Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

In August 1989, British writer-producer Pen Densham broke with the traditional account of Robin as a devil-may-care adventurer (best embodied by Errol Flynn in 1938) by reimagining him as a rich kid transformed into a socially conscious rebel by imprisonment in Jerusalem during the Crusades. He wrote a 92-page outline, which was then rewritten as a screenplay by his producing partner, John Watson. On February 14, 1990, Morgan Creek, the small production company of Young Guns (1988) and Major League (1989), saw "gold on the page" and immediately funded the film. Watson scouted filming locations in the United Kingdom, setting September 3 as the filming deadline in aggressive competition against other potential Robin Hood remakes from Twentieth Century Fox and Tri-Star Pictures.[9]

Kevin Reynolds had directed Kevin Costner extensively in the past, including the challenging buffalo hunt scene of Dances With Wolves. Reynolds said: "I'd done two pictures that hadn't made a dime, so I kind of knew [the studio] wanted me [for Robin Hood] because of my connections with Kevin." Indeed, Costner had already rejected the script until hearing that Reynolds was directing: "I felt Kevin was such a good filmmaker I would do it".[9]

Reynolds said, "what I did not want to do was Indiana Jones. That has been done already". Costner wanted an accent but Reynolds thought it would distract audiences, and their indecision resulted in a drastically uneven delivery between each scene. EW reported, "Even before it was finished, Costner was the subject of embarrassing rumors that his performance was too laid-back and his accent more LA than UK."[9]

Costner's explosive career gave him only a few days between the long-term epic projects of Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood, and JFK. This project's timeframe was compressed by the winter of England, and by competition with other possible Robin Hood films, giving Reynolds only 10 weeks for preproduction and little time for planning, rehearsal, or revision. Costner said, "It's very dangerous to be [working] so fast. We are relying on the weather, and every time the weather turns against us we could get behind. When that happens there is always the feeling that certain people want to do something about it to shorten the filming time. That is not always the cure." Reynolds said, "Are things going as planned? Ha! You always start with a picture in your mind, and it is a compromise all the way from there. We have been struggling from Day One. We are trying to finish by Christmas, and the days are getting shorter. It's horrible." The suddenly changing weather caused jet traffic to be diverted overhead on the first day of filming the Burnham Beeches location, ten miles from London's Heathrow Airport.[9]

Principal exteriors were shot on location in the United Kingdom. A second unit filmed the medieval walls and towers of the Cité de Carcassonne in the town of Carcassonne in Aude, France, for the portrayal of Nottingham and its castle. Locksley Castle was Wardour Castle in Wiltshire—restored in an early shot using a matte painting. Marian's manor was filmed at Hulne Priory in Northumberland. Scenes set in Sherwood Forest were filmed at various locations in England: the outlaws' encampment was filmed at Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire, south of the real Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire;[9] the fight scene between Robin and Little John was at Aysgarth Falls in North Yorkshire; and Marian sees Robin bathing at Hardraw Force, also in North Yorkshire.[10] Sycamore Gap on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland was used for the scene when Robin first confronts the sheriff's men.[11] Chalk cliffs at Seven Sisters, Sussex were used as the locale for Robin's return to England from the Crusades.[12]

Interior scenes were completed at Shepperton Studios in Surrey.[10]

Furious at the studio's repeated requirement for yet another heavy editing session just to boost Costner's presence and prevent Rickman's acting from stealing the movie—and at the studio locking his own editor out of the cutting room—Reynolds walked out of the project weeks before theatrical debut, and he did not attend the screening.[9]

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was submitted for classification from the British Board of Film Classification which required fourteen seconds to be cut from the film to obtain a PG rating.[2]

The original theatrical cut of the film was released on VHS in the US on May 13, 1992,[17] and on DVD on September 30, 1997.[18] A 2-disc special-edition DVD was released in the US on June 10, 2003,[19] containing a 155-minute-long extended version of the film. This alternate cut of the film was released on Blu-ray in the US on May 26, 2009.[20]

The film grossed $25 million in its opening weekend and $18.3 million in its second. The film eventually made $390,493,908 at the global box office, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1991, immediately behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It enjoyed the second-best opening for a nonsequel, at the time.[21][22][23][24]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 52% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 5.69/10. The critical consensus reads, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves brings a wonderfully villainous Alan Rickman to this oft-adapted tale, but he's robbed by big-budget bombast and a muddled screenplay."[25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[26] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[27]

Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert praised Freeman's performance as well as Rickman's, but ultimately decried the film as a whole, giving it two stars and stating, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a murky, unfocused, violent, and depressing version of the classic story... The most depressing thing about the movie is that children will attend it expecting to have a good time."[28] The New York Times gave the film a negative review, with Vincent Canby writing that the movie is "a mess, a big, long, joyless reconstruction of the Robin Hood legend that comes out firmly for civil rights, feminism, religious freedom, and economic opportunity for all."[29] The Los Angeles Times found the movie unsatisfactory, as well.[30] Costner was criticized for not attempting an English accent,[31] and the film is mocked for Robin walking from the White Cliffs to Nottingham via Hadrian's Wall in an afternoon, a distance of 560 miles.[32]

Desson Thomson, writing for Washington Post, gave a more positive review: "Fair damsels and noble sirs, you must free yourselves of these wearisome observations. This is a state-of-the-art retelling of a classic."[33] Owen Gleiberman, of Entertainment Weekly also gave a positive review: "As a piece of escapism, this deluxe, action-heavy, 2-hour-and-21-minute Robin Hood gets the job done."[34] Lanre Bakare, writing in The Guardian, calls Rickman's Sheriff, for which he won a BAFTA, a "genuinely great performance".[35]

Prince of Thieves was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards: Kevin Costner won the Worst Actor award for his performance as Robin Hood, while Christian Slater received a nomination for Worst Supporting Actor for his performances in this film and Mobsters, but lost to Dan Aykroyd for Nothing but Trouble.[36]

In 2005, the American Film Institute nominated this film for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.[37]

Tie-in video games of the same name were released in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. Developed by Sculptured Software Inc. and Bits Studios, respectively, and published by Virgin Games, Inc., they were featured as the cover game for the July 1991 issue of Nintendo Power magazine.[38]

A toy line was released by Kenner, consisting of action figures and playsets. All but one of the figures were derived by slight modifications to Kenner's well-known Super Powers line, while Friar Tuck, as well as the vehicles and playset, were modified from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi toys.[39]