CHAPTER FIVE

There’s on old proven Hollywood axiom that states if a film opens without that all important screening for the critics and the media, it is assumed that the studio knows the film is terrible and suddenly becomes desperate to “unload” the film past critical scrutiny (be it from the critics to the equally important word-of-mouth circles). That way, the studio can at least earn some money off the film before the naysayers have a chance to take some shots at it. A lot also depends on just how “bad” the film really is. A film might not be worth much to the eye of elitist and/or overly opinionated critics may very well strike a cord with the public in general. Contemporary film history is replete with such examples; films that appeal to the “cult” audiences like Wizard Of Oz, Phantom of The Paradise, Rocky Horror Picture Show, the latter two films gained a reputation in the ‘underground’, making it’s mark first as a cult phenomenon before reentering the mainstream only to make a bigger mark.

However, the promises that Xanadu originally boasted were never delivered in the eyes of the many. The disharmony that was prevalent behind the film was, in many ways, apparent in the final result. The critical response was pretty much universal, like the movie critic from the London (UK) Evening News panning the film as “the most dreadful, tasteless, movie of the decade. Indeed, of all time.” and you didn’t have to go far beyond the title to understand Newsweek’s opinion: ‘Aw, Shut Up, Muse!’ One of the more interesting write-ups was one critic’s observation that it was useless to offer any energy to criticize Xanadu as “it would be noting more than shooting arrows at a ghost; this film is so transparent’. Then Esquire Magazine uttered the simple one-word phrase that would dog the movie forever, ‘Xana-Don’t’. Some of these bad reviews caught up to Olivia during her Xanadu press junket through Australia. When these “pannings” were mentioned on the Dan Parkinson talk show, she remarked: “I actually stopped reading them, which seems to be the safest way.  But luckily, we made the film (for) the public, and not for the critics, other wise we’d be in trouble.” She also mentioned that getting good reviews were a kiss of death. When the host read some more brief excerpts from the reviews (“crushingly disastrous and a nightmare”) she answered back that Xanadu was “a entertainment film, it was made for people to just go and enjoy themselves and have fun. It’s not Ben Hur.” While Roger Ebert expanded on the “transparency” issue, saying that the film had so little energy it could end at any minute, he (and generally other critics who weren’t too terribly offended) did admit that he liked the music (especially Magic), the presences of Kelly and Olivia, though one critic from L.A. Magazine described her acting having a range of a mannequin and another calling her character a “roller-skating light bulb”, and it wasn’t as bad as Can’t Stop The Music.

In the end, the final outcome was that the audience largely sided with the critics; they loved the music but not so much the movie. The soundtrack would peek at #4 on the Billboard US album charts and will go platinum and, in 1984, double platinum. The LP will end up selling a total of 3 million copies in the US alone. Aside from the negative response, there were other factors conspiring against Xanadu, production not-withstanding. First, the film was saddled by the press with the ‘disco film’ label. Xanadu’s release date eventually coincided with the decline of disco as both a musical genre and a cultural phenomenon; at this point in time, the public finally had enough of the over-powering presents of Disco Inc (the mainstream version of it that is). Even though Xanadu didn’t have any of the over-baring disco traces, all those roller skates and flashy outfits didn’t help matters much. Another factor was that Xanadu was to have opened in 900 theatres, but instead it turned out to be only 260. Gordon would later remark, “Had it opened the way it was supposed to…it was to have been quite successful because the music was carrying us along.” Lastly, it also had stiff competition for the public’s attention and money with the lingering yet strong effect of the much-anticipated Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, which opened on May 1980.

According to Variety, Xanadu would end up grossing ten million dollars in the US market (starting with a $1.4 million opening weekend); the film got a better B. O. response overseas. With the production budget believed to be between 9 to 13 million dollars (plus a few more for advertising and publicity), Universal would end up breaking even on Xanadu. (#7) In late October, another long-planned single was released. It was another Olivia duet, with Cliff Richard this time and it was called Suddenly. It managed to make it to #20 in the US singles charts. Despite the fact that Xanadu was quickly fading away from the theaters and charts, Suddenly also got the royal packaging treatment with a non-LP side of Olivia covering You Made Me Love You (which was played as BGM during Danny’s ‘memorabilia room’ scene). Other tracks were chosen as the fifth and final Xanadu single in other parts of the world; Olivia’s Suspended In Time for Japan and ELO’s Don’t Walk Away for the UK and Europe.

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