For some historic context, “Dances With Wolves” was not solely an Oscar-winner, nevertheless it was additionally a large field workplace success, taking in $424 million worldwide. That led to Costner starring in a string of hits all through the early ’90s, together with “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “JFK,” and “The Bodyguard.” The one actual blemish on his file on the time was the nightmarish manufacturing of “Waterworld,” which turned a extremely publicized catastrophe. By and enormous, although, Costner was on the prime of his recreation.
By the point Costner obtained concerned, growth on a movie adaptation of “The Postman” had stalled out after years of little motion. (Brin, because it have been, had initially envisioned Costner taking part in the lead character after seeing “Area of Goals.”) As fortune had it, nevertheless, Costner not solely signed on to star, however to additionally take over the director’s chair as effectively. As his second flip on the helm, all eyes have been on the movie. Brin, writing in his private weblog, defined that Costner threw out the sooner draft of the script that had been penned by Erik Roth:
“Kevin Costner got here aboard, bringing all his may and status to the venture. Although I used to be by no means consulted, he nonetheless agreed with my very own impression — that an evil, incoherent and rapacious central character could be a nasty concept! Instinctively realizing that the story should be about decency, heroism and hope, he threw out all of the dismal outdated drafts and employed Brian Helgeland, esteemed screenwriter of ‘LA Confidential.'”
Warner Bros. funded and distributed “The Postman,” with the movie costing a hefty $80 million to make earlier than accounting for advertising (or north of $150 million in right now’s {dollars} when adjusted for inflation). That is superhero film cash. Sadly for WB and Costner, it did not gross superhero film cash on the field workplace, nor have been critics on the movie’s facet.
Certainly, “The Postman” carries a really brutal 17% approval score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. “A large miscalculation in self-mythologizing by director and star Kevin Costner, ‘The Postman’ would make for a goofy good time if it weren’t so fatally self-serious,” to cite the web site’s vital consensus. To make issues worse, the movie additionally got here out only one week after “Titanic,” which was on a record-breaking run on the field workplace. It spelled catastrophe, with Costner’s expensive adaptation taking in precisely over $20 million globally.