The spin on this movie from both sides is wild. One side is making up fake success stories to defend it, and the other is forcing a narrative of failure to tear it down. To one crowd, it proves you can ‘go woke and not go broke’; to the other, it ‘needs a billion just to break even’, which is hilarious.
Both sides are wrong, no matter how much that statement would irate people (ironically, both sides would hate what I just said :). )
The truth, as it often tends to be, is in the middle. Yes, there were ridiculous woke elements that detracted from the movie and took away from it, no matter what its supporters may want/think. But it’s also a massive Nolan film, and it’s going to make money and won’t be the colossal flop some want.
Both things are true.
What’s funny is this happens every year. For example, when the movie Sinners came out last year, the same weirdness was seen. This time from Hollywood, which NEEDED that movie to fail. Why? Because of the deal its creator/director had that threatened to shift power dynamics/economics away from Hollywood. This made Hollywood (and its trade media) want to paint it as a financial disaster. Even after it made $60m the first weekend (on a $90m budget), they said that it would need to this or that to break even. Then it got to that level, and it kept doing well. They eventually went silent, especially after it made $350m in theaters alone (breaking several records for an original, R-rated film, and that money made before it went into digital and streaming) but it was hilarious to see how bad Hollywood studios and media like Variety and Vulture really tried to make it look like a failure, until it was clear that it was not going to fail.
‘Our side’ does the same too. I’ve been in FR long enough to remember what some were saying here when Avatar (the first one) was coming out, and how some were saying it would absolutely fail and that it was anti-West and what not. I don’t think ‘woke’ was a word then. It did not fail, becoming the highest grossing movie of all time at $2.9bn, and people went quiet.
Bottom line: The Odyssey is far from a perfect movie and will not make as much as those who love it would have wanted it to make. The Odyssey is also far from a useless movie and will make more profit than those who hate it would like it to.
My first job in Hollywood was for the original outlaw movie maverick Tom Laughlin, who successfully sued to re-acquire the rights to BILLY JACK, then distributed it himself outside the studio system and hit the jackpot.
I don’t care how much money this movie makes or does not make - it’s a flop just in terms of its casting alone.
Having said that - and even accounting for bad taste - I’ll be very surprised if anyone is talking about this movie a year from now.
As an FReeper already said, if I’m in the mood for a good movie about this story, I’ll watch Troy for a tenth time.
Sturgeon’s Law: “Ninety percent of everything is crap.” That applies to everything, but is not an actual property of the universe, but an emergent property of consciousness. About 10% of everything earns the A grade, and what qualifies depends on what’s available. If Hollywood only put out block-busters, 90% of them would still be graded less than the best. Conservatives often direct their disgust at Hollywood, but it really should be directed at the degenerate paying audience, which is mostly womb-men. Hollywood is in the difficult business of finding that temporary fickle audience 10% of the time to stay in business. Except for the dirty money laundering tipping the scales of morality, they do a decent job.