Disney has proven monumentally successful in recent years by adapting true sports stories into feel-good family films. While Miracle wasn't quite as successful as Remember the Titans and The Rookie, all three were significant earners for Team Mouse. It was only a matter of time before the studio picked another project to fill the 2005 sports slot on the schedule.
And the winner is...
The Greatest Game Ever Played is a golf story set in 1913. Its protagonist is an American amateur golfer named Francis Ouimet, who shocked the golf world that year by beating British champion Harry Vardon. Considered the greatest player in the world at that time, Vardon was the inventor of what would become the modern golf grip and swing (so it's his fault you hate your game).
Ouiment, born to a middle-class working family, fought an uphill battle with his family and friends. They assumed that golf was a game only for the wealthy (which was more accurate then than it is now), and his father discouraged him from playing such a capitalist sport. Vardon faced much greater obstacles, as he fought to overcome a grueling bout with tuberculosis on his way to a still record six British Open championships.
The two men had a historic encounter at the 1913 U.S. Open which immediate became a legend in golfing folklore. The amateur player, presumed incapable of beating any of the professional players, much less the Tiger Woods of his day, pulled off an NC State over Houston level upset (and now I've given Disney execs a strong hint about what their 2006 sports production should be).
Disney Channel regular Shia LaBeouf, last seen digging his way out of Holes in the desert, will keep the lead casting all in the family. As is the studio's preferred methodology, LaBeouf will graduate into more adult fare beginning with this production. The only question is whether he will pull a Hilary Duff soon afterward. (David Mumpower/BOP)
Comparison films for The Greatest Game Ever Played |
Title |
Date |
Opening |
Adjusted Opening |
Screens |
PSA |
Adj PSA |
Total BO |
Adjusted Total |
Mult |
| Remember the Titans |
9/29/00 | 20.91 |
23.39 |
1865 |
11212.00 |
12064.9 |
115.60 |
129.32 |
5.53 |
| Miracle |
2/6/04 | 19.38 |
19.38 |
2605 |
7438.61 |
7438.6 |
64.37 |
64.37 |
0.00 |
| Holes |
4/18/03 | 16.30 |
16.30 |
2331 |
6993.00 |
6993.0 |
67.38 |
67.38 |
4.13 |
| Rookie, The |
3/29/02 | 16.02 |
16.65 |
2511 |
6381.00 |
6381.0 |
75.60 |
78.60 |
4.72 |
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