The Guess Who Discussion
In the bowels of Columbia Pictures marketing, you will find the fabulous Wheel Of Blame. The wheel spins when films are perceived as having underperformed. Possible “winners” range from “bad date” to “horrible movie.”
So this weekend, Hot Bloggers are fighting over the Wheel Of Success. Who should be credited (besides Columbia marketing, where the credit or blame really lies for any opening) with the estimated $21 million weekend for Guess Who?
Ashton Kutcher, whether anyone likes it or not, is a remarkable box office draw… more so because he has made almost nothing but shit. Both The Butterfly Effect and Just Married opened to more than $17 million. Both made my Worst 10 of their respective years.
Bernie Mac has previously been the lead star in one one film, Mr. 3000, which opened to just $8.7 million.
But it is true that the “urban” market has been flexing its muscles like crazy lately.
The exit polling numbers on Guess Who were:
59% under 25
54% Female 46% male
55% non-caucasian (strong ethnic mix of african american, latino, asian, etc)
Honestly, I’m not sure what the exit polling is on your average comedy release these days. But it would be silly to give Bernie Mac all the “non-caucasian” credit… or to give too much credit to Ashton Kutcher.
No one will ever have a real answer here. My personal guess would be that Sony would be estimating and grossing higher without Easter Sunday to compete with, putting the gross around $23 or $24 million… or almost the combination of the opening grosses of both Kutcher & Mac’s last films, allowing a few million for crossover audiences. Seems fair to me.
I would say that Kutcher is a guy who can consistently open movies in the mid teens on his celebrity and Mac is a guy who can open movies around $5 million – $8 million on his celebrity.
And personally, I discount any draw from the remake of a great film… apparently, the power of it was thrown out in the screenplay and is completely neligible in the sell.
What do you think?
Well over half of the audience was under 25. People falling into that age group, white or not, are not huge Bernie Mac fans. Generally speaking, they don’t watch his TV show, they didn’t see Mr. 3000 and if they saw Ocean’s 11 and/or 12, they might have enjoyed his character but they sure as hell didn’t see it because of him. He is not much of a draw with the under 25 crowd. Not even close to the draw that Kutcher is with white and non-white people under 25.
Personally, I think this whole discussion so far (here and on the prior thread) has been misdirected and failrly conclusory. The problem is that everyone has started from the assumption that either Ashton Kutcher or Bernie Mac were primarily responsible for the film’s success, without even beginning to consider that maybe it was neither.
My wife and I wanted to go to the movies last night. We took a look on movietickets.com at what was playing around Los Angeles, and saw that it was pretty much the SOS playing everywhere. Like many other regular moviegoers, we had already seen virtually all of the “respectable” mainstream fare still available in theatres (e.g., “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Upside of Anger,” “Robots,” “Hitch”). The only prevalent new choices were “Guess Who” and “Miss Congeniality 2,” with a very few select theatres showing “Melinda and Melinda.”
Given those options, we boldly chose to stay home. But I think the throngs of people who opted for a Saturday night out at the movies may have picked “Guess Who” by default. Their thinking process may have been: Better to take a chance on something that at least appears to be new and fresh than to have to have a second unpleasant encounter with the tiresome “Miss Congeniality.”
So if you ask me, this is mostly about successful scheduling. “Guess Who” may have succeeded only in filling a very empty slot in the March calendar. The questionable allure of both Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac – both of whose TV shows are struggling, to say the least, and are expected to be axed at the end of this season – IMHO had far less to do with it. Yes, these performers undeniably helped increase awareness of the film. Kutcher has certainly been all over the place lately, including a hosting gig last week on SNL. But I think there’s a huge difference between being a helpful promotional tool and having genuine star power.
I don’t want to see either one, but if I had to pick, I’d certainly choose Guess Who over Miss Congeniality 2. No contest.
All of which raises the question: Why weren’t there more new movies in release this weekend? Has Easter become the new Labor Day in terms of being perceived as a bad time to launch new product? What if, say, a kick-ass action movie had opened Friday? Hey, what if “Sin City” had opened one week early?
And if it really does all boil down to scheduling: What if “Man of the House” (admittedly, not a great movie, but better than some) and “Guess Who” had swapped opening dates? Would “Man” have posted, if not “Guess Who” numbers, then at least appreciably better opening weekend b.o. than it did last month?
I would say that Man of the House was doomed no matter when it opened. I don’t think it would have done any better this past weekend.
