LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The last time "Basic Instinct" man-eater Catherine Tramell prowled the big screen, the studio erotic thriller was hitting box office heights. The first "Instinct" took the top spot when it debuted in 1992, with an opening weekend of $15.1 million, the equivalent of $20.45 million in today's dollars.
By comparison, "Basic Instinct 2" limped into 10th place upon its arrival this weekend, grossing just $3.2 million.
In the years between the two films, a string of high-profile flops, including MGM's "Body of Evidence," United Artists' "Showgirls" and Paramount Pictures' "Jade," have all contributed to the cooling off of the erotic thriller, a genre that had once sizzled at the box office.
Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million world-wide) as well as the widely ridiculed "Showgirls" (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.
"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."
Everything erotic has been "banned?"
That's going to shock the hell out of Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner.
As for Basic Instinct II flopping, maybe Mr. Verhoeven should consider that maybe Americans are tired of all the recycled nonsense Hollywood has been throwing at them of late. The last couple of years has been nothing but an endless stream of remakes (or "reimaginings," to use the Hollywood buzz term) and sequels. I think people are just tired of them, for the most part. There is much original or new coming out of Hollywood to get excited about. Basic Instinct II, a re-hashing of a movie that was a hit 14 years ago, just isn't going to bring a lot of people to the theater.
It seems astoundingly arrogant to suggest that your movie flopped because modern Americans are nothing but a bunch of prudes. Maybe if Verhoeven came up with something new we'd like it.