Spice World (film)

Spice World is a 1997 British musical comedy film directed by Bob Spiers and written by Kim Fuller. The film stars pop girl group the Spice Girls who all play themselves. The film—made in a similar vein to the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night (1964)—depicts a series of fictional events leading up to a major concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, liberally interspersed with dream sequences and flashbacks as well as surreal moments and humorous asides.

Spice World
UK theatrical release poster
Directed byBob Spiers
Produced by
Screenplay byKim Fuller
Starring
Music byPaul Hardcastle
CinematographyClive Tickner
Edited byAndrea MacArthur
Production
companies
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • 15 December 1997 (1997-12-15) (United Kingdom premiere)
  • 23 January 1998 (1998-01-23) (United States)
Running time
93 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[2]
Box office$151 million[3][4][5]

This is the second feature-length film directed by Spiers, following That Darn Cat (1997). The film features Richard E. Grant, Claire Rushbrook, Naoko Mori, Meat Loaf, Barry Humphries, and Alan Cumming in supporting roles. Filming took place in London for six of the eight filming weeks and also inside Twickenham Studios, as well as at over 40 famous British landmarks. Shooting featured several fourteen-hour shooting sessions and a constant, heavy media presence due to the Spice Girls' large popularity at the time.

The film premiered on 15 December 1997 and was released to British cinemas on the British holiday Boxing Day (26 December). In North America, the film was distributed by Columbia Pictures, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, and Icon Entertainment International and premiered on 23 January 1998. In the United States, Spice World became a box office success and broke the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl weekend with box office sales of $10,527,222. The film grossed $151 million at the box office worldwide and over $100 million including DVD sales.[4] Despite being a box office success, the film received primarily negative reviews.

To celebrate its 20th Anniversary in 2017, Spice World was given a limited release across the United Kingdom showing at Odeon Cinemas. The film grossed just shy of £1 million bringing the total gross income $151 million worldwide. Spice World is the highest-grossing movie of all time by a musical group.[6]

Plot

The film begins with the Spice Girls performing "Too Much" on Top of the Pops, but they become dissatisfied with the burdens of fame and fortune. Meanwhile, sinister newspaper owner Kevin McMaxford (Barry Humphries) is attempting to ruin the girls' reputation for his newspaper's ratings. McMaxford dispatches photographer Damien (Richard O'Brien) to take pictures and tape recordings of the girls. Less threatening but more annoying is Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth (Alan Cumming), who stalks the girls along with his camera crew, hoping to use them as subjects for his next project. At the same time, the girls' uptight manager, Clifford (Richard E. Grant) and his sympathetic assistant Deborah (Claire Rushbrook), are fending off two over-eager Hollywood writers, Martin Barnfield and Graydon (George Wendt and Mark McKinney), who relentlessly pitch absurd plot ideas for a feature film for the Spice Girls.

Amid this, the girls must prepare for their live concert at the Royal Albert Hall in three days, the biggest performance of their career. At the heart of it, the constant practices, traveling, publicity appearances, and other burdens of celebrity affect the girls on a personal level, preventing them from spending much time with their pregnant best friend, Nicola (Naoko Mori), who is due to give birth soon. Throughout the busy schedule, the girls attempt to ask Clifford for time off to spend with Nicola and relax, but Clifford refuses after talking with the head of the girls' record label, the cryptic and eccentric "Chief" (Roger Moore). The stress and overwork compound, which culminate in a huge argument between Clifford and the girls. The girls suddenly storm out on the evening before their gig at the Albert Hall.

The girls separately think back on their humble beginnings and their struggle to the top. They reunite by chance outside the now-abandoned café where they practiced during their adolescent years, they reconcile, and decide to take Nicola out dancing. However, Nicola's contractions start at the nightclub and is rushed to the hospital in the girls' bus, giving birth to a healthy baby girl. When Emma notices that the delivery "doctor" has a camera, the girls realize that he is Damien, who runs off with the girls in hot pursuit, only to hit his head after accidentally colliding with an empty stretcher. When Damien sees the girls standing over him, he tells them that they have made him see the error of his ways, and he goes after McMaxford, who is subsequently fired in a "Jacuzzi scandal".

After noticing the girls' bus driver, Dennis (Meat Loaf) is missing, Victoria decides to take the wheel. It becomes a race against time as Victoria drives recklessly through London. While approaching Tower Bridge, the bridge begins to raise to let a boat through the River Thames. Victoria drives up the bridge and over the gap. The bus finally lands safely on the other side, but when Emma opens a trapdoor in the floor, she discovers a bomb, and the girls scream before Emma slams the trapdoor shut again.

