海角大神

On June 7, director Joss Whedon鈥檚 take on the Shakespeare comedy 鈥淢uch Ado About Nothing鈥� will come to theaters. Mr. Whedon may be the box office king after helming the highest-grossing movie of 2012, 鈥淭he Aven颅gers,鈥� but can he break the streak of Bard-based films that have bombed at the box office?

Many efforts to convert Shakespeare鈥檚 plays into movies in the past two decades have been critically lauded but largely avoided by audiences. The most recent, Ralph Fiennes鈥檚 2011 adaptation of 鈥淐oriolanus,鈥� was overwhelmingly well received by critics but didn鈥檛 even crack $1 million in ticket sales. Kenneth Branagh鈥檚 1996 鈥淗amlet鈥� is often called the best film adaptation of that play ever, but it earned less than $5 million domestically.

One of the last Shakespeare movies to use the Bard鈥檚 original script, and which also raked in box office gold, was Mr. Bran颅agh鈥檚 take on 鈥淢uch Ado About Nothing,鈥� but that was 20 years ago. Meanwhile, Baz Luhrmann鈥檚 1996 film 鈥淲illiam Shakespeare鈥檚 Romeo + Juliet,鈥� also a box office hit, had the characters speak the original dialogue but updated the action to 1990s California.

Many of the Shakespeare movies that have succeeded since then are the ones that took a cue from Mr. Luhrmann and adapted the classics even more loosely, often losing Shakespeare鈥檚 dated dialogue. Both 鈥�10 Things I Hate About You鈥� (1999), a contemporary update of 鈥淭he Taming of the Shrew,鈥� and 鈥淪he鈥檚 the Man鈥� (2006), a modern spin on 鈥淭welfth Night,鈥� were box office successes.

So is bringing Shakespeare into the present 鈥� and losing the clunky language 鈥� the only way to make money? (For the record, Whedon鈥檚 鈥淢uch Ado鈥� is set in modern day but uses the original script.)

Mark Wunderlich, literature faculty member and Shakespeare teacher at Bennington (Vt.) College, says the Elizabethan way of speaking could be one of the biggest reasons adaptations flounder at the box office.

鈥淢ostly it is the language barrier that people are afraid of,鈥� he says.

Adaptations should take chances with Shakespeare鈥檚 stories to keep the already short attention spans of audiences engaged, says Mr. Wunderlich, who points to 鈥淩omeo + Juliet鈥� as a success story.

鈥淭hat one captured something of the populist spirit of those plays,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he reason we still read Shakespeare today is that it鈥檚 a living piece of art and not a museum piece.鈥