I completely agree with Stella’s Boy. My feeling is that a film like “Man of the House” simply lacked the synergy needed for success. It’s logline, something like “Gruff old cop is forced to guard a bunch of cheerleaders,” made it sound way too 1970s-ish. Tommy Lee Jones, respected actor that he is, I’m sorry to say has never had any strong box-office pull and has never opened a movie on his own. (Pair him with someone like Harrison Ford or Will Smith, that’s a different story.) And as Stella’s Boy has again astutely observed, “Guess Who” at least had a well-received trailer, while I personally saw the trailer for “Man of the House” get hissed. The scathing reviews obviously didn’t help matters any. Sure, “Man of the House” could have done a little better if scheduled more fortuitously, but I think it’s pretty clear it was always doomed out of the gate – another theatrical release that was nothing more than a promotional tool for when it comes out on DVD and plays on HBO.
Having not followed release dates for a few weeks, I thought that Sin City was coming out this weekend. This w/e felt to me like the crest of the film’s marketing, based on how many ads/articles/etc. that I’ve seen. Usually without checking release dates I generally have a feeling when a film is coming out based on how much “stuff” is out there. I think that if SC had opened this weekend it would have made a ton. Next w/e I’m sure it will do well, but I think it’s a week late on the crest.
“All of which raises the question: Why weren’t there more new movies in release this weekend? Has Easter become the new Labor Day in terms of being perceived as a bad time to launch new product? What if, say, a kick-ass action movie had opened Friday? Hey, what if “Sin City” had opened one week early?”
Have a look at what was released last year and you’ll see why.
…The Alamo and The Whole Ten Yards. uh-huh.
And, on what Chester said about picking a movie on the spot, I think he’s right but not primarily because MC2 looks unoriginal, but because Ashton is ACTUALLY popular with people my age (17-21) and Bernie Mac is (somehow) perceived as funny. And people would rather take a punt with a movie starring those two than a movie that looks the exact same the first one.
The comparisons to the original Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner are very interesting. People have forgotten that the original was not intended to be a social drama but rather a comedy. Because of the climate of the sixties the film has over time had an aura of relevance attached to it that it did deserve but has really changes the historic remembrance of a film that was meant as a comedy of manners.
The new Ashton and Bernie version jettisoned the political relevance in part because the cast is geared to comedy not drama but also because times have changed and the issue of interracial marriage no longer has the political relevance it once had.
When it come to the box office, no one saw this because they liked the original. As the numbers point out most of the audience weren’t even alive for the original. The cast was the draw and though I’m not a fan of Ashton Kutcher it cannot be denied, he hhas an audience connection reminiscent of Adam Sandler. That good looking doofus thing that mainstream audiences love. Kutcher’s fanbase is not quite as large as Sandler’s and less of a sure bet but it is quite similar.
David: I’m glad you’ve tempered your initial overplaying of the Kutcher factor. Yes he does have quite large pulling power with a specific demographic. And it’s a reasonable argument that he was probably responsible for more of the gross than Bernie Mac. But Kutcher is still a mid-level, mid-teens draw at best, imho. The combination of of Kutcher, Bernie Mac, and the cross-cultural appeal of the film is what pushed it over the 20 million mark. The announcement of “Ashton Kutcher:superstar” seemed somewhat premature. The teenage and teenage girl demographic is a notoriously fickle one, and there’s little evidence that Kutcher’s fanbase is advancing beyond that. They may well outgrow him in the next two years. This film isn’t his quite his “adult” crossover that confirms his wider appeal.
Have you seen the New York Times box office analysis this morning? They seem to concur that the “big story” of GUESS WHO’S opening isn’t that fact that Kutcher is still holding on to his demographic, but that African-American themed films and casts seem to be having an unusually strong quarter. It”s the big story for most analysts. Here’s the link if you’re interested:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/28/movies/28boxo.html
Poland just seemed to have miss, due possibly to
being out of this country, that this film was not
sold as an Kutcher film. They sold it as a film
for an African-American family demographic. Poland
just missed what’s going on with film all together.
give kutcher credit for opening movies. but he needs new agents to get some better scripts. his roles have been terrible
The original Guess Who was not a “great film”…
Bub, I would give him all sorts of props if he
COULD open a movie. Yet, outside of Poland buying
into all of those magazine covers with Kutcher’s
face on them, he has not proven to be a star that
can open a movie. Neither has Brad Pitt really,
but like I said earlier; not like pretty guys
keep people AWAY from the theatre. Unless they
are Affleck, but that’s a total dick move on the
audiences part in that case.
