Columbia Pictures, led by the ambitious Frank Price, acquired the rights for a then-staggering $9.5 million. The budget would eventually balloon to over $50 million (over $150 million today), making it one of the most expensive musicals ever produced at the time. The pressure was immense.
Annie opened on May 21, 1982, to a critical drubbing. The New York Times called it "a loud, long, expensive sigh." Roger Ebert gave it two stars, saying it "lacks the energy of the stage version." Critics derided the film as too long (127 minutes), too sentimental, and oddly flat. John Huston was accused of being asleep at the wheel. Film Annie 1982
The 1982 Annie is a fascinating Hollywood artifact: a movie that survived fire, studio meddling, a director who didn’t like musicals, and savage reviews—only to be adopted by millions of children who simply believed in a hard-knock life getting better tomorrow. It’s not a perfect film. But like its heroine, it’s scrappy, big-hearted, and refuses to be sent to the cellar. Columbia Pictures, led by the ambitious Frank Price,
The entire film was shot on massive soundstages at Culver Studios in California, including a full-scale, working replica of the New York City subway and a 200-foot-long ramp simulating the staircase of the Hoover Dam. The centerpiece was the Warbucks mansion—a 40-foot-high Art Deco masterpiece that took four months to build. On the third day of shooting, a fire broke out in the set’s electrical system. In minutes, the entire $400,000 mansion burned to the ground. Huston, famously unflappable, simply said, “Well, we’ll build it again.” They did, but the fire cost millions and weeks of delay. Annie opened on May 21, 1982, to a critical drubbing
Production was a war of wills. John Huston, in failing health and more interested in chess and cigars, often left the day-to-day directing to others. The choreographer, Arlene Phillips, fought to keep the dance numbers sharp. But the biggest chaos came from the set itself.
And yet, audiences didn't care.