The girls finally arrive at the Royal Albert Hall for their performance and run up the steps. However, the girls have one more obstacle to overcome: a London policeman (Kevin McNally) charges the girls with "dangerous driving, criminal damage, flying a bus without a licence, and frightening the pigeons". Emma pushes forward and tells the policeman that she and the other girls were late for their performance at the Albert Hall. Emma smiles at the policeman, and he lets the girls off for their performance. The film ends when the girls perform their song "Spice Up Your Life" at the start of their Royal Albert Hall concert broadcast live on television around the world.

The supporting cast later talk about the girls' film during the closing credits. Mel C breaks the fourth wall and tells the other girls that the outgoing audience is watching them. The girls talk to the audience, commenting on "those two in the back row snogging" and on one's dress, and discuss their film, just minutes before the bomb in their bus explodes.

Cast

Production

Development
Geri Halliwell's red swimsuit from the film

Spiers had been working in America on the Disney film That Darn Cat at the peak of the Spice Girls' popularity. He was unaware of the group when first offered the job until his friend Jennifer Saunders advised that he take it. He arrived at a meeting with them in a New York hotel unaware of what they looked like.[7]

Casting

Frank Bruno was originally cast as the tour bus driver, but withdrew after a security guard prevented his son Franklin having an on-set photo taken with the girls.

Mentions of Princess Diana and scenes including the designer Gianni Versace had to be edited out in post-production following their deaths before the release of the film.[8]

The film reunited Meat Loaf and Richard O'Brien, who co-starred in the 1975 classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film also reunited O'Brien and Barry Humphries, who costarred in the Rocky Horror follow-up, Shock Treatment (1981).

"Their company rang me up and asked if I would be in it", remarked Elvis Costello of his cameo. "I wouldn't have thought I was the kind of face you would get to do a cornflakes advert. Maybe twenty years ago. I was surprised."[9]

Gary Glitter controversy

Gary Glitter filmed a four-minute cameo appearance as himself, but shortly before the film was to be released he was arrested on child pornography offences. The Spice Girls and the production team agreed that his cameo should be deleted from the final print. The performance of Glitter's "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)" was retained. Glitter's scene has since been leaked online.[10]

Music

An official motion picture soundtrack has not been released, since their second studio album, Spiceworld, was released at the time, heavily promoted and served as the film's soundtrack. The only song from Spiceworld not to appear in the film is "Move Over". The songs appearing in the film are in order of appearance.

The main song of the film "Too Much" debuted atop the UK Singles Chart,[11] becoming the Spice Girls' second consecutive Christmas number-one single.[12] It made the group the first act to reach number one with their first six singles, and the first to debut atop the chart five times in a row.[13] The single spent two weeks at number one,[14] and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 9 January 1998.[12]

Release

Rating

In the United Kingdom, Spice World was granted a PG certificate by the British Board of Film Classification for "mild bad language, mild sex references".[1] In the United States, it received a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America for "some vulgarity, brief nudity and language".

Merchandising

Official toy versions of the Spice Bus were produced upon the release of the movie.[15]

Home media

Spice World: The 10th Anniversary Edition was released on DVD on 19 November 2007 in the United Kingdom and Australia and on 27 November 2007 in the United States.

2017 re-release

In 2017, the film was screened at various cinemas in the UK and Australia to mark its 20th anniversary.[5] Plans to re-release the movie in other worldwide territories are currently underway.

Reception

Box office

Spice World was a number-one box office success in the United Kingdom, grossing more than £6.8 million during its opening weekend on Boxing Day, 1997 setting a record opening week for a British film in the U.K.[16] The film was also successful at the box office in the United States, breaking the record at that time for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl weekend (25 January 1998), with box office sales of $10,527,222.[17] The film took in total $151 million at the box office worldwide.[3][18]

The film was released on VHS in May 1998 in many regions including the UK, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia. In June 1998, it came out on VHS in the US and Canada. Despite concerns that the high-profile departure of Halliwell from the Spice Girls would affect sales, global demand for the VHS was high.[19] In the UK, the film was number one on the video charts for six consecutive weeks,[20] was certified 11x Platinum, and became the ninth best-selling video of 1998.[21] In the US, the film peaked at number one on the video charts for five consecutive weeks[22] and was the fifth best-selling video of 1998.[23]

