Spice World is a 1997 British musical comedy film directed by Bob Spiers and written by Kim Fuller. The film stars pop girl group the Spice Girls, who all play themselves. The film — made in a similar vein to the Beatles' 1964 film A Hard Day's Night — depicts a series of fictional events leading up to a major concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, liberally interspersed with dream sequences and flashbacks as well as surreal moments and humorous asides, whilst also including a subplot dealing with a smear campaign against the Spice Girls by an overzealous newspaper CEO in an attempt to destroy their reputation for his own benefit.
This is the second feature-length film directed by Spiers, following That Darn Cat (1997). The film features Richard E. Grant, Alan Cumming, George Wendt, Claire Rushbrook, Mark McKinney and Roger Moore in supporting roles, with cameo appearances by a number of British celebrities. Filming took place in London for six of the eight filming weeks and also inside Twickenham Studios, as well as at over forty famous British landmarks. Shooting featured several fourteen-hour shooting sessions and a constant, heavy media presence due to the Spice Girls' popularity.
The film premiered in the United Kingdom on 15 December 1997, ahead of its wide theatrical release on the British holiday Boxing Day (26 December). In North America, it was released on 23 January 1998 by Columbia Pictures. In the United States, Spice World became a box office success and broke the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl weekend with box office sales of $10.5 million. The film grossed $56 million at the worldwide box office and received primarily negative reviews for its lack of cohesive plot, poor acting performances and uninspired humour.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2017, Spice World was given a limited re-release across the United Kingdom showing at Odeon Cinemas. Spice World is the highest-grossing film of all time by a musical group. It has arguably achieved cult status.
Plot The Spice Girls perform on Top of the Pops (“Too Much”) and then are quickly ushered back to their tour bus by their manager Clifford. They blow right past Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth and his crew, who are trying to make a documentary about them, and navigate throngs of fans (“Do It”). The girls rehearse (“Say You’ll Be There”) and spend time with their pregnant friend Nicola, which leads to them speculating about what they will be like when they become mothers (“Mama”). Piers tries to convince Clifford and his assistant Deborah to let him film the girls for his documentary.
Meanwhile, newspaper owner Kevin McMaxford, sick of The Spice Girls dominating all the headlines, hatches a plan to ruin their reputation, and movie executives Martin and Graydon pitch ridiculous screenplay ideas to Clifford (“Denying”). After arguing about being stereotyped, the girls branch out during a photo shoot and impersonate each other (“Saturday Night Divas”).
The girls go to a publicity party (“Stop” and “2 Become 1”) where an investigator hired by McMaxford, Damien, takes a comment by Geri out of context to create a scandalous headline. After a performance in Milan (“I’m the Leader of the Gang”), they return to England to find that the toilets on the bus have failed. When they venture into the woods to relieve themselves, they meet a group of aliens who ask for their autographs. Clifford, thinking they were hallucinating because they are overworked, tries to get his boss, the mysterious Chief, to let the girls have time off. He refuses as their biggest gig yet, a performance at Albert Hall, is coming up.
The girls are sent to dance teacher Mr. Step to learn new choreography and participate in conditioning drills (“Never Give Up On the Good Times” and “Sound Off”). Damien sneaks into the estate they are staying in, and overhears the girls discussing nightmares about their big Albert Hall performance going wrong. Clifford is irate upon seeing McMaxford’s headline about this, but the girls are nonchalant.
The girls host two fan contest winners aboard their bus. Fed up with being cooped up, they flee the bus at a red light and hop onto a speedboat (“My Boy Lollipop”). Both young contest winners, Mel C, and Victoria all end up in the water, as does Piers, who was following closely. Damien was also nearby to alert McMaxford, who prints another headline.
Clifford confronts the girls about their behavior the night before the Albert Hall show. They all storm out separately and reminisce about the beginning of their career (“Wannabe”). Eventually they come together at the cafe they used to practice in (“Viva Forever”), and decide that they need to spend more time with Nicola before her baby is born. They bring her to a dance club (“Who Do You Think You Are”) where her water breaks.
As Nicola gives birth to a baby girl, Martin and Graydon pitch another movie idea to Clifford, which unfolds as they tell it: the girls, unable to find their bus driver, commandeer the bus themselves and speed through London to Albert Hall, with Victoria at the wheel, passing landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, and Big Ben. They also discover a bomb beneath the bus.
The girls arrive right on time, and Emma uses her smile to get the police officers to let them go without getting arrested for reckless driving. The girls get ready in a hurry and perform for the waiting crowd (“Spice Up Your Life”). The show is broadcast live and the world dances along, including Chief, the green aliens, Nicola and her baby girl, Clifford, Deborah, Martin, and Graydon.
