Both Saturday Night Live stars in the
late eighties and early nineties, Myers
and Carvey took their skit about two
clueless head-bangers to the silver
screen in 1992, and Wayne's World became
a huge hit. The movie became the first
$100 million hit for both stars, making
$127 million. The question was if the
two could continue their success in
movies.
At first it didn't seem like it was
going to happen. Myers' next film, So, I
Married an Axe Murderer made a pathetic
$11 million while Carvey starred in the
flop, Clean Slate. The sequel to Wayne's
World made only $47 million and after
that, both actors seemed to disappear
from the silver screen. Carvey had some
medical setbacks while Myers worked on
some ideas for his next movie.
Myers returned to theaters in 1997 with
an average hit, Austin Powers:
International Man of Mystery. At first
it didn't seem like a big deal, but once
the film hit video stores, a phenomena
was born. I don't know if this happened
to other people, but it seemed like all
of the sudden, myself and friends had
added some new phrases to our vocabulary
right out of the movie. Friends of mine
would memorize complete sentences out of
the movie and repeat it over and over.
Austin Powers became much more than just
a cult hit, as it set the stage for the
sequel to make it big. While the first
Austin Powers made only $53 million in
its entire run, Austin Powers: The Spy
Who Shagged Me, opened with $57
million. While I still enjoyed the first
film more, the second one was embraced
by millions of fans and went on to gross
over $200 million. Myers followed the
1999 hit with another one in 2001, but
this time doing the voice for Shrek. The
computer animated movie was not only the
third $100 million hit for Myers, but it
ended up grossing $267 million at the
domestic box office, showing us that
Myers was more than just a one character
wonder.
Now both actors are returning to the big
screen; Myers with Austin Powers In
Goldmember (opening July 26) and Carvey
with Master of Disguise (opening a week
later on August 2). But don't expect a
box office race similar to that of best
friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (both
of their movies - The Sum of All Fears
and The Bourne Identity will end with
about $120 million in domestic
grosses). In fact, Carvey would be lucky
if Master of Disguise grossed in its
entire run what Goldmember will gross in
its opening weekend. Actually, when
Disguise premieres a week later, AP3
should still outgross it by at least $25
million in its second weekend.
While Austin Powers goes on to gross
close to $200 million, Disguise should
gross around $30 to 40 million. But as
many of us know, Carvey was one of the
best thing Saturday Night Live ever had
to offer, if not the best. His skits
like Church Lady ("Could It Be Satan!"),
Hans and Frans ("We're here to -clap-
Pump you up"), and Garth ("Schwing!")
and his impersonations of politicians
such as President Bush and presidential
candidate Perot were some of the best
skits ever on SNL. He is very talented,
and maybe Master of Disguise will be the
first step for him towards movie star
status.
Mike Myers is already there and with
other roles like The Cat and the Hat and
Shrek 2 in the future, Myers should
continue to be one of the most popular
comedians in movies today. So, yes,
there is a civil war in Wayne's World,
but while Wayne is fighting with big
guns, Garth is fighting with sticks.