Posted on 11/11/2019 11:06:24 AM PST by EdnaMode
One week after “Motherless Brooklyn” disappointed the box office, Warner Bros. has yet another flop in the form of “Doctor Sleep.” The Mike Flanagan-directed horror film based on Stephen King’s “The Shining” sequel was tracking for a debut in the $25 million range, but its opening weekend came in well below that mark with a dismal $14 million total. While “Doctor Sleep’s” $50 million production is a saving grace, Deadline reports the film is expected to lose between $20 million and $30 million for Warner Bros.
“Doctor Sleep” now joins “The Goldfinch,” “Gemini Man,” and “Terminator: Dark Fate” as one of the fall’s big studio tentpole flops, but that’s not how King wants it to be remembered.
Amidst headlines over the weekend bringing attention to “Doctor Sleep” bombing at the box office, King took to social media to share a defense of the film. Author Matt Serafini encouraged “Doctor Sleep” admirers to share positive thoughts online to drown out the negativity of the movie’s box office.
“If you liked ‘Doctor Sleep don’t spend the weekend moping over box office,” Serafini wrote. “Talk about the film, what you dug, and inspire others to check it out. Let your championship be meaningful that way. Don’t let everyone’s hard work be immediately reduced to and defined by numbers.” King shared Serafini’s opinion with his own 5.5 million followers, adding, “Agree. It’s a terrific movie. Take a friend and dig the vibe.”
King was originally hesitant to allow Flanagan to direct “Doctor Sleep.” The filmmaker’s pitch was to adapt King’s novel while including some of the iconography made famous in Stanley’s Kubrick’s “The Shining” film adaptation. King has never supported Kubrick’s film, so he was understandably cagey about letting Flanagan recreate Kubrick’s version of settings like the Overlook Hotel. Not only did the two find common ground for the film to move forward, but King has since become a champion of “Doctor Sleep.”
King continued to champion “Doctor Sleep” in the wake of the box office numbers by tweeting, “I mostly write books and hope for the best. Box office numbers aside, Mike Flanagan’s film is excellent. If people choose not to go, that is their choice, but when something is good, I cheer for it.”
“Doctor Sleep” is the year’s third high profile Stephen King film following “Pet Sematary” and “It Chapter Two.” The film is now playing in theaters nationwide.
Mine too!
It really shows how easily people can be manipulated by power and things and totally forget about what is important in life.
I read Doctor Sleep and enjoyed it.
The problem is that it’s not playing anywhere near me!
Midway only made 3 million more dollars than Doctor Sleep, and cost 14 million more to make. So no, it’s not a hit, and will also loose fat cash. It’s #1, but that’s a curve to grade on.
The TV Show Castle Rock on Hulu is pretty good. At least I think season 2 is better than season 1. Season 2 is loosely based on a modernization of the Kathy Bates character from “Misery”.
I also liked Misery btw.
While the pro-America Midway is a box office hit.
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Supply and demand. We have been done to death with “liberal propaganda disguised as “art”. We are thirsty for reality based content because our eyes have been opened. We now understand that “liberal art” is really just advancing their political agenda to people they feel are nothing but useful idiots. Get woke go broke!
He’ll now have to reduce his cocaine intake.
He either suffers from TDS or he’s been blackmailed to act like one.
King wrote “The Body” which was made into “Stand By Me”. The movie was better than the book.
I agree that “The Stand” was outstanding. The made for TV movie was pretty good too.
I read “The Shining”...meh.
I saw this weekend.
Thought it was pretty good.
Not as scary as the Shining.
Hollyweird ought to give me 15 bucks to go to a movie to see the crap they produce. They get jack from me.
He got paid, he doesn’t care.
I have always enjoyed “The Stand”.
As far as apocalyptic dystopian movies go, I enjoyed it.
The entire opening credits with Blue Oyster Cult “Don’t Fear The Reaper” playing is damn good, with all the lab workers dead by some biological agent they were developing.
I liked it. Loved “The Shining”.
The last thing of his I read was “11/22/63”. I won’t touch his work with a ten foot pole now.
Screw King. Go see the new MIDWAY. It was amazing on several levels. One, being so male centric in this age of the Strutting Rooster Girl. There was no compensating BadAssGirl ANYWHERE in the film. People did their jobs as what they were as they wished that the conflict didnt have to be.
My 9 yr old son kept turning to me,and saying THAT didn’t REALLY happen!? I said “THAT and a hell of a lot worse happened every day for 4 years” He was gob smacked.
The Stand was a spectacular mini-series. Spine chilling. The best of King by far. The Shining and Pet Sematary (the first) were the only King movies that I thought very entertaining.
I saw that and have no memory of what it was about.
But it was the same with Mr. Mercedes and it didn't take me too long to get caught up in the second season.
I remember what Under the Dome was about - it's all there in the title - but wish I didn't and can't believe I wasted so much time watching it.
One failure isn't going to kill Stephen King. I will probably watch the new one on video.
Also, The Goldfinch (not by him). "Failure" at the box office doesn't necessarily mean a picture wasn't worth making or seeing.
lol - oh yes - everybody climb aboard and tell us about your "amazing" "journey"...soft-boiled girly claptrap.
Don't drink diet soda. More scary than IT
Also, apparently the movie theaters don't make any money from the ticket sales and their main source of revenue is from concessions so maybe the ticket prices don't have a lot of margin and cannot be discounted and made affordable for lower cost streaming.
I haven’t been to a theater OR streamed (or purchased, rented, borrowed) a film in more like 25 years. But might actually go to ‘Ford vs. Ferrari’ or whatever it is.
Not King. The movie-makers. And no, I don’t think they are going broke because of one stinker. But a whole string of them? Not exactly a career-enhancer.
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