Posted on 12/17/2005 11:10:22 AM PST by dangus
A gross of $11,000 per screen is quite good. If you're an autumn Wide Release, opening on 3500 screens across the country. When a movie opens on only 69 of the nation's largest theaters in a few dozen of the largest cities, with almost all of your target audience within range of those theaters, it's pretty bad.
Brokeback Mountain played in fourteen times more theaters this Friday than last Friday, and made less than four times as much money, only $760,000. It looks like the movie will make considerably less than its $15 million budget before the Academy Awards come out. How many tens of millions of dollars in free promotion, reduced pay and credibility were spent on this film?
King Kong also appears to be a flop. I've seen this movie: Peter Jackson has mastered many movie-making techniques with the Lord of the Rings, and the movie is an amazing spectacle with much positive and true to say about human nature. But Jackson did not learn how to discipline his budgeting or story-telling. His movie is also bloated, over-long, too violent, very horrific and a bit tooo preposterous.
The early part of the movie centers around a movie director too obsessed with his story, prone to overkill, and swindling a movie company out of far more than they would have been willing to spend. Given that actor Jack Black even slightly resembles Peter Jackson, I can't help but to wonder if how consciously auto-biographical the film is. It will make many, many, many times more than Brokeback Mountain, and still become known as a flop. I sincerely hope Peter Jackson learns the right things from the experience; he is very talented, very passionate, and, from the messages of his movies, very decent. King Kong made $14 million last night... It will probably easily pass $100 million, but land short of its $200 million budget. On the other hand, it is precisely the sort of movie that translates well overseas, and does well on DVD. But it will not be the Box Office savior hoped for.
Chronicles of Narnia will apparently need a rebound in the Christmas vacations to be profitable. Except for a literally rushed ending, it's almost perfect, a purely magical delight. But it seems to have very weak legs; it's not surprising since everyone who wanted to see this movie knew they did so a long time ago, and most rushed out to see it immediately. Today's movie markets don't allow for the sort of excellent word of mouth that Narnia is getting.
That word of mouth means probably good DVD sales, and strong anticipation of a sequel, so Narnia's Box Office is by no means a failure... just it'll take some time to become profitable. Narnia sold about $9 million worth of tickets, down over 60% from last Friday.
But there doesn't seem to be any great challenger to Narnia for the Holiday season. The Family Stone opened weak ($4 million), Harry Potter is mostly played out ($1.5 million), as are Walk the Line ($1 million) and Yours Mine and Ours (under $1 million) Syriana also fell hard, too... ($1.6 million).
Don't look for any saviors at the box office next week either... Cheaper by the Dozen 2, Fun with Dick and Jane, The Ringer, and Rumor Has It all open, but none look too strong
BAAAAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Did they really think a movie that appeals to such a small proportion of the population would do well?
I haven't seen it ... maybe it's a good story, but the press for this film is stuck on the fact that there are gays in it ... so that's what people are going to think about it; it's a gay cowboy movie.
I can't say I'm surprised that King Kong isn't doing as well as some people thought. It's good, but Lord of The Rings it ain't. And if the producers expected it to be as successful just because of Peter Jackson they need to come back to reality.
You missed a "U." It's:
BUAAAAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Just as the large majority reject Gay Marriage so will they reject this crap and, IMO, that is just as it should be.
And I'm going to see Lion, Witch and Wardrobe tomorrow. What a great story!
And yes, Lewis explicitly state it was NOT allegory. What he meant was that Aslan LITERALLY WAS CHRIST in the film, not just a Christ-like figure. His idea was about what it would be like if Christ had to save a world like Narnia that was populated by talking animals instead of humans. In that case, he would come to the world as an animal instead of a man.
That was the idea, and so it's not technically allegory, but I'm probably just splitting hairs.
They aren't cowboys eithers. They herd sheep. They are shepards.
What he meant was that Aslan LITERALLY WAS CHRIST in the film, not just a Christ-like figure
You can't mean that. If it wasn't an allegory, then it either wasn't intended to a have religious theme or Christ really was a lion.
I suggest another crappy remake of a TV show that no one watched. That will certainly resurrect Hollywood.
Ahhh-but Butch is sure it will garner it's appropriate awards at the gay film festival. LOL
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Domestic Total as of Dec. 16, 2005: $1,726,000 (Estimate)
Distributor: Focus Features Release Date: December 9, 2005
Running Time: 2 hrs. 14 min. Production Budget: $14 million
MPAA Rating: R Marketing:$7 million
I thought Kong was thoroughly entertaining - this is one ass-kicking ape, plus I agree with Kong - Naomi Watts is worth going on a rampage for..
"BAAAAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Speak for yourself. Personally, I think millions of men are just itching to see Bareback Mountain, it will justify all of the hype Hollywood has put into, just wait. Waiting. Still waiting.
Nothing more appealing to American men than gay cowboys, for sure. At least, that's what the backers of this film must have been told. And it will win an Oscar!
You bad, stop that!
.........and a bit tooo preposterous. Really, I'm shocked!
I guess we won't be seeing too many gay cowboy movies in the future.
We saw the latest Harry Potter last week. It was late in the run, but the theater was almost empty.
It was good, but not nearly as good IMHO as the earlier ones. A bit too dark and bleak. Even the scenery around the school was darker. Maybe that was deliberate, but I think it's a mistake.
We still haven't seen Narnia, but plan to take the kids sometime soon.
The Grinch Audience that Stole Hollywood's Christmas.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!
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