The Big Picture
- Longevity is crucial for film success; repeated viewings and sustained popularity lead to box office hits.
- The Sound of Music's strategic marketing campaign and roadshow format contributed to its prolonged success.
- The film spent four and a half years in sustained release, becoming one of the highest-grossing musicals when adjusted for inflation.
If the tumultuous box office season of 2023 has taught the film industry anything, it’s that a film’s longevity is the most important aspect of achieving massive success and an all-time status. While potential blockbusters like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or The Little Mermaid managed to land with a splash on their opening weekends, critical backlash and a lack of audience enthusiasm gave them a sharp decline in the subsequent weekends.
Evidently, the most popular post-COVID films, such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Top Gun: Maverick, and Avatar: The Way of Water, have been those that inspired multiple viewings by passionate fans, keeping them near the top of the box office for an extended period of time. This sustained level of success is key to some of the biggest box office hits of all-time. Reaching an unparalleled level of popularity that was unseen at the time of its initial release, the classic musical, The Sound of Music, remained in theaters for over four years.
The Sound of Music
G
Biography
Drama
Musical
A young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven childrenof a widowed naval officer.
- Release Date
- April 1, 1965
- Director
- Robert Wise
- Cast
- Julie Andrews , Christopher Plummer , Eleanor Parker , Richard Haydn , Peggy Wood , Charmian Carr
- Runtime
- 172 minutes
- Main Genre
- Musical
- Writers
- Howard Lindsay , Russel Crouse , Ernest Lehman , Maria von Trapp
- Studio
- 20th Century Fox
- Tagline
- The Happiest Sound In All The World!
- Website
- https://avandamobil.com
Why Was ‘The Sound of Music’ Such a Success?
The Sound of Music was based on the award-winning stage play of the same name, which featured music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. While musical films aren’t necessarily considered to be “potential blockbusters” in today’s cinematic ecosystem, the 1960s saw the debut of several popular musicals that became significant critical and commercial hits. Given how few people were able to see an original stage production in its intended format due to financial constraints, musical films had the opportunity to expose popular musicals to a wider audience.
Set during the dawn of the World War II era, The Sound of Music centers on the aspiring nun, Maria (Julie Andrews), whose free-spirited nature draws the concern of her mentor, Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood). Determined to give her some experience that will better equip her for her eventual duties within the Church, Mother Abbess sends Maria to join the retired naval hero, Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), in his villa. Maria’s chief responsibility is to help raise the Captain’s children; Liesl (Charmian Carr), Friedrich (Nicholas Hammond), Louisa (Heather Menzies), Kurt (Duane Chase), Brigitta (Angela Cartwright), Marta (Debbie Turner), and Gretl (Kym Karath). While the film is only based on a true story in the vaguest possible sense, the notion that The Sound of Music was tackling real events in history helped differentiate it from other musicals of the era.
The popularity of the Broadway show itself and Andrews’ burgeoning star power following the success of her performance in Mary Poppins a year prior was certainly enough to generate interest from audiences. However, The Sound of Music ’s record-breaking success can be directly attributed to the strong marketing campaign by 20th Century Fox. After director, Robert Wise, was attached to helm the adaptation, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker hired publicity expert, Mike Kaplan, to develop an extensive series of ads that targeted trade publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. According to Julia Antopol Hirsch’s non-fiction novel, The Sound of Music: The Making of America's Favorite Movie, it was Kaplan who helped bring in outside agencies to start the film’s publicity cycle as early as possible. These marketing efforts included the development of the film’s now-iconic poster, which features Andrews with her guitar in the middle of an empty field with the tagline, “The Happiest Sound in the World.”
Why ‘The Sound of Music’ Didn’t Leave Theaters
Despite receiving more mixed reviews from critics when it initially premiered at the Rivoli Theater in New York City, The Sound of Music managed to connect with audiences and become one of the decade’s biggest films. Instead of immediately making the film available in wide release, 20th Century Fox opted to create a traveling roadshow that hit key markets that were capable of playing the film with the 70-mm screenings and six-track stereophonic sound that Wise had intended. While the roadshow format could only include two screenings per day (as the film was 174 minutes long and included an intermission), the strategy of selective exposure to key demographics was brilliant in building hype for the upcoming wide release.
The Sound of Music topped the box office when it eventually made itself available to audiences around the country, quickly becoming the biggest film of 1965 within its first four weeks of release. Given the overwhelmingly positive responses from audiences and the dearth of competition at the box office, The Sound of Music retained its number one position for 30 of the next 43 weeks. While it was certainly a “must see event” that attracted non-film-goers in a way that Hollywood cinema rarely did, The Sound of Music also succeeded in earning sustained repeated viewings. In some cities that reported grosses, theater owners revealed that the total number of tickets sold exceeded the city’s population.
Related
For the First Time Ever, Hear Christopher Plummer's Original Unused Vocals in 'The Sound of Music'
Plummer's singing voice was dubbed in the 1965 musical classic.
How Long Was ‘The Sound of Music’ the Biggest Movie Ever?
After spending another 11 weeks at the top of the box office in 1966, The Sound of Music topped the gross set by Gone With The Wind to become the highest-grossing film of all-time. Although Gone With The Wind would eventually retake the record upon its re-release, Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster masterpiece The Godfather occupied the top spot when it hit theaters in 1972. In terms of most tickets sold in the history of cinema, The Sound of Music ranks just behind Gone With The Wind and Star Wars.
The Sound of Music spent an astounding four-and-a-half years in sustained release before it left theaters on Labor Day in 1969. It’s still one of the highest grossing musical films of all-time when adjusted for inflation, and has ensured itself a permanent placement within Hollywood’s most outstanding financial achievements.
The Sound of Music is available to watch in the U.S. on Disney+.
