Life stories

Call it the Bio Blitz. Over the next two months, a series of films purporting to summarize either part or all of someone’s life story will land in local movie theaters.

The attack began in full force Friday with the release of the heavily hyped “Ray,” starring Jamie Foxx as legendary musician Ray Charles. It will pretty much end in late December with “Beyond the Sea,” Kevin Spacey’s film about classy-but-not-so-legendary pop crooner Bobby Darin.

Sandwiched between those two will be at least four other high-profile biopics: “Finding Neverland” (“Peter Pan” author J.M. Barrie), “Kinsey” (sex researcher Alfred Kinsey), “Alexander” (Alexander the Great) and “The Aviator” (Howard Hughes).

“It’s amazing that so many are coming out at a given time,” says Gary Hoppenstand, who teaches popular culture at Michigan State.

The question is, why? Why so many biographies and why now?

“It’s just more of a coincidence than anything else,” says box office analyst Gitesh Pandya, president of Box Office Guru.com. “There just happens to be a lot of them at this time.”

Maybe, but Hoppenstand, who also edits the journal Popular Culture, thinks there’s more to it.

“The high-concept film has gone rather stale of late,” he says. “Its luster has gone away a little bit, and filmgoers are seeking a new type of film to go to.”

Whatever the reason, it can’t be based on a precedent of biography blockbusters. A quick glance at the top-earning 100 films in domestic box-office history shows only two biographies, and those focused on people who were far from famous.

The highest ranked – at No. 92, with about $170 million – is 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind,” about mathematician John Nash. Barely making it onto the list at 98, with about $165 million, is 2002’s “Catch Me If You Can,” about kid criminal Frank Abagnale Jr. Both films had major stars (Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio) and major directors (Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg), and both earned Oscar nominations.

(It would be a stretch to call this year’s “The Passion of the Christ” – No. 9 domestically with $390 million – a biopic, since it contains little to no biographical information.)

It’s little surprise then that, according to Pandya, expectations aren’t normally sky high when it comes to making money with a biography.

“Most biopics are a lot less expensive to make than your ‘Spider-Man’s‘ and your ‘Shrek’s,’ ” says Pandya. “On a cost basis they work in a different financial world.”

Biopics also have their own sets of concerns for artists and audiences. For the artist who wants to do a biography of a less famous person, pitching the film to a studio can be difficult.

Just ask Kevin Spacey, who stars as Darin in “Beyond the Sea” and directed the film as well. According to him, the fame of the person at the film’s center is irrelevant. It’s the story that counts.

“If you know who Bobby Darin is, great. If you don’t know who Bobby Darin is, great,” Spacey says. “For people who don’t know anything about Bobby, it’s a discovery, just like it’s a discovery if you go out and see a movie about a fictional character.”

That’s certain to be the hopes of the makers of “Finding Neverland” (how many people actually remember J.M. Barrie?) and, to a lesser extent, “Kinsey.”

But delivering more high-wattage characters, such as Howard Hughes in “The Aviator,” or historical figures, such as “Alexander,” comes with its own set of concerns.

“One problem with biopics is people come out thinking that’s the way it really was,” says MSU’s Hoppenstand, although Hollywood historically alters history for the benefit of the story. “People’s perception of history and reality comes from entertainment.”

Box office analyst Pandya says most biopics try to get it right, both for the record and for the prestige.

“For the most part, biopics are made for quality and not so much for commerce,” he says. “They try to get good directors and actors and honestly tell the story of someone’s life.”

Of course, if a few Oscars come through as a result, nobody’s going to complain.