The 1988 film Scrooged was somewhat of a Christmas miracle as it actually was the film that brought lead actor Bill Murray back into the industry after he left acting for four years previous. Despite 1984 being the year be did Ghostbusters, it was also the year the release of his film The Razor's Edge which had made Murray feel "radioactive" and resulted in him avoiding making movies temporarily. He even had the opportunity to work on Scrooged over two years earlier but was enjoying his break from work. When he did feel a desire to return to acting, he felt "scripts were just not that good" and thus returned to the Scrooged project as he found the idea of making a funny Scrooge appealing. In making the movie, he considered himself "rusty" and described the success of Scrooged as a phenomenon that would forever be his biggest success.
Despite being away for four years, he even managed to get a $6 million paycheck for the film with producer Art Linson justifying the figure, saying that for each year Murray stayed away from films, his audience draw and therefore fee potentially increased. Linson also added that, at the time, aside from Eddie Murphy, Murray's was the only other name that could draw $10 million of tickets in the opening three to four days. He's not wrong as Scrooged managed to make three times it's $32 million budget, solidifying that while Murray perhaps was away for a little, he was indeed missed dearly by the audience. Stay tuned!
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