Graduation Day (1999 film)

Graduation Day is a 1999 teen drama film directed by Scott Winant and written by David Webber and Jason Stewart and Winnie Holzman. It was a continuation of the television show My So-Called Life and stars the same cast, taking place three years after the events of the final episode, focusing on how the family got graduated.

The film stars Bess Armstrong, Wilson Cruz, Claire Danes, Jared Leto, A.J. Langer and Tom Irwin. Graduation Day was produced by Bedford Falls Productions, Barry Mendel Productions and Caravan Pictures and it was released by Touchstone Pictures on April 16, 1999 to positive reviews, but underperformed at the box office.

Plot
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Cast
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Production
After My So-Called Life was cancelled by ABC in 1995, the series was left resolved on a cliffhanger. Up and coming screenwriters David Webber and Jason Stewart wrote a treatment for the film, along with the series' creator Winnie Holzman in 1996. The experience of Webber and Stewart came after the duo watch all 19 episodes of the show when it was on reruns on MTV, and both of them were members of the Operation Life Support fan campaign. The film was immediately pitched to Touchstone Pictures and hired Barry Mendel brought on board to produce along with Edward Zwick and Marshall Herkowitz, with Roger Birnbaum executive producing under the Caravan Pictures banner. Mendel would use the effect when Firefly was continued as a film called Serenity. Claire Danes was brought on board to cast. After the completion of Til There Was You, Scott Winant was asked to direct, but the offer was immediately accepted.

Filming began from April to July 1998 in Los Angeles. W.G. Snuffy Walden was hired to compose music for the film in the August of 1998.

Release
The film was originally slated for March 12, 1999, but it was bumped up a month to avoid competition with Baby Geniuses, The Corruptor, The Deep End of the Ocean, The Rage: Carrie 2 and Wing Commander.

Box office
Despite high anticipation, Graduation Day performed poorly at the box office. Although several pundits predicted a #1 opening, the film opened at #3 in the box office, which happened to be at the same day Universal's Life opened at the box office, taking in $13.2 million on its first weekend, spending two weeks in the top ten and closed on July 15, 1999 with a domestic box office gross of $32.5 million.

Graduation Day's international box office results were mixed, with strong openings in the UK, Portugal and Russia, but poor results in Spain, Australia, France and Italy. Buena Vista International cancelled the film's theatrical release in at least seven countries, planning to release it directly to video instead. The box office income outside of the United States was $17.4 million, with a worldwide total of $49.9 million, all over a $45 million budget.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 195 reviews, with an average rating of 8.0/10. The site's critical consensus states that: "Picking it from when it left off, Graduation Day is all about when our school is graduated in this fun movie.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average of 78 out of 100, based on reviews of 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.