In 1999, Barry Sonnenfeld‘s Wild Wild West hit theaters. It had the twelfth largest opening that year and was banking on the rising star that was Will Smith after he made Bad Boys, Independence Day and Men in Black. The film was, in fact, the movie Smith made after turning down The Matrix… perhaps it was the $170 million budget versus the $63 million the Wachowskis were playing with, but whatever it was, it seemed Wild Wild West was discussed just as much as The Matrix fifteen years ago, though for entirely different reasons.
With that $170 million, Wild Wild West went on to gross only $222 million worldwide, split almost evenly between domestic and foreign markets. Reviews were dreadful and all I can remember was that title song blasting on the radio every five minutes and I never ended up seeing the movie, which ended up becoming the 17th highest grossing movie of 1999, not exactly a signature performance for Smith, whose last two films (Independence Day, Men in Black) were #1 and #2 at the domestic box office respectively.
All I heard from people was how bad it was and I debated watching it once I realized it has opened 15 years ago today for the sake of this article, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It did seem a lot of people saw it in 1999 because it was simply the movie you saw in June ’99. It was Will Smith and Salma Hayek in a bustier. It was a big budget film and it had a catchy tune with soon-to-be “Thong Song” legend Sisqo, then of Dru Hill.
Smith would go on to star in another disappointment in The Legend of Bagger Vance, but things would get back on track with an Oscar nomination for Ali after that, then it was Bad Boys II, Men in Black II and the six year blockbuster reign of Smith was on, leading up to 2007’s I Am Legend.
So how are you celebrating the 15 year occasion? Did you end up seeing Wild Wild West in theaters when it was released? Have you seen it since? Do you even remember it? Here’s a refresher if you forgot… remember, it’s the one with the giant spider and Kevin Kline in drag.