Kutcher is an awful actor who I would like to see much less of, but it is false to state that he can’t open a movie. Yes, My Boss’s Daughter did poorly, but it was dumped in August of the year it came out and had no chance. But, look at the openings of Dude, Where’s My Car, Just Married, The Butterfly Effect and now Guess Who. How can you say he can’t open a movie? Is he a huge movie star? No. Does he have any talent? I would say that he does not. But he has opened movies.
All I know is that my two daughters aged 14 and 11 both saw this movie with groups of friends this weekend. They would not have seen this if it starred the skinny red head or the foreign guy. We’ll find out the true box office of Kutcher once he starts getting better material to work with.
But does Kutcher really have any interest in better material, whatever that may be?
It isn’t too hard to disect. Young people have bad taste in films. All of Ashton’s hit movies have opened in the Spring (Jan, Feb and March). I doubt he could open a summer movie or a winter movie.
Side Note: Dude, Where’s My Car was a big hit because it had a funny trailer and stupid title. Not because of Ashton.
Lots of people have bad taste in films. All I’m saying is Kutcher does have drawing power. I think it is mistaken to say otherwise and act like he has had nothing to do with the strong openings of his many bad movies.
Sorry… but some of you guys are delusional.
That NYT story was lazy journalism and didn’t show much insight. There are also similar stories regarding Spanish language films now and again.
Ashton Kutcher has an audience. If you can’t deal with it, I’m sorry. But opening a movie in the teens is not weak. It is very, very strong and very, very rare.
And I know exactly how they sold the movie… they DIDN’T sell it as a Black film… Bernie Mac was not “doing ghetto” in the ads, unlike Beauty Shop. Be Cool was not sold as a Black film. Will Smith is one of ten major movie stars on the planet right now (If that many).
All this phenomenon really means is that a decade of New Line product has paid off in an extra $20 million at the box office for many of the films targetting black audiences. You ask me, Coach Carter underperformed, not effectively crossing over to the white audience that would be willing to pay to see a Sam Jackson movie. Diary of a Mad Black Woman is a phenom in the mode of The Passion of The Christ and is not the start of a trend. (See: Woman, Thou Art Loosed.)
There is a reason why Morris Chesnut is in every Screen Gems movie. But get some perspective. Jamie Foxx in Breakin’ All The Rules grossed in total less than Will Smith grosses on opening day.
The future of the film industry is niche programming and the “urban” niche is mighty mighty… has been… will be… but let’s not get carried away.
I rolled my eyes regarding The Butterfly Effect… before it came out. But that movie was sold on Kutcher, Kutcher, and Kutcher. And it worked. I am not one to jump on box office bandwagons. There are movies that do business on concept all the time and the talent is not the key. This is what makes the Sahara pitch interesting. They are selling it as a sequel to National Treasure now. So if it opens, is that credit to Matthew McConaughey or to the pitch? On the same level, how much of National Treasure’s start can be put on Nic Cage? I know what Nic’s agent would say, but…
at this point u can put kutcher in any movie and have it open #1. the guy has something going for him. wooderson is no kutcher at the box office. this has been proven. he can’t open a movie. even good movies. sahara is gonna bomb. if kutcher was in it, it would open at the top.
If the NYT article was lazy, sloppy journalism, then so was your initial article on this story. It seemed like you wrote the first thing that popped up in your head, without examining all bases.
I only speak for myself, but I never denied Kutcher had some level of box office clout and a sizable niche audience, so I’m not exactly in denial that he’s got one. You were the one who went insane and tried to attribute the ENTIRE 21-24 (whatever the final tally is) million gross to young Mr Kutcher.
You were initially making claims about Kutcher being responsible for the whole shebang, as if the new Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey had just arrived. You couldn’t even be bothered to credit Bernie Mac (or black people in general)with adding a few extra million to the takings. Only some lame dismissal of Mac making any contribution to the gross on the basis of MR 3000.
You toned down your rhetoric with your second article on this story, yet you seem pissed off that you can’t hold to your orginal position and credit Mr Kutcher for the movie’s ENTIRE opening (which you vainly attempted to do).
Before you take potshots at the NYT, you might want to put your own journalistic house in order.
Honestly, I believe that you could replace Bernie Mac with almost any African-American actor in his age range, unknown or otherwise, and Guess Who would have opened to essentially the same number. I don’t think Mac had much, if anything, to do with the opening. The Guess Who audience was nearly 60% under 25. That is Kutcher’s fan base, not Mac’s. People under 25 don’t give two shits about Bernie Mac, and some probably don’t even know/care who he is.
