Movies - TV
John Goodman Begged Steven Spielberg To Save Him From The Flintstones
By SANDY SCHAEFER
Despite unflattering critical responses, 1994’s “The Flintstones” was a huge box office hit, making over $358 million against a $45 million budget.
This meant Universal Pictures was eager to make sequels to the Steven Spielberg-produced film much to its star John Goodman’s distress.
The plan was to do back-to-back sequels, but thankfully it didn’t happen because it’s hard to film 1998’s “The Big Lebowski” without Goodman’s Walter Sobchak.
In an interview with Total Film magazine, director Brian Levant said “He (Goodman) made an appointment with Spielberg and said, ‘Please don't make me do any more of these.’”
One suspects Goodman wasn't alone in feeling that way, considering none of the original “Flintstones” movie cast returned for 2000s “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.”
The sequel fared better critically but by that point, audiences had moved on and the movie only grossed $59 million on a $58 million budget.