain for the fantasy film, with many panning its sloppy screenplay, formulaic premise and pandering, and the unsettling look and feel of the snowman itself. Famed Chicago Sun-Times writer Roger Ebert did not mince words when crafting his scathing review of Jack Frost, which he gave just one out of four stars, icily saying that it “could have been co-directed by Orson Welles and Steven Spielberg and still be unwatchable, because of that damned snowman” and bluntly declaring it “the most repulsive single creature in the history of special effects.”
Jack Frost ended up receiving a measly 19% Rotten Tomatoes score and an underwhelming 40% Popcornmeter by audiences, and though Keaton tried to deliver a compelling and charismatic performance and make the most of the material, the movie became one of the Golden Globe-winner’s biggest flops. Keaton would experience a lull in his silver screen career in the ensuing years as a result of Jack Frost’s poor performance at the box office, but ultimately bounced back with roles in Cars, The Other Guys, and Toy Story 3, thus reinstating his overall bankability as a star.
Both Hollywood Greats Had Epic ’90s Duds
While Clooney managed to evade starring in the epic Christmas dud, the Academy Award-winner did not come out unscathed after walking away from the project, as he jumped ship in favor of tackling the role of Bruce Wayne in Joel Schumacher’s ill-fated superhero blunder Batman & Robin. Despite the high-profile flick touting a stacked ensemble cast led by Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Uma Thurman, it raked in only $238 million against its bloated $160 million budget and was ripped apart by critics and fans alike, with many declaring it one of the worst movies ever made.
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Clooney himself would later call Batman & Robin “a waste of money” and expressed how he felt worried “we might have killed the franchise”, and the stink of the failed superhero flick was felt all throughout the industry and pumped the break when it came to future adaptations of the caped crusader (at least until 2005’s Batman Begins). Thankfully for the actor, he didn’t stay down long and just a year later starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-nominated crime comedy Out of Sight, a critically-acclaimed picture that further put Clooney on the map and kicked off a slew of major cinematic hits, eliminating the sour taste left by Batman & Robin. Stream Jack Frost on Hulu.
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