The Sound of Music is a 1965 musical drama film. Robert Wise directed the feature while Ernest Lehamn wrote the screenplay. The film is based on stage musical and also adapted from the 1949 memoir titled "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" by Maria von Trapp. It stars Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr and Eleanor Parker.
The Sound of Music won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film also gained the Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Actress, as well as the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical. Since its release, the film has become widely regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made. In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked The Sound of Music as the 55th greatest American film of all time and the fourth-greatest film musical.
Background: The film is based on Maria von Trapp's memoir "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers", published in 1949 to help promote her family’s singing group after the death of her husband, Georg, in 1947. Hollywood producers first showed interest in acquiring only the title, but Maria insisted that her full story be told. In 1956, German producer Wolfgang Liebeneiner purchased the film rights for $9,000 (equivalent to about $104,000 in 2024). He hired George Hurdalek and Herbert Reinecker to write the screenplay and Franz Grothe to oversee the soundtrack, which featured traditional Austrian folk songs. The resulting film "The Trapp Family" was released in West Germany on October 9, 1956, and became a huge success. Two years later, Liebeneiner directed a sequel, "The Trapp Family in America", and the two films became the most successful in post-war West Germany, gaining widespread popularity across Europe and South America.
In 1956, Paramount Pictures bought the U.S. film rights with plans for an English-language version starring Audrey Hepburn as Maria. However, the studio dropped the project, and director Vincent J. Donehue proposed it as a stage musical for Mary Martin. Producers Richard Halliday and Leland Heyward secured the rights and hired playwrights Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. They asked Rodgers and Hammerstein to write one song, but the composers offered to create an entirely new score if the producers waited for them to finish Flower Drum Song. The producers agreed, and the stage musical The Sound of Music opened on November 16, 1959, on Broadway, running for 1,443 performances and winning six Tony Awards. In June 1960, Twentieth Century-Fox bought the film rights for $1.25 million ($13.3 million in 2024).
Movie Release and Box Office: On March 2nd, 1965 the film was released in the United States. It eventually became one of the most commercially successful films of all time. Four weeks after its release, it was the top-grossing film in the U.S. and held the number-one spot for 30 of the next 43 weeks, finishing as the highest-grossing film of 1965. The film's success was fueled by repeat viewers, with ticket sales in some cities exceeding local populations. By January 1966, it had earned $20 million in distributor rentals from 140 U.S. and Canadian roadshow engagements. Globally, it broke box-office records in 29 countries, including the UK, where it ran for three years. While it was less successful in France and West Germany, it performed well in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. By November 1966, it surpassed Gone with the Wind to become the highest-grossing film of all time, with over $67.5 million in worldwide rentals. It remained in the U.S. box-office top ten for 100 weeks.
Source: Wikipedia
The Sound of Music won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film also gained the Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Actress, as well as the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical. Since its release, the film has become widely regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made. In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked The Sound of Music as the 55th greatest American film of all time and the fourth-greatest film musical.
Background: The film is based on Maria von Trapp's memoir "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers", published in 1949 to help promote her family’s singing group after the death of her husband, Georg, in 1947. Hollywood producers first showed interest in acquiring only the title, but Maria insisted that her full story be told. In 1956, German producer Wolfgang Liebeneiner purchased the film rights for $9,000 (equivalent to about $104,000 in 2024). He hired George Hurdalek and Herbert Reinecker to write the screenplay and Franz Grothe to oversee the soundtrack, which featured traditional Austrian folk songs. The resulting film "The Trapp Family" was released in West Germany on October 9, 1956, and became a huge success. Two years later, Liebeneiner directed a sequel, "The Trapp Family in America", and the two films became the most successful in post-war West Germany, gaining widespread popularity across Europe and South America.
In 1956, Paramount Pictures bought the U.S. film rights with plans for an English-language version starring Audrey Hepburn as Maria. However, the studio dropped the project, and director Vincent J. Donehue proposed it as a stage musical for Mary Martin. Producers Richard Halliday and Leland Heyward secured the rights and hired playwrights Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. They asked Rodgers and Hammerstein to write one song, but the composers offered to create an entirely new score if the producers waited for them to finish Flower Drum Song. The producers agreed, and the stage musical The Sound of Music opened on November 16, 1959, on Broadway, running for 1,443 performances and winning six Tony Awards. In June 1960, Twentieth Century-Fox bought the film rights for $1.25 million ($13.3 million in 2024).
Movie Release and Box Office: On March 2nd, 1965 the film was released in the United States. It eventually became one of the most commercially successful films of all time. Four weeks after its release, it was the top-grossing film in the U.S. and held the number-one spot for 30 of the next 43 weeks, finishing as the highest-grossing film of 1965. The film's success was fueled by repeat viewers, with ticket sales in some cities exceeding local populations. By January 1966, it had earned $20 million in distributor rentals from 140 U.S. and Canadian roadshow engagements. Globally, it broke box-office records in 29 countries, including the UK, where it ran for three years. While it was less successful in France and West Germany, it performed well in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. By November 1966, it surpassed Gone with the Wind to become the highest-grossing film of all time, with over $67.5 million in worldwide rentals. It remained in the U.S. box-office top ten for 100 weeks.
Source: Wikipedia
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