It’s a Wonderful Life is arguably the Christmas classic to end all Christmas classics, but it didn’t start that way. When the film first premiered in 1946, it only made $3.3 million in the box office, which barely covered its production costs.
The film focuses on the young George Bailey, a man who has wanted nothing more since childhood than to see the world and get out of his crummy hometown. Every time he gets his chance to finally see the world, something else demands his attention.
At the climax of the film, Bailey is close to losing his business. When he wishes he was never born, he is saved by his guardian angel who shows him a world where he never existed. This leads George to the heart-warming epiphany we are all familiar with, and the scene where he reunites with his family that brings people worldwide to tears every year.
Despite its lineup of talented actors, and the fame of Oscar-winning director Frank Capra, the film wasn’t very successful on its initial release.
In fact, it spent its first couple decades regarded as a failure, and even as the end of Capra’s best era of filmmaking. It was only when the film slipped into public domain due to a failure to renew its copyright that it really started to gain traction.
It began airing on television as a Christmas film in 1976, something Capra himself hadn’t anticipated. Despite the majority of the film’s second half taking place on Christmas eve, Capra hadn’t considered it a Christmas film.
In fact, during the film’s production, extraneous religious references were removed due to a belief that they took away from the overall message of the film.
Even though it wasn’t what he originally intended, Capra was delighted that the film took on something of a life of its own, spawning sequels and spinoffs decades after its release, and even into today.
As a Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life has entered into the hearts and homes of millions worldwide. Much like the central George Bailey, if the film had never been made, the world would be a worse place to be.
