The Addams Family (1991 film)

Scott Rudin, a development executive at 20th Century Fox, pitched to the studio an adaptation of Charles Addams' The Addams Family cartoons, and the studio enthusiastically agreed that the cartoons would make a good film, and set out to purchase the rights. However, Fox would ultimately not make the film, as Orion Pictures, who owned the film rights to The Addams Family, would not sell the property, as they were planning on producing a rebooted TV series. Further crucial property rights were owned by Charles Addams' widow.[1] Another difficulty in getting the film produced was the obscurity of The Addams Family 1964 TV series, as the show had not achieved the syndicated popularity of the similarly-toned comedy The Munsters.[1] However, production finally moved forward when Addams' widow sold the remaining rights to Orion, who put the film in production with Rudin producing.[1]

Anjelica Huston said she based aspects of her performance on her friend Jerry Hall to give the character more warmth. Huston said she would have expected the role to go to Cher but was a longtime fan of Morticia.[5]

Caroline Thompson and Larry Wilson wrote the first draft of the screenplay, which was extensively rewritten later by other writers, including Paul Rudnick, who later wrote Addams Family Values.[1] In a 2012 interview, Sonnenfeld stated that he originally intended that it be unclear whether Fester really was an imposter or not, but all the other actors rebelled and chose 10-year-old Christina Ricci to speak on their behalf, who "gave this really impassioned plea that Fester shouldn't be an imposter... so we ended up totally changing that plot point to make the actors happy. And they were right — it was the better way to go."[6]

Makeup and animatronic effects for the film were handled by Tony Gardner and his company Alterian, Inc.

After Tim Burton passed on directing the film because he was busy filming Batman Returns the sequel to the 1989 film Batman at the time, Barry Sonnenfeld took the job.[1] His first directing job after previously serving as director of photography for several major films, Sonnenfeld experienced much stress during filming.[1] Most of the film was shot on Stage 3/8 at the Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles, the same studio where the original TV series was filmed.[7] In the last three months of production, director of photography Owen Roizman quit, and was replaced by Gale Tattersall. Filming resumed, but within weeks Tattersall was rushed to the hospital, halting production while Sonnenfeld took over cinematography, while simultaneously directing the film.[1] Further delays occurred when a blood vessel in actor Raul Julia's eye burst, leading the production to film around Julia until he recovered, and Sonnenfeld's wife became sick, halting production.[1]

In her 2014 memoir Watch Me, Anjelica Huston described the filming of the Addams Family as "long and arduous."[8] It was decided that the character of Morticia should have eyes which slanted upwards at the sides, an effect which was achieved by attaching an elastic strap to the back of Huston's head via fabric tabs glued at her temples, which pulled the corners of her eyes upwards.[8] A second strap was added to balance the appearance of the lower part of her face with the upper. The bands caused extended discomfort to Huston, and, unless she removed them at lunchtime, she would suffer severe headaches and rashes later in the day. Removing the bands for a break entailed hours of extra work in both removing and then re-applying her makeup and wig. On top of this, the bands would snap at the slightest turn of Huston's head, causing yet more grueling repair time. Eventually, she learned to pivot and turn on her feet without moving her upper body or head.[8] According to Huston, actress Judith Malina's way of enduring being "embedded in latex for over twelve hours a day" was to "smoke an endless series of joints in her trailer throughout filming."[8]

Another production difficulty was the financial decline of original production studio Orion Pictures, who, while having recently made the big hits The Silence of the Lambs and Dances with Wolves, had also produced several major flops which ate up the studios' funds, leading Orion to sell The Addams Family, while still in production, to Paramount Pictures.[1] In exchange, Paramount would own the domestic rights, as Orion had pre-sold the foreign rights to Columbia.[2] Part of Orion's motivation to sell the film was that the film, originally budgeted at $25 million, had gone $5 million over budget due to newly added material as a result of the film's numerous rewrites. With the projected release date competing with Steven Spielberg's Hook, Orion feared that The Addams Family would be another expensive flop, and decided to cut its losses. Ultimately, The Addams Family was a box-office hit. As the sale occurred late in production, the filmmakers were unaware that Paramount had taken over production, learning of the sale from a journalist rather than either of the studios.[1]

The Addams Family Soundtrack was produced by Hummie Mann and Marc Shaiman.[9] It was orchestrated by Hummie Mann and composed by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Marc Shaiman and Saxie Dowell.[9] It was released on December 3, 1991[10] by Capitol Records.[9][10][11] "Addams Groove" by MC Hammer was the theme song for the movie and the music video was played prior to the film.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Soundtrack.net	[10]

The film was further shaped by test screenings. The Mamushka sequence, a musical dance number, was significantly longer in the original cut, but was shortened following negative responses from test audiences.[1][12]

The Addams Family grossed $113,502,246 in the United States and $191,502,246 worldwide, turning a significant profit against the $30 million production costs.[3]

In 2014, Den of Geek reported that the ownership issues surrounding the film (with domestic rights being handled by Paramount and foreign being held by Orion's successor-in-interest MGM), kept the film out of print overseas after its initial VHS release, and would not be resolved until 2013.[1] In 1993, McDonald's sold low-cost, exclusive VHS editions of The Addams Family and Wayne's World to coincide with the theatrical releases of Addams Family Values and Wayne's World 2, as part of an exclusive distribution deal with Paramount Home Entertainment.[13] Paramount Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in 2000; this release contained only two trailers as bonus features.[14] The movie was reissued in a double feature with Addams Family Values in 2006.[15] On September 9, 2014, Warner Home Video released the film on Blu-ray in the United States;[16] Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (under license from MGM) also released the film on Blu-Ray internationally. On October 1, 2019, Paramount Pictures released a double-feature Blu-ray of The Addams Family and Addams Family Values,[17] along with single releases of each film.

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 5.80/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The movie is peppered with amusing sight gags and one-liners, but the disjointed script doesn't cohere into a successful whole."[18][19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B.[21]

Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying it was mildly entertaining but did not add up to much.[22] Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader called the film a "collection of one-liners and not much more".[23] Variety magazine wrote, "Despite inspired casting and nifty visual trappings, the eagerly awaited Addams Family figures a major disappointment."[24][25] According to the BBC, "it is the top-notch cast that elevates this film from flimsy to sheer delight."[26]

The Addams Family was awarded Best Horror Film of the Year in 1991 by the Horror Hall of Fame. Carel Struycken appeared at the award ceremony to receive the award on behalf of the cast.[27] Huston was nominated for the 1992 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance as Morticia.[28] The film was nominated for an Academy Award for achievement in costume design.[29] The film won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song for the song "Addams Groove" by MC Hammer.[30]The film also won an award for Favorite Movie at 1992 Kids' Choice Awards.

A documentary, The Making of The Addams Family, was produced to promote the film in 1991.[31]

A game based on the film was released for various handheld and home computer platforms.[32]

The Addams Family pinball machine was a commercial arcade pinball machine made by Bally/Williams and was released in March 1992. It became the best selling pinball machine of all time, with more than 20,000 units sold.[33][34]