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
Guess the sheep wouldn't have them.
I'm not interested in sissy cowboys.
I don't really know, but they are over paid, and under performing.
You cannot make fun of these people. Any reducito ab absurdum becomes a plan of action. Consider that in the current King Kong, Kong is made into a sympathetic character.
Narnia was great.
Sheepherder is the term used in Idaho sheep country where I grew up.
Nobody knows. That's the problem.
Look, I have several gay friends. All of them plan to see Brokeback Mountain, but aren't all that anxious about it. Do you know the most popular movies I've seen on DVD in their homes? Chicago and the Austin Powers movies.
I am turned off of the movie because of the game.
One way Jackson tried to get young guys interested in the movie was the game.
But, the game sucks.
It is scripted to the hilt. I HATE games like that. I want to be able to do whatever I want almost in a game, not be forced to take one or two choices.
That turned me off of the film. I am sure a lot of other young people are feeling the same.
Tell them to save their money. It will be on disc in feb.
The lion obviously represents Christ. Heck, even the altar breaks in two and he comes out shining in light for crying out loud.
The lion is Christ.
I loved Narnia, and I never read the book.
About the only other movie coming out I might see is Fun with Dick and Jane since it has Jim Carrey.
I have to agree and disagree with you. Allegory has a definite meaning. It doesn't depend upon individual whim or taste. Allegory is a literary device in which characters and events stand for abstract ideas, principles or forces, so that the literal sense suggests a deeper, symbolic sense.
Individual interpretation of a piece of writing is, however, a personal judgment. Is the lion symbolic? Yes, a symbol of Christ. Is the lion symbolic of an abstract principle like justice? It could be interpreted that way. But from the letter you quoted, Lewis wasn't trying to create a work to convey abstract concepts. The lion is Christ. That would be metaphor, not allegory. If the story is interpreted as the triumph of good over evil, that is allegory.
...they'll keep it in theaters through the academy awards nominations, etc. then release it in the summer.
...they'll keep it in theaters through the academy awards nominations, etc. then release it in the summer.
..maybe it would have done better if they had made a 2 hr. version of the Brokeback Kong parody...
Looks like it won't be showing where I live. A pity, I would have loved to read a review of it in the local rag. I can just see them sweating over it -- how do we push the homosexual agenda without disgusting our readership?
No, NO, it's called "Barebutt Mountain".
That leaves out somewhere around 90% 97 of the population.
There. that fixed it.
"FudgePack Mountain . . . "
That's BAD! It's SO bad, in fact, that I'm falling off my chair laughing! (I LOVE bad stuff like that.)
I thought the best line was when one fag asked the other, "Do these jeans make my ass look fat?"
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