Scientifically Accurate Movies and Profits

Contact didn't do badly. It earned $171 million worldwide, nearly doubling the ^90-million production budget. But it was also competing with two o considerably more brainless alien-related sci-fi movies, 1997's Men h in Black and 1996's Independence Day, both of which made a great at deal more money ($589 million and $817 million, respectively). And that unfavorable U financial comparison, more than 1 anything else, dramatizes the incredible challenge science faces in Hollywood. If films that strive ^e to balance scientific plausibility with a compelling story line don't succeed at the box office, the road will be tougher tor future efforts. Luckily, scientific stinkers don't necessarily make the biggest fortunes, either. When you compare two dueling volcano movies, the more plausible Dante's Peak and the much less scientifically serious Volcano, the former did more b business ($178 million worldwide) than the latter ($122 million worldwide).

Contact didn't do well compared to other, less-scientific films of the summer, but Dante's Peak did better than Volcano.