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Suitable for the summer holidays Paramount released "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" in July 1966. In the US and Canada it generated rental fees of 2.5 million USD, so we can assume the box office was 5 million USD. Today (when using the factor of 15) there would have been ticket sales of 75 million USD and rental fees of 37.5 million USD. This was a considerable drop from what the average Presley movie had made until 1965 and to make it worse, it was the second movie in a row that failed to meet the expectations.
In Germany the movie was released on December 23, 1966 and was entitled "Suedsee Paradies". The translation is "South Pacific Paradise".
Rick Richards (Elvis) is a pilot without a job. He returns to Hawaii to start a helicopter service with his buddy Danny. But he looses his licence and can't keep up the business. When Danny gets in danger, Rick nevertheless uses the helicopter to find him.
Hal B. Wallis (producer), Michael Moore (director), Allan Weiss und Anthony Lawrence (script, based on a story by Allan Weiss), Joseph J. Lilley (music), W. Wallace Keley (camera), Warren Low (editor).
Elvis Presley (Rick Richards), Suzanna Leigh (Judy Hudson), James Shigeta (Danny Kohana), Donna Butterworth (Jan Kohana), Marianna Hill (Lani), Irene Tsu (Pua), Linda Wong (Lehua) und Julie Parrish (Joanna). The German voice of Elvis was dubbed by Rainer Brandt.
The dreadful contract from 1956 ended with "Paradise, Hawaiian Style". While MGM was paying him $750,000 plus a profit share of 40% Elvis had to make this movie for a lousy $200,000 and no share in the profits. The king and his manager also received a bonus of $45,000 each, but that didn't make the situation any better.
The budget of "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" was 2 million USD, the production went from August 7th to September 30th, 1965. Paramount wanted the singer Petula Clak to play the leading lady, but she refused the offer and so the part went to Suzanna Leigh. Hal B. Wallis used the same ingredients as for "Blue Hawaii", "Girls! Girls! Girls!" and "Fun In Acapulco". Bright beaches, beautiful girls, romance, a fight, a cute child and lots of songs. He also added some great aerial views of the islands.
Once again the producer wasn't happy about Elvis' appearance. He still looked somewhat chubby and didn't appear to be motivated at all. Colonel Parker also restricted the use of the promo photos and decided to put a picture from "Fun In Acapulco" on the album cover.
A month before the movie was released RCA Victor issued the soundtrack album. In the Billboard Charts it reached number 15 and sold 2.5 million copies. A tap on the cover leads to the review.
Back in 2007 Paramount included "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" in their "Elvis - 8 Movies DVD Collection". For a short review just tap on the cover.
It all may have looked good on paper, but the production lacked drive, the pricipal actor looked chubby and the best songs were mediocre. Besides that, in 1966 a movie like "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" appeared to have fallen out of time.
Movie Posters (C) Paramount, DVD Cover (C) Paramount, Record Cover (C) RCA Victor