During the credits, various cast members discuss their roles with Martin and Graydon, as though they are about to create the movie they pitched to Clifford. The girls talk to the audience and the bomb on the bus explodes before the rest of the credits roll (“The Lady is a Vamp”).
Cast
Production Development
As the popularity of the Spice Girls grew, The Walt Disney Company approached the band about making a film. The band turned down Disney's offer as they did not like the "Disney-fied" script, which was about "a young single mother of one of the girls, fighting hardship to form the band." Kim Fuller, brother of the band's manager Simon Fuller, decided to write the screenplay for a Spice Girls movie himself.
According to Fuller, the script had to be revised many times to accommodate the growing number of celebrities hoping to take part in the film. Director Bob Spiers had been working in America on the Disney film That Darn Cat at the peak of the Girls' popularity. He was unaware of the group when first offered the job until his friend Jennifer Saunders advised that he take it. He arrived at a meeting with them in a New York hotel, unaware of what they looked like.Bob Spiers and Stacey Adair, Joking Apart, Series 2 Episode 2, DVD audio commentary, replaydvd.co.uk
Casting Frank Bruno was originally cast as the tour bus driver, but withdrew after a security guard prevented his son Franklin having an on-set photo taken with the girls. Mentions of Princess Diana and scenes featuring the designer Gianni Versace had to be edited out in post-production following their deaths shortly before the release of the film.
"Their company rang me up and asked if I would be in it", remarked Elvis Costello of his cameo appearance. "I wouldn't have thought I was the kind of face you would get to do a cornflakes advert. Maybe twenty years ago. I was surprised."
Gary Glitter references Glam rock singer Gary Glitter filmed a four-minute cameo as himself, but shortly before release, he was arrested on child pornography offences. The Spice Girls and the production team agreed that his cameo should be deleted from the final print, although the band's performance of Glitter's "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)" was retained. Glitter's scene has since been leaked online.
Filming Spice World began filming in June and wrapped in August 1997. The film was to be set to the songs from the Girls' second studio album, but no songs had been written when filming began. The band thus had to do all the songwriting and recording at the same time as they were filming Spice World.
Music An official motion picture soundtrack was not released. Their second studio album, Spiceworld (1997), was heavily promoted and served as the film's soundtrack. The only song from Spiceworld not to appear in the film is "Move Over". The songs appearing in the film are in order of appearance.
"Too Much" was released in part to promote the film, and debuted atop the UK Singles Chart, becoming the Spice Girls' second consecutive Christmas number-one single. It made the group the first act to reach number one with their first six singles, and the first to debut atop the chart five times in a row. The single spent two weeks at number one, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 9 January 1998.
Spice Girls - "Too Much" (Opening sequence) Spice Girls - "Do It" Spice Girls - "Say You'll Be There (Concert Version)" Spice Girls - "Mama" Spice Girls - "Denying" Spice Girls - "Saturday Night Divas" Spice Girls - "Stop" Spice Girls - "2 Become 1" Spice Girls - "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)" Spice Girls - "Never Give Up on the Good Times" Spice Girls - "Sound Off" Millie Small - "My Boy Lollipop" Spice Girls - "Viva Forever" Spice Girls - "Wannabe (Demo Version)" Spice Girls - "Who Do You Think You Are (Morales Club Mix)" Spice Girls - "Spice Up Your Life" Spice Girls - "The Lady Is a Vamp" (Closing titles)
Release Rating In the United Kingdom, Spice World was granted a PG certificate by the British Board of Film Classification for "mild bad language, mild sex references". In the United States, it received a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association for "some vulgarity, brief nudity and language".
Merchandising Official toy versions of the Spice Bus were produced upon the release of the film.
Home media The film was released on VHS in May 1998 in many regions including the UK, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia. In June 1998, it came out on VHS in the US and Canada. Despite concerns that the high-profile departure of Halliwell from the Spice Girls would affect sales, global demand for the VHS was high. In the UK, the film was number one on the video charts for six consecutive weeks,Official Video Chart Top 100: 31 May 1998 – 11 July 1998. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 February 2017. was certified 11× Platinum, and became the ninth best-selling video of 1998.End of Year Video Chart Top 100 - 1998. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 February 2017. In the US, the film peaked at number one on the video charts for five consecutive weeks
and was the fifth best-selling video of 1998.
Spice World: The 10th Anniversary Edition was released on DVD on 19 November 2007 in the United Kingdom and Australia and on 27 November 2007 in the United States.
Spice World: The 20th Anniversary Edition was released on DVD on 7 February 2018 in Australia.
2017 re-release In 2017, the film was screened at various cinemas in the UK, Ireland and Australia to mark its 20th anniversary.
Reception Box office