Trivia / Gone Fishin'

• Box Office Bomb: Made nearly $20 million on a $53 million budget, having lost its thunder to the hotly-anticipated The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
• Channel Hop: The film was intended to be released through Walt Disney Pictures at first, but they later got cold feet and switched it to the Hollywood Pictures banner instead.
• The Danza: Joe Pesci as Joe Waters.
• Direct to Video: After bombing at the U.S. box office, the film went straight to video in the UK in 1998.
• Fatal Method Acting: Stuntwoman Janet Peters Wilder was crushed to death by a boat while shooting.
• Money, Dear Boy: Danny Glover admitted to doing this film purely for the money.
• Production Lead Time: Joe and Gus watch an episode of Jeopardy! that uses the 1991-1996 grid set. By the time the movie was released, Jeopardy! had changed to the "sushi bar" set.
• Troubled Production: The film had a couple of problems from the beginning. It was originally intended as a vehicle for both John Candy and Rick Moranis in the early 1990s, but both turned it down. It went into turnaround until 1995 when Joe Pesci and Danny Glover, who had worked together in Lethal Weapon 2 and 3 signed on. The movie was originally directed by John G. Avildsen, but he was fired after just two weeks of filming, which he immediately paid his $2 million salary, and was replaced by Christopher Cain. In the middle of the shoot, a stuntwoman died when a boat that was made to jump a ramp in one of the film's scenes landed on top of her, while her husband and father-in-law were also injured. It went overbudget to a total of $53 million and was delayed for over a year when Disney, which was the original distributor for the film, had it switched to their Hollywood Pictures label. The film was released in late May 1997, where it died a quick death at the box office and earned a savaging from critics.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The movie was originally considered to have John Candy and Rick Moranis as Gus and Joe respectively.
  • John Travolta was also considered to play one of the lead roles while Steve Miner was going to direct.
  • John G. Avildsen was originally set to direct the film, but was fired after two weeks of filming, paid his $2 million salary, and replaced by Christopher Cain.

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