Posted on 04/26/2011 12:48:34 PM PDT by Beaten Valve
My esteemed colleague Kyle Smith may not qualify as a box-office Nostradamus ("I smell a hit,'' he once wrote of "An American Carol'') but he was certainly on the mark in predicting that "Atlas Shrugged -- Part One'' would flop in his Sunday column a couple of weeks ago.
After a middling performance during its opening weekend that was hyped in some quarters (i.e., The Hollywood Reporter), the per-screen average for this amateurish Ayn Rand adaptation (even Kyle could only muster 2.5 stars' worth of enthusiam for the movie, though he liked its message) plunged to an alarming $1,890 from $5,640 during its opening frame. Overall, the weekend's take was a scant $879,000 -- a whopping 48 percent drop despite adding 166 locations. Which certainly suggest they're running out of audience quick.
That means that at some locations, distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures will be writing checks to theaters to cover the difference between receipts and operating expenses. The only way they're likely to get the 1,000 screens the producers say they want next weekend is to rent them. And, as Kyle put it at his personal blog, "Whether the sequels get made is purely a matter of how much desire the producers have for losing money.''
Surely rubbing salt in the producers' wounds is the performance of Robert Redford's left-leaning "The Conspirator,'' which also added screens in its second weekend and managed a decent hold and a $2,696 per location average. Its current cumulative gross is $6.9 million vs. a hair over $3 million for "Atlas Shrugged.''
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Read it again, you must have missed something.
Not good news.
With such a small budget we will get part two.
In the last 20 years I have been to the theater exactly 4 times. I saw all three of The Lord of the Rings movies and Master and Commander. I would see this movie if it were playing nearby. I won’t shell out the money for the nearly 200 mile roundtrip required.
What is amazing is that the Pueblo Chieftain Newspaper just ran an article on how several scenes were filmed in Pueblo, CO. The steel mill and the Union station were featured. But the film is not playing in Pueblo. That fact wasn’t mentioned in the article.
Pueblo has a population of 105,000 and another 50,000 in the county. That seems large enough to put the movie on at least one screen. Given the garbage they will put on I can’t see where they could lose.
My only gripe, and it's a very small gripe, is that they didn't give Francisco 3-5 minutes to fully flesh out his actions at San Sebastian Mines.
IMO, to fully comprehend what's going on, reading the novel beforehand is a necessity. That's why my wife wants to see it again. She's never read the book, and could not understand my excitement prior to attending the movie.
Will she read it? That's to be determined.
You'd be surprised at the people who didn't know when John Galt appeared on the screen. I thought that was beautifully done. He's there on page one (to 699), but is not actually introduced until page 700. How does a screenwriter deal with that?
Again, I'll admit my bias, but this is a really deep movie. If it hangs around long enough, there will be plenty of people returning for a second or third visit.
Watch out for the DVD sales!
The spin by the Post with charged words such as "collapses", "plunged", "flop", "amateurish", "scant" and many more are not objective. In contrast, "The Conspirator" is depicted by the Post as a "decent hold" at $2,696.
In my estimation, the Post appears to be taking glee in the per-location BO dropoff without even mentioning the other factors such as the effect of the Easter weekend. A purely factual treatment without the breathless adjectives would have been preferrred (although I realize that straightforwardness is not their forte).
I’m skeptical, because the producers of Atlas Shrugged said they’re releasing the moving to more theaters,that demand had outstripped availability.
“The Hollywood Reporter has reported that the film will expand its release from 299 theaters to 425 this weekend and to 1,000 by the end of the month.”
The article was posted April 21.
Good advice! I just read it for the second time, and I was amazed at all that I missed the first time through.
I've received mail from FReepers that have read the book upwards of ten times, and they're still finding things they missed.
The portion of the novel given in the movie doesn't directly touch on it - you're absolutely right. But the entire thesis of Atlas Shrugged is an indirect attack on the message of the Cross.
The famous speech by John Galt near the end of the book - over 25,000 words and probably over three hours long if it were actually recited - is effectively an extended assault on the notion of the righteous sacrificing themselves for the good of sinners.
While the sequel will likely never be financed and while the producers would probably never inflict the full text of that wooden speech on an audience, they would not be true to the novel if they did not drive that point home - since that is the core thesis of the book and of Ayn Rand's whole notion of "the virtue of selfishness."
That’s not spin, that’s fact. They increased the number of theaters by 50% and the weekend GROSS revenue DROPPED by almost 50%. That is a collapse, a plunge and possibly a flop depending on what happens in the next few weeks.
I haven’t seen the movie just out, but I am currently re-reading “Atlas Shrugged”. It is very depressing because I see so much of the condition and political dominance written in the book around me more and more every day. Especially the placing of the blame and hatred upon successful and productive business being the fault for the disintegration of our amazing country of opportunity to raise one’s standard of living due to ambition, and hard work. There are too many who have become dependent upon the government for their daily bread, which I find appalling! How can one hold one’s head up when they are nothing but a parasite? If we allow all the “New Thought” (Communism) to prevail, we will not!
This was, is, but may not always be, God’s own country. Our system was devised d by and for Christians. “New Thought” is removing God from every area of public life. Christians are ridiculed without criticism! Our President declares that we are no longer a Christian nation! But this is still a Christian nation! Perhaps God is withdrawing His grace because the people are turning from Him. They are listening to the “New Thought”. “New Thought” is not new. Satan has been promoting it since time began. Ie: good is bad, bad is good!
Do yourselves a favor. Buy a copy of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, and see for yourselves if you want your world to emulate hers. before it is too late!
Aren’t you comparing apples and oranges?
AS is a message movie. MBFGW(?) was for entertainment.
Saw it the third time last Saturday and was surprised to see the theater 3/4 full for an afternoon matinee. There were big lines with little kids to get in to see Hop, though. I think I’ll see it again tomorrow night. I loved Atlas, and it’s gotten better each time I’ve seen it.
Thank God Im not the only one that thinks this way. Only the lost believe atheistic thought is a solution. The only thing Rand was right on is what she borrowed from the one true worldview.
Could YOU deliver a James Taggart line like you meant it?
Atlas Shrugged is a film that needs to be seen, and more and more Americans will find it now, or on DVD, but it is an important film....
Easy, treat him like an extra. Have him in the background of scenes as filler (or so you think at the time), make no effort to show his face unless he happens to walk close behind the scene's main characters, etc. Plus, he gets to have lunch with Eddie Willers all the time.
What is with people on FR these days?
I’m not an actor nor do I play one on TV.
If it was my profession, then yes, I’d expect to be able to deliver the line like I believe it.
As I said, I’m not an actor, so, to expect that I’ll be able to do something for which I’m neither trained or paid is ridiculous.
As are you.
By the way, did you even bother to read far enough in my post to see where I mentioned that Marsden got much better as the movie progressed?
Me too!!! It would be about 220 miles for me.
That’s great. You should try her other books.
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