20 Things You Didn't Know About Raising Arizona
18. The Coens Made It Because They Needed A Commercial Hit
Rarely do filmmakers admit to "selling out", but the Coen brothers haven't shied away from the fact that Raising Arizona was made to be a financial success.
Following their serious outing with Blood Simple three years previously, the directors had established themselves as ones to watch. However, their grand ideas didn't quite match up with what studios were willing to finance, and their initial plan to make The Hudsucker Proxy - eventually made in 1994 - was too expensive with a $40 million budget.
Raising Arizona was made on a relative microbudget in comparison, costing an estimated $6 million with a healthy $29 million return at the box office. The brothers knew it had much more mass appeal than both Blood Simple and The Hudsucker Proxy.
When The Hudsucker Proxy gained financing after a few more critical successes, it was released to mixed reviews and awful box office receipts. If the brothers had bombed out with a $40 million price tag on only their second film, we might not have seen much more of them.