Critical reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllMovie[24]
Rotten Tomatoes(35%)[25]

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. Film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave Spice World a rating of 35% based on reviews from 63 critics, with an average rating of 4.5 out of 10 and a critic consensus that reads "Spice World's lack of cohesive plot will likely lose most viewers, but for fans of the titular girl group there's more than enough fun to be had in their wacky -- albeit superficial -- whirlwind of an adventure."[25] On Metacritic, the film has a 32 out of 100 rating, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[26] AllMovie gave it two out of five stars.[24]

Noted American film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one-half of a star and listed Spice World as one of his most hated films, saying: "The Spice Girls are easier to tell apart than the Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that is small consolation: What can you say about five women whose principal distinguishing characteristic is that they have different names? They occupy Spice World as if they were watching it: They're so detached they can't even successfully lip-synch their own songs." And when he reviewed the film on his and Gene Siskel's film critique programme Siskel & Ebert, only three weeks into 1998, he declared that he had already seen the worst film of that year, and called it "an entertainment-free dead zone". Ebert would include this film on the Worst of 1998 special; but he chose Armageddon as the worst film of 1998.[27][28]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times stated that the film "is pleasant and painless enough to amuse ardent fans, who figure in the film quite often." She also noted that while it got a PG rating in the United States, "nothing about it should disturb its target audience of media-wise, fun-loving 8-year-old girls."[29] Writing for Sight and Sound, in a positive review, Mark Sinker placed it alongside The Monkees' 1968 cult film Head. He went on to say that it "sends up the amiable idiocy of pop packaging - and the slow witted mass-media response to it" and it was "tirelessly generous in its energy".[30]

Derek Elley, resident film critic for Variety, gave the film mixed reviews, calling the film "bright and breezy" and "as timely but evanescent as the Cool Britannia culture it celebrates". He stated that the film would "delight the Fab Five's pre-pubescent fans" but that it would "be forgotten within six months".[31]

Accolades

The film has been listed in Golden Raspberry Awards founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of "The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made".[32] Along with the nominations and wins racked up at the 1998 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, Spice World would be listed in their upcoming "100 Years, 100 Stinkers" list, in which people voted for the 100 worst movies of the 20th century. The film was ranked at #5.[33][34]

Award Category Subject Result
Golden Raspberry Award Worst Actress Spice Girls Won
Worst New Star Nominated
Worst Original Song ("Too Much") Nominated
Paul Wilson Nominated
Andy Watkins Nominated
Worst Supporting Actor Roger Moore Nominated
Worst Screen Couple Any combination of two people, body parts or fashion accessories Nominated
Worst Screenplay Jamie Curtis Nominated
Kim Fuller Nominated
Worst Picture Uri Fruchtmann Nominated
Barnaby Thompson Nominated
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award Favorite Movie Actress Spice Girls Nominated
Blockbuster Entertainment Award Favorite Movie Actress in a Comedy Spice Girls Nominated
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards[35] Worst Picture Sony, Columbia Won
Worst Actress or British Singing Group Pretending to Act Spice Girls Won
Worst Sense of Direction Bob Spiers Nominated
Worst On-Screen Hairstyle Scary Spice Nominated
Worst Song in a Motion Picture "Spice Up Your Life" Nominated

Legacy and cult status
The bus used in the Spice World movie

The film, while being negatively reviewed, is remembered fondly by many who were part of its target audience of younger pop fans at the time of its release. It has arguably achieved cult status as a commentary on pop culture. The film is considered as cult, describing it as a brilliant film, even a masterpiece of the parody genre, that mocks both the starsystem and clichés of the cinema, while giving many winks to popular culture of the time.[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]

On 18 July 2014, the Spice Bus used in the film was put on permanent display at Island Harbour Marina, on the Isle of Wight, England.[46]

Sequel

In 2010, Emma Bunton revealed that there were plans for a sequel following the release of Spice World in 1997, stating: "We would've liked to do another film, but after Spice World, there was an album, then a tour and then Geri left, so it didn't happen." She also told the press that a Spice Girl stage show was currently in development with producer Judy Craymer and the team behind Mamma Mia!. Viva Forever! ran on the West End from December 2012 to June 2013 and was a critical and commercial failure.[47]