If I am delusional. Why exactly did Guess Who sell
itself as starring “BERNIE MAC & ASHTON KUTCHER?”
Kutcher has about as much of a fanbase as any of
those other supposed young stars that we are all
supposed to get behind because they are pretty.
And we apparently see the Butterfly Effect marketing
differently as well. Since I could have sworn that
the trailers on that DVD on my floor sell the flick
as a warped TIME TRAVEL flick not an Ashton Kutcher
flick. He just happened to be in it.
Yet you bring up the pitch. While at the same time
obliviously ignoring that the Butterfly Effect had
the pitch of being a GENRE flick. If Sahara goes
well, then yes, Matthew Mac’s representation will
be pissing themselves. However, unlike Guess Who
and the Butterfly Effect, that movie is being
sold on him being the action star, Zahn being
the whacky sidekick, and Cruz being the tiny
hot piece of ass.
Sure it’s all subjective, but please do not call
me delusional. When you go and pull something
like this out your ass. I do mean that in jest.
So no one get all uppidy about the last statement.
Actualy, Sal, I think it was you who made it ALL about Ashton. There was no strong rhetoric. I never said the ENTIRE opening was Kutcher’s.
Let me repeat –
“But $22-$26 million is pretty impressive for an Ashton Kutcher comedy that is getting no benefit from the cache of the original film and with Bernie Mac coming off of Mr. 3000 and with a gimmick that probably isn’t all that interesting anymore.”
That is still true.
Kutcher was the primary sell on this film. Would it have opened as well with Franklyn Ajaye in the Mac role? No. But I don’t imagine that it would have dropped by more than 20% either.
So while you are so busy defending the New York Times by not defending their story, but attacking me inaccurately, do me a favor and take a deep breath. There is a reason why this is on a blog now and it is so you can offer your perspective. I don’t mind being corrected and I don’t mind being disagreed with. But I do mind when the obsessions of others become accussations about comments that I never made. I do believe in the power of omission being similar to the power of action. But presuming intent is bad rhetoric.
Stella’s Boy: Bernie Mac is a foul mouthed comedian, and that’s why he’s relatively “hip” to ethnic kids. He’s very well known and liked by young blacks and latinos as part of THE ORGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY troupe and various “black movies” (ie HOW TO BE A PLAYER and THE PLAYERS CLUB). Not to mention THE BERNIE MAC SHOW, watched by African-Americans of all ages, including those under 25. Of the 55% of those non-caucasians that turned up, I’d say Mac was a big factor for a lot of them, no matter what their ages were.
The idea the nobody under 25 knows Mac or is a fan of him is slightly ridiculous. I just don’t think you realise how well known and regarded he is among the “urban” youth.
Bub, if Kutcher starred in Sahara. I guarantee the
flick would suck. Due in no large part to the lack
of utter, hutzpah, that Kutcher exudes. Sahara
should win that weekend. Even if, as usual now
in moronic Hollywood scheduling, has everything
and it’s mother openning that weekend. That BS
has got to end.
Stella stop perpetrating this bullshit about Bernie
Mac not being known with 25-under. The only reason
why his show will POSSIBLY not be cancelled ties
directly with the show doing well in the 18-34 demo.
I am willing to bet he has a higher Q-rating among
that demo than you are giving him credit for.
Again, this has nothing to do with Kutcher. His
comic timing just kills on that 70’s show. He
has some ability and has matured on that show
since it began (Dont believe me. Go check out the
first and second seasons on DVD. He flails around
horribly in those two seasons). I just do not
buy Poland’s argument.
Hell. The guy has another movie coming on the 22nd.
If that film opens worth a damn, then even I will
see the dude has box office potential. As of yet
he just proved to me that he can harass people, and
really likes Bruce Willis.
salmon, I’m a teacher at an urban high school. The student body is 100% African-American. Believe me, I know urban youth about as well as a white boy can. They are not Bernie Mac fans. They do not watch his show. When I showed Head of State, most had no idea who Mac was. They asked me who the actor playing Chris Rock’s brother was. On the other hand, I was surprised at how many of them are Kutcher fans. They love Punk’d and That 70s Show. They were going to see Guess Who for Kutcher, not Bernie Mac.
L&DB, I will be limiting my discussions to people who are respectful and reasonable. In other words, not you.
A Lot Like Love stinks of failure from a distance. And if it opens at anything more than $7 million, it will be a freakin’ miracle.
As for the young hot bods that we are supposed to think are stars… find me one besides Kutcher and Lindsay Lohan who opened movies to more than $10 million last year.
