gnome (nōm) n.
A pithy saying that expresses a general truth or fundamental principle; an aphorism.
Gnome #1:
People will pay a lot of money to see movies with fish in them.
(Gnome #1.5: Whales count as fish. Dolphins too. Perhaps penguins. )
It’s true. I don’t claim to understand it entirely, but throw a few fish into a movie and suddenly it’s Q Score goes through the roof. If you stop and think about it, I am sure you can think up dozens of fish movies, all of them great and popular.
Fish movies are practically their own underrated powerhouse of a genre that hits the Box Office totals like a sucker punch below the belt.
There are many examples of this phenomenon at work, lets look at just a few…
Most recently we can see how fish saved the 2012 film Big Miracle, a movie about a family of fish that are stuck far from the safety of the open water.
This film could have been another disaster for co-star Ted Danson, who never seems able to catch a break. Luckily for him, the film had a few fishies and boom! Box Office mediocrity achieved yet again.
The Sharknado series is another fine example of this theory at work. Universally cringed at, ridiculed and roundly put in it’s place….and then comes the sequel.
Why? Flying Fish movie. If you still doubt this rule gnome, ask yourself why else on Earth would there be third installment of Sharknado on the horizon. Or better yet ask Mark Cuban, I bet he knows all about fish movies.
Still not convinced? Okay, try this: take two movies made by the same team. The two films have more than 20 cast and crew members in common, including all the major performers.
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) – Huge, everyone’s heard of it.
Fierce Creatures (1997) – Never heard of her.
It’s foolproof, there’s just no way to ruin the profit potential of a fish movie. It’s been tried before, but even Big Hollywood cannot keep a fish movie down. Case in point: Fishtar, better known as Waterworld.
Despite being the most expensive movie ever made (at that time) and only opening to $22M, Waterworld would eventually make a small profit thanks to international receipts, home video, and fish.
Well, that’s it for today. I know it’s a lot to digest and will change your life forever or something. Just remember they’re just movies. Movies with fish in them.