Speaking in January 2019, following the announcement of the Spice Girls reunion tour, band manager Simon Fuller confirmed plans to make an animated sequel to Spice World.[48] On 13 June 2019, it was reported that Paramount Animation president Mireille Soria had green lit the project, with all five members of the band returning. The project will be produced by Simon Fuller, with Karen McCullah and Kiki Smith writing the screenplay, and will feature both previous and original songs.[49] The film will feature the band as superheroes. A director has not yet been announced.[50]

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See also

References
  1. "SPICE WORLD - THE MOVIE (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 27 November 1997. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  2. Pappas, Ben (22 March 1999). "Star power, star brands". Forbes.
  3. Entertainment Weekly. Benjamin Svetkey. Pag. 2 Cover Story: Tour Divorce?. 17 July 1998. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  4. Spice Girls Official. Biography Archived 21 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine. 19 Management Entertainment.
  5. Vincent, Alice (29 September 2017). "Five go mad on camera: how the Spice Girls made Spice World". The Telegraph.
  6. "All Time Domestic Box Office for Based on Musical Group Movies". The Numbers. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  7. Bob Spiers and Stacey Adair, Joking Apart, Series 2 Episode 2, DVD audio commentary, replaydvd.co.uk
  8. "20 Things You Didn't Know About "Spice World"". Complex Magazine. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  9. Du Noyer, Paul]] (February 1998). "Cash for questions". Q. No. 137. p. 15.
  10. "The Truth Behind The Deleted Gary Glitter Cameo In The Spice Girls Movie". Yahoo! Movies. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  11. "Official Singles Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  12. Myers, Justin (14 December 2017). "Classic Christmas Number 1s: Spice Girls' 2 Become 1". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  13. Wright, Matthew (22 December 1997). "Top of the Tots; Girls can't conquer Germany". The Mirror. Retrieved 28 July 2019 – via Questia Online Library.
  14. "All The Number 1 Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  15. "Toy Spice Buses". VivaSpice.net. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  16. "Spiceworld The Movie (advertisement)". Variety. 12 January 1998. p. 53.
  17. Opening weekend box office sales in the US. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 25 June 2006.
  18. IMDb. Spiceworld: The Movie box office. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 1 July 2008.
  19. "With Spice Girls Down to Four, Sales Still Ride High (pg. 8, 120)". Billboard Magazine. 12 June 1998. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  20. Official Video Chart Top 100: 31 May 1998 – 11 July 1998. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  21. End of Year Video Chart Top 100 - 1998. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  23. "The Year in Video: Top Video Sales". Billboard Magazine. 9 January 1999. p. 52. Retrieved 18 February 2017. 1998 best vhs selling spice world.
  24. Spice World at AllMovie
  25. "Spice World (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  26. "Spice World Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  27. "Ebert's Most Hated". Chicago Sun-Times.
  28. "Spice World". Chicago Sun-Times.
  29. Janet Maslin (23 January 1998). "'Spice World': Hits and Hairdos on the Spice Rack". The New York Times.
  30. Sinker, Mark (February 1998). "Spice World". Sight and Sound: 49. ISSN 0037-4806.
  31. Elley, Derek (18 December 1997). "Review: 'Spice World'". Variety.
  32. Wilson, John (2005). The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-69334-0.
  33. "The 100 Worst Films of the 20th Century". The Stinkers. Archived from the original on 24 January 2002. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  34. "The Top 10 [sic] Worst Films of All Time". The Stinkers. Archived from the original on 2 February 2002. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  35. "Past Winners Database". 3 January 2007. Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  36. Spice World cult film on broadly.vice.com
  37. Spice World chef d'oeuvre on broadly.vice.com
  38. Spice World review on interviewmagazine.com
  39. Spice World a real cult classic movie on getsurrey.co.uk
  40. Spice World movie on chroniclelive.co.uk
  41. Spice World a brillant movie on esquire.com
  42. Spice World a cult film on scotsman.com
  43. Spice World on belfastliveco.uk
  44. Spice World the movie clut film on blogto.com
  45. Spice World a masterpiece on buzzfeed.com
  46. The Spice Bus. Island Harbour. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  47. Team, Cosmo (23 July 2010). "Spice Girls movie sequel confirmed". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  48. "A new Spice Girls film is coming". The Independent. 13 January 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  49. "'Spice Girls' Movie in the Works as Paramount Unveils Animation Slate (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  50. "The Spice Girls are getting an animated movie — and all five members are on board". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
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