Auds on a 'Mountain' high: 'Brokeback' beats out 'Bloodrayne,' 'Casanova'

Variety ^ | January 8, 2006 | Ben Fritz

[HostileTerritory]

Nothing is standing in the way of "Brokeback Mountain."

Expanding to 214 new playdates and more than 60 new markets, including numerous small cities in mountain, Midwestern, and southern states, Focus' cowboy love story averaged a still-strong $11,905 per theater.

Playing at 483 locations, weekend gross was $5.8 million, bringing the pic's cume to $22.5 million.

"Brokeback" came out ahead of several new pics on twice or four times as many playdates, including "Casanova," "Bloodrayne" and "Grandma's Boy."

Among the new markets where the critically acclaimed pic opened strong were Tulsa, El Paso, Des Moines and Lubbock, Tex.

Pic, which has been nominated for every major award thus far, also experienced its first flash of controversy as the Jordan Commons theater in suburban Salt Lake City reneged on a contract with Focus to play the pic. More information on reasons weren't available, though it appears to be over the film's same-sex romance.

With cities of every size in nearly every location doing well with "Brokeback," the next challenge is expanding further into the suburbs. Pic will likely expand to around 600 playdates by Friday and closer to 800 by Jan. 20.

"The film is maintaining its rock-solid consistency, and I think suburban markets are now ready for it," said Focus distribdistrib toppertopper Jack Foley.

[Patrick1]

I like Mark Steyn's line: The soundtrack can be sung "Homos on the Range".

[mewzilla]

Variety is an industry newspaper.

I've read it. It's a trade sheet. I don't know that I'd call it a newspaper :)

[lugsoul]

???

[bessay]

It's interesting that they compared Brokeback to Bloodrayne and not Hostel. Hostel did $20,000,000 this weekend on a $4,800,000 budget.

It is bloody pornography, just like Brokeback.

[LakerCJL]

Cowboy country saying 'whoa!' to 'Brokeback'

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635175183,00.html

[JoeGar]

Playing at 483 locations, weekend gross was $5.8 million, bringing the pic's cume to $22.5 million.

That other great artistic achievement, The Dukes of Hazzard, grossed $111 million.

[theFIRMbss]

>Hostel will destroy Brokeback

The movie business
has given us such a choice --
We can watch two guys

doing each other,
or we can watch Euro-sleaze
cutting up young kids.

(Or talking beavers
if we don't want the weird stuff . . .
I will just STAY HOME!)

[lugsoul]

Canada lets you have internet access in junior high school?

[HamiltonJay]

14 to make, 22 gross, plus marketing.. its basically slightly over break even right now I would bet... and it won't likely do much more.

The simple truth is, there is only so much a movie like this is going to do, period.

I applaud their marketing style of this movie, very slowly expand, continuing to use the controversy to get folks to watch it that otherwise would have ignored it just because of the hype had it been released nationwide at once... but this is not a new tack, in fact its a tried and true one for a film they know has limited appeal.

[Palladin]

I went for a colonoscopy yesterday. As I was going under (the anesthesia), I cracked a few Brokeback Mountain jokes.

I don't think the nurses appreciated it.

I don't know about the doctor. I couldn't see his face, as he was behind me.

[theFIRMbss]

>Having had the misfortune to actually sit through "Bloodrayne"

Well, I said nice things
about Boll's last movie, but
I may just skip this . . .

[who knows what evil?]

And NO, they ain't Cowboys!

Interesting to note that nearly every media piece about this movie makes reference to 'cowboys'. Sounds like someone is out to deconstruct the American ideal of a cowboy as a "man's man". Wonder why?

[Dionysius]

The "rump riders" in the flick are sheep herders, not cowboys. (Q: Why do shepherds have buttons on their flies? A: Zippers scare the sheep.)

[Restorer]

Expanding to 214 new playdates and more than 60 new markets, including numerous small cities in mountain, Midwestern, and southern states, Focus' cowboy love story averaged a still-strong $11,905 per theater.

Anybody want to make a bet every one of those small cities is a college town?

[lugsoul]

You seen the movie, Dionysius? Or do you simply repeat what you've heard?

FR seems to be in love with the meme that these guys are 'sheep herders' and that the use of the term 'cowboy' is some kind of nefarious plot.

But if you saw the movie or read the short story, you'd know that one of them is a rodeo cowboy - a bull rider, even. Have fun with that one. The other works at a ranch after their initial sheep wrangling adventure. Herding cattle.

There's plenty to pick at without having to make stuff up.

[who knows what evil?]

Author Annie Proulx says she got the idea for her short story — which led to the movie — in a Wyoming bar when she saw one cowboy watching a bunch of other cowboys play pool instead of looking at the pretty girls.

Can you imagine? A guy in a bar watching a bunch of other guys play pool? Hell...I could've have been an author!!! (...along with fifty million other guys...geez...)

[Wallace T.]

If about 3% of the U.S. population is homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual (a more likely figure than the 10% commonly believed thanks to Dr. Alfred Kinsey), that would represent 9 million people. Assuming that half of them saw the movie, at an average price of $8 (higher average due to their concentration in the Northeast and California, where movie prices are higher), that would result in sales of $36 million. For these deviants, "Brokeback Mountain" is what "Passion of the Christ" was to evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics. Hence, to expect 50% of them to attend the movie is not unrealistic. Add in dedicated, though heterosexual, leftists and the curious, and this movie is likely to be a money maker.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

It's not just American ideals they are seeking to deconstruct, it's America.

Our society and culture has been under a continuous assault by the old media and hollywood for decades, they are just being more brazen about it lately.

Everything that defines us, Mom, Baseball and Apple Pie are anathema to the leftists and must be discredited before being destroyed.

[HostileTerritory]

You nailed it. People find it so unbelievable that 2 million Americans have seen it, well, compare it to 59 million voting for Kerry and it doesn't sound so strange any more. You don't need conspiracy theories about empty theaters to explain it.

[Lady Heron]

Wait for dvd if you are really bored one day. Otherwise it will one day make it to the SciFi channel. Actually my son is the one who said it had the same quality of a SciFi channel movie but without the liberal pc garbage they have recently started adding into their movies.