Right.
And the other thing was, we developed
the original screenplay at Columbia.
And Steven originally developed E.T.
at Columbia.
So when the lights came on
after Sid saw the movie, he said:
"I get the beststuff from Columbia PicturesI"
It was something like that.
So, anyway...
...the previews....
I remember that I got...
...incredibly, almostparalyzed with fear...
...when I had all these good previews.
Because I understood that the movies...
...I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars
also had tremendous previews.
And it didn't mean anything.
It's two different worlds.
There are so many wonderful movies
that are made...
...and they're great, and they work,
but nobody wants to go see them.
So I was really terrified...
...that they weren't going to be able
to open this movie.
I wasjust terrified that...
...the movie might not find its audience.
But then, I also remember...
...that I didn'tlike the TVspots.
And I realized on making this movie that...
...that's an art form that I don't understand...
...and I shouldjust butt out of the marketing...
...because...
...I forget who it was,
but whoever cut the TVspot....
Every single piece of marketing material...
...had that one line
of Michael Fox's in there where he said:
"Are you telling me that my mother
has the hots for me?"
And I thought the way you sell this movie
is with all my effects...
...and my action.
But they saw the movie and they said,
"This is what the spotshould be. "
And that one line was in everything,
and there was something about that.
They understood that that's
whatpeople would come in for.
Seeing Michael J. Fox say that
was the whole campaign.
For me, the first time that I thought
maybe we might have something happening...
...was....
We shot the exterior of the high school stuff
down at Whittier High School.
And one night,
we were shooting the dance stuff...
...and word got out that Michael J. Fox
was in this movie...
...and suddenly we had kids lined up...
...seven-deep, trying to catch a glimpse
of Michael J. Fox.
That never happened to us before
on any movie we'd done...
...and we said, "WowI This guy's really a star. "
We didn't realize how big a staryou can be
from being in a hit TVseries.
And Michael was unavailable
to do any promotion.
I remember that,
because Sid was angry about that.
"So we've got the star of this movie,
and we can't even put him on TVI"
Because Michael...
...on top of anything else, with Family Ties...
...they decided they were going to shoot
an entire season in Europe.
-Like Family Ties Goes to Europe.
-Goes to London. Yeah.
And that was the summer the movie opened.
So Michael wasn't around to A: Enjoy
all the insanity of the success of the movie...
...and B: He wasn't around to promote the movie.
Hejust kept hearing on the phone
that the movie's a success.
Do you remember good reviews? Bad reviews?
Were you concerned about reviews
or even paying attention?
The reviews? No.
There were some....
We got a lot of good reviews
butsome people didn'tlike it.
That's what makes the world go round.
Ifyou start worrying about that,
you can really make yourselfinsane.
I remember Steve Martin,
I saw him do an interview once where he said:
"The critics who...
"... give my movies good reviews
are insightful, wonderful, genius people...
"... and those who give my movies bad reviews
are worthless scum. "
At whatpoint did you guys realize
that not only did you have a hit...
...butyou had a mega hit?
And how did it change yourlife and career?
Second weekend, the box-office gross
was higher than the opening weekend.
You don'tsee that anymore.
When the movie was released,
we were only in 1,100 or 1,200 theaters.
And I think our opening box-office gross
was $10 million for the weekend...
...which was big.
And, in fact, thatsummer, 11 out of 12 weeks...
...from when the movie was released,
it was the number one movie in America.
One weekend