OK, so it was a new franchise but Spy Who Shagged me just EXPLODED at the box office, whereas the first one was just a moderate success.
I was around at the time and never really understood it. I realise SWSM had the Madonna tie-in but how come it became so huge?
It was probably because the first one was so good but because it was an unknown entity when it first came out, a lot of people didn't see it until watching on video at some point. Then by the time the second came around, there were many more people who would be willing to see it in the theatres (that's for all you English folk out there).
shareAP did well in theatres, but it got a lot of it's exposure on home video. I never even heard of AP until it was on video. By the time AP2 came out, the popularity for AP from home video was so high that the sequel just dominated the box office.
shareLooking at what movies were coming out around May 2nd, 1997, "Volcano" and "Lost World: Jurassic Park" both came out right before and after AP, respectively, and both were pretty successful at the box office. So maybe that's why. Maybe people were saving their money for the action, special FX flicks.
For AP to make almost $70 mil at the box office, as a comedy, is pretty respectable. And with it came a craze that everyone from kids to older folk, and everyone in between. That craze carried over to AP 2. And AP 2 was built up into such an event, with great marketing, a killer soundtrack with big names (Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, R.E.M.) and music videos on MTV.
It's not like Mike Myers was on a roll with his movies, as if everyone was going to flock to watch AP 1 just because HE was in it. He had made the Wayne's Worlds, but it had been a few years since then.
In the end, I think that it takes wide-audience to make a comedy a blockbuster, and I'm not sure if enough people knew what to think of AP 1 for it to have a wide-audience.
AP1 was just one of those movies that didn't catch the buzz until word of mouth along with the new DVD format launched it into the stratosphere. Also, I don't think when AP1 looked appealing at all when it was originally released. The poster was kinda vague and in 97 when you thought of Mike Myers you thought of the lackluster 2nd Wayne's World and the failed So I Married an Aks Murderer.
By the time 1998 rolled around my friends started talking about how great AP1 was so I was a little late to the party. Actually I think it's very funny but possibly the weakest of the three. I'll also note the promotion for AP2 was HUGE and that practically guaranteed it would be a much bigger hit than AP1.
I don't there was much hype prior to the release of the first movie. But as word of much spread people started seeing it. Then it was one of the first really big DVD's. In may 1998 it was the highest selling DVD of all time. This gained a lot of buzz for the sequel and it had a huge marketing and promotional push leading up to its release. Plus then you had original and memorable new characters like Mini-Me and Fat Bastard, and smoking hot Heather Graham coming off of Boogie Nights.
And on top of all that, the 2nd movie is just better.