There is a reason why studios are fighting over Rachel McAdams… and it’s not because she can act (which I think she can) or because she is sexy. And when Red Eye arrives, we’ll have this same fight if it opens. High concept… is it a post-Batman Cillian Murphy or her… etc, etc…
Kutcher is right where Drew Barrymore was a few years ago and Reese Witherspooon more recently. He’s made some bad movies that have made money anyway and he has built a cult of personality. When Drew failed to make better movies, her career faltered. Reese needs Just Like Heaven to work almost as much as Ruffalo does and Walk The Line will put her back on the highest level of actresses with decent business and an Oscar nomination.
Ashton Kutcher is no Reese Witherspoon. He doesn’t have that kind of talent. But with the exception of the two Miramax/Dimension dumpers (Boss’s Daughter and Texas Rangers… and no one can control a studio dumping their films), he has yet to miss. Make me a list of all the other actors who had five box office successes in a row – yes, excluding the dumpers – who didn’t have something going on at the box office. Seems to me that we are back at Reese Witherspoon. But please… prove me wrong with more than intuition.
Stella’s Boy: Seriously, these black kids you’ve been talking to must be the nerds from the chess club.LOL!
I’m very familar with African-American culture and trends, and no self-respecting “urban” kid would not have at least a vague idea of who Bernie Mac is. The hip kids know who this guy is. HOW TO BE A PLAYER, BOOTY CALL and THE PLAYERS CLUB (films in which Mac featured heavily in) were all dirty, ghetto fabulous movies with lots of sex in them. All those movies were aimed at African-American’s, aged 25 and under. Not their parents.
Interesting anecdotal evidence you’ve got there, but I don’t think it’s particularly reliable.
Hold on a sec.
“A Lot Like Love stinks like failure from a distance. And if it opens to anything more than 7 million, it will be a freakin’ miracle”.
You’ve been telling us what a genuine, reliable draw that Kutcher is. How he’s been opening a remarkable string of terrible movies, all on the strength of his personality. Yet the minute Kutcher has to open a movie without a bankable or semi-bankable co-star (Sean William Scott, Britany Murphy, Bernie Mac) or an eminently marketable genre picture (The Butterfly Effect), you “smell failure”. How can this flick be so much worse than the rest. If anyone can sell a turd, it’s Ashton Kutcher, right?
Still, you’ve covered your bases fairly well. If the film tanks, it’ll be according to your premonition that it’s was a movie even Kutcher couldn’t save. If it makes some decent money (say, 15-16 million opening weekend), why, it’ll be proof that Kutcher is a unstoppable force. A no lose situation.
Sorry to sound like such a cynic.
Semi bankable co star? Is there even a term for that? One is bankable or one is not. Kutcher is bankable. Sean W Scott? No. Ask Poland about the Rundown. Mac? Ask anyone about Mr. 3000. Britney Murphy???? Little Back Book? Uptown Girls? Please stick to facts if you’re going to throw out thesis statements. I know most of you hate Kutcher for some reason or other. But the facts speak for themselves. Every single studio wants to be in business with him and he will start seeing every good script for every actor between 20-35.
salmon, I’m not trying to be rude, so please don’t take offense, but I really don’t care how reliable you find my “anecdotal evidence” to be. I speak from personal experience, working every day with African-American teenagers. They go to the movies quite often and spend a lot of time talking about them in school (they have most movies on “bootleg” before they’re in theaters). Even the ones who are familiar with Bernie Mac do not go to see a movie because he is in it. I haven’t heard a single kid ever say that they watch his show. Mac is simply not an entertainer they talk about. Cedric the Entertainer, yes. Chris Rock, yes. But Mac is someone I never hear them talk about. Like I said before, when I showed them Head of State a lot of them didn’t even know his name. You can shrug off what I say as much as you want, but it’s the truth. They are much more into Kutcher than Mac. At least my students are.
Mark: Aw, they’re just jealous of Ash, because they wish they were boning Demi Moore.
Still hard for me to believe we are expending this much energy on the star power of Ashton Kutcher, a performer who has yet to carry a film past the $60 million mark. All of Kutcher’s “successes” have been released during the dreggy winter months, a period during which the studios always dump their known losers and audiences are given little in the way of choice. Need further proof? Kutcher has had only one summer release on his resume: “My Boss’s Daughter,” which was released in August 2003 and grossed a measly $15.5 million. That was after the $56.2 million gross six months earlier of “Just Married,” another winter dump. Where were the teen girls, who are supposedly so eager to flock to all of his films, that summer? Probably watching for the third or fourth time “Pirates of the Carribean,” which starred their greatly preferred heartthrob, Johnny Depp.
