Spice World (film)

Geri Halliwell's red swimsuit from the film

Spiers had been working in America on the Disney film That Darn Cat at the peak of the Spice Girls' popularity. He was unaware of the group when first offered the job until his friend Jennifer Saunders advised that he take it. He arrived at a meeting with them in a New York hotel unaware of what they looked like.[7]

Frank Bruno was originally cast as the tour bus driver, but withdrew after a security guard prevented his son Franklin having an on-set photo taken with the girls.

Mentions of Princess Diana and scenes including the designer Gianni Versace had to be edited out in post-production following their deaths before the release of the film.[8]

The film reunited Meat Loaf and Richard O'Brien, who co-starred in the 1975 classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film also reunited O'Brien and Barry Humphries, who costarred in the Rocky Horror follow-up, Shock Treatment (1981).

"Their company rang me up and asked if I would be in it", remarked Elvis Costello of his cameo. "I wouldn't have thought I was the kind of face you would get to do a cornflakes advert. Maybe twenty years ago. I was surprised."[9]

Gary Glitter filmed a four-minute cameo appearance as himself, but shortly before the film was to be released he was arrested on child pornography offences. The Spice Girls and the production team agreed that his cameo should be deleted from the final print. The performance of Glitter's "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)" was retained. Glitter's scene has since been leaked online.[10]

An official motion picture soundtrack has not been released, since their second studio album, Spiceworld, was released at the time, heavily promoted and serving as the film's soundtrack. The only song from Spiceworld not to appear in the film is "Move Over". The songs appearing in the film are in order of appearance.

The main song of the film "Too Much" debuted atop the UK Singles Chart,[11] becoming the Spice Girls' second consecutive Christmas number-one single.[12] It made the group the first act to reach number one with their first six singles, and the first to debut atop the chart five times in a row.[13] The single spent two weeks at number one,[14] and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 9 January 1998.[12]

In the United Kingdom, Spice World was granted a PG certificate by the British Board of Film Classification for "mild bad language, mild sex references".[1] In the United States, it received a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America for "some vulgarity, brief nudity and language".

Official toy versions of the Spice Bus were produced upon the release of the movie.[15]

The film was released on VHS in May 1998 in many regions including the UK, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia. In June 1998, it came out on VHS in the US and Canada. Despite concerns that the high-profile departure of Halliwell from the Spice Girls would affect sales, global demand for the VHS was high.[16] In the UK, the film was number one on the video charts for six consecutive weeks,[17] was certified 11x Platinum, and became the ninth best-selling video of 1998.[18] In the US, the film peaked at number one on the video charts for five consecutive weeks[19] and was the fifth best-selling video of 1998.[20]

Spice World: The 10th Anniversary Edition was released on DVD on 19 November 2007 in the United Kingdom and Australia and on 27 November 2007 in the United States.

In 2017, the film was screened at various cinemas in the UK and Australia to mark its 20th anniversary.[5] Plans to re-release the movie in other worldwide territories are currently underway.

Spice World was a number-one box office success in the United Kingdom, grossing more than £6.8 million during its opening weekend on Boxing Day, 1997 setting a record opening week for a British film in the U.K.[21] The film was also successful at the box office in the United States, breaking the record at that time for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl weekend (25 January 1998), with box office sales of $10,527,222.[22] The film took in total $151 million at the box office worldwide.[3][23]

The film was released on VHS in May 1998 in many regions including the UK, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia. In June 1998, it came out on VHS in the US and Canada. Despite concerns that the high-profile departure of Halliwell from the Spice Girls would affect sales, global demand for the VHS was high.[24] In the UK, the film was number one on the video charts for six consecutive weeks,[25] was certified 11x Platinum, and became the ninth best-selling video of 1998.[26] In the US, the film peaked at number one on the video charts for five consecutive weeks[27] and was the fifth best-selling video of 1998.[28]

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. Film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave Spice World a rating of 34% based on reviews from 64 critics, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 10 and a critic consensus that reads "Spice World's lack of cohesive plot will likely lose most viewers, but for fans of the titular girl group there's more than enough fun to be had in their wacky -- albeit superficial -- whirlwind of an adventure."[30] On Metacritic, the film has a 32 out of 100 rating, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[31] AllMovie gave it two out of five stars.[29]

Noted American film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one-half of a star and listed Spice World as one of his most hated films, saying: "The Spice Girls are easier to tell apart than the Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that is small consolation: What can you say about five women whose principal distinguishing characteristic is that they have different names? They occupy Spice World as if they were watching it: They're so detached they can't even successfully lip-synch their own songs." And when he reviewed the film on his and Gene Siskel's film critique programme Siskel & Ebert, only three weeks into 1998, he declared that he had already seen the worst film of that year, and called it "an entertainment-free dead zone". Ebert would include this film on the Worst of 1998 special; but he chose Armageddon as the worst film of 1998.[32][33]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times stated that the film "is pleasant and painless enough to amuse ardent fans, who figure in the film quite often." She also noted that while it got a PG rating in the United States, "nothing about it should disturb its target audience of media-wise, fun-loving 8-year-old girls."[34] Writing for Sight and Sound, in a positive review, Mark Sinker placed it alongside The Monkees' 1968 cult film Head. He went on to say that it "sends up the amiable idiocy of pop packaging - and the slow witted mass-media response to it" and it was "tirelessly generous in its energy".[35]

Derek Elley, resident film critic for Variety, gave the film mixed reviews, calling the film "bright and breezy" and "as timely but evanescent as the Cool Britannia culture it celebrates". He stated that the film would "delight the Fab Five's pre-pubescent fans" but that it would "be forgotten within six months".[36]

The film has been listed in Golden Raspberry Awards founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of "The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made".[37] Along with the nominations and wins racked up at the 1998 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, Spice World would be listed in their upcoming "100 Years, 100 Stinkers" list, in which people voted for the 100 worst movies of the 20th century. The film was ranked at #5.[38][39]