Robert Downey Jr.’s star-studded 2000 comedy failed twice at the box office

It doesn’t happen often anymore, but there was a time when studios would spend huge sums on a prestige film in the hopes that the film’s pedigree would be rewarded with Oscars and box office glory. These films were not made to be blockbusters (although they could sometimes reach such commercial heights); they were intended to be respected library titles that reflected favorably on the impeccable taste of the leaders who gave them the green light. Bring together the best talent for a project with an exciting storyline and you had a head start.

These films don’t always work. For each “The Silence of the Lambs” or “The English Patient,” you might end up with a failure like “Havana” or “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” In these cases, the studio knows it missed the mark and takes it on the chin for about a week until everyone forgets the movie exists. Sometimes, however, marketing fails. The people responsible for putting the picture on moviegoers’ radar either don’t understand the content or are hedging their bets and selling a film that the filmmaker didn’t make. And when a studio isn’t sure about a film’s awards or commercial potential, it sometimes releases it at the wrong time on too few screens, hoping against hope that it will be a word-of-mouth success.

I don’t know if Curtis Hanson’s “Wonder Boys” was ever going to be a hit or an awards season juggernaut, but it’s hard to imagine how Paramount could have botched its release more completely. The beautifully furry comedy based on Michael Chabon’s 1995 novel boasted a stellar cast including Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand and Robert Downey Jr. Paramount knew it had something in his hands, so he gave the film two theatrical releases.

Paramount first released “Wonder Boys” on February 25, 2000. It stars Douglas as Grady Tripp, a stoner novelist struggling under the overwhelming success of his first book. He now teaches a creative writing class at a prestigious, unnamed university in Pennsylvania, where he finds himself baffled by his star student, James Leer (Maguire). Tripp also complicated his situation at school by sleeping with the chancellor’s wife (McDormand), who discovered she was pregnant with his child. Meanwhile, his second novel, for which his agent Terry Crabtree (Downey) constantly pesters him, has passed 2,500 pages and is far from finished.

“Wonder Boys” is a relaxing film. At first it feels like a road movie, but it stays close to home. Written by the great Steve Kloves (“The Fabulous Baker Boys”) before losing it to the “Harry Potter” franchiseIt has a chaotic narrative pace that gives it a feel of the new Hollywood of the 1970s. It received critical acclaim, but it ended up being thrown into theaters (grossing $33.4 million at the box office against a budget of $55 million) and never caught on with audiences or voters.

Paramount was encouraged to re-release the film in November 2000, but it was a half-hearted move on 12 screens. He should have made his debut with “Wonder Boys” at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, where Hanson’s detective masterpiece “LA Confidential” received rave reviews. The studio made this film dirty on many levels, which is why it is, at best, a cult curiosity today. I think it’s one of the best films of the 2000s, and I highly recommend watching it tonight.