Nearly 30 years later, The Shawshank Redemption is considered one of the greatest movies of all time. In fact, on a well-known and respected website Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), it’s ranked as one of the best movies in cinema history, ahead of the likes of The Godfather, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly , and Schindler’s List . Now compare that to another movie that came out the same year. The Flintstones , a live-action remake of the 1960s cartoon show, starred John Goodman, Rick Moranis, and Rosie O’Donnell. The Flintstones , needless to say, was not nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. “It falls flatter than a granite slab,” noted a national film critic. Though the film was praised for its costume and set design, it also won a “Razzie Award” for Worst Female Performance and Worst Screenplay, and was a nominee for Worst Movie of 1994. The Flintstones IMDb.com user reviews are roughly half of what The Shawshank Redemption receives, and it’s rated by users as one of the worst movies of the 1990s. However, a team of salespeople masterfully marketed The Flintstones to its targeted demographics. The result? The film grossed $131 million in the U.S. and $358 million worldwide. That’s the power of targeted marketing. On the flip side, the people at Universal Studios, who promoted The Shawshank Redemption , admitted they couldn’t figure out how to sell the movie to the public. They had a great product; they just didn’t know how to sell it.
It grossed only $28 million at the U.S. box office and $60 million
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