You’re absolutely right. Entirely too much space has been devoted to Ashton Kutcher. I am certainly sick of talking about him and ready to move on. I’d be interested to hear people’s thoughts on the opening weekend of Sin City. How much do you think it will make?
Like Martin said above, the marketing momentum for “Sin City” led me too to believe that it was going to open this past weekend. I think audience awareness of the film is very high, and it currently has a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Looking at this weekend’s B.O. results, it now seems clear that it probably would have blown everything else out of the water. Given the further absence of any strong competition over the next few weeks, it also lost an invaluable extra week on top. I wonder if the studio was more concerned about the Easter weekend jinx or the possibility that “The Ring 2” might have held onto its very shaky perch.
“Guess Who” opened to $20.67M. What kept it from opening bigger? The NCAA men’s basketball tournament — both games Saturday went into overtime and the late game Sunday wound up in double OT.
Same weekend, last year: “Scooby-Doo 2” and “The Ladykillers” opened with better per-theater averages.
If you want to open a movie opposite the NCAA tournament you’re better off with upmarket or kid fare. Disney learned that lesson; WB did not.
Oh, and to answer your specific question, Stella, I don’t know how wide an opening it is getting. If they’re not bringing it out slowly, IMHO it certainly has the potential to pull in over $35 million next weekend.
Anybody else think that if it does huge business in the red states, it’s going to drive the far right nuts? I can certainly see the fundamentalists getting into a lather on the pulpit over a film called “Sin City.”
Stella, I love how you find me rude, and also how
you claim to know all of the African-American youth
in this country. If I am rude, then you are absolutely
out of your f’in mind. Not one group makes up
an entire group of people. When Mark and Bub
consistently make better points than you have
over the last few weeks. Maybe you need to take
a step back, reflect, and ponder how utterly ridiculous
you read. Again, you claim to know all of African-
American youth. Yet I am somehow rule? Shame on
you Stella. Shame on you.
And Chester; why would any ruttin fundamentalist
care about Sin City? When they are clearly concerned
with a woman in Florida right now? How that film
would start a furor in your mind needs to be
explained. If you do not mind.
LDB, I was referring to what the fundamentalists could potentially say this artfully “immoral” film so vividly, violently and gleefully represents. Can’t you hear it already? “Yes, brothers and sisters, there is indeed a decrepid place we may call Sin City. And yes, it is here on earth and, no, I’m not talking about Las Vegas. It’s a place we must avoid, boycott, even obliterate, a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah populated by blasphemers and whores trying to seduce your children. That devil’s playground is better known as Hollywood…”
Look, before anyone accuses me of going off the deep end here, let me clarify that I don’t genuinely expect “Sin City” to be that kind of a lightning rod. I was just suggesting the potential, especially with the fundamentalists so prominently at center stage.
Sorry about the spelling typo above, which should have read “decrepit.”
Chester, interesting thoughts at least on an R-rated
flick, that MIGHT have a hard time winning the
weekend. But dont worry about typos. They happpen
all the frugnghljlaf time.
I don’t think the “R” rating is going to stop “Sin City” from topping the box office for at least a couple of weeks. Remember, “The Matrix” was rated “R” and “Sin City” has very much the same audience. I suspect the only element that may be hurt by the rating is the merchandising.
Nah Chester; this flick has 4 series of friggin
statue figures (Sort of like action figures, but
for people lacking the imagination to pose an
action figure with articulation) coming out this
year. The soundtrack comes out tomorrow, and I
am sure this flick will have shirts, lunch boxes,
and all the other stuff coming out real soon.
If they Scarface has merchandise. Any R-rated
film has the possibility for MERCHANDISING!
as much as i hope sin city is good, i just can’t see it catching on and being number one for a few weeks. i see a decent opening followed by a big drop and tops out in the 40’s
Since when don’t Christians buy tickets for movies? You think they all get together and say “We cannot attend R rated movies”? People like you who put people into categories are the real discriminators. You pigeon hole people. You lump people into groups based on religion, looks, skin color, ancestory etc. And you wonder the world is fractured? Open your eyes and your heart. Especially you Chester.
Is Fishy Kotex (Sal Mon) the new bicycle bob?
Ashton Kutcher in a comedy is something everyone of us would love to have.
You have no clue about the business yet, unlike my informed self who corrects David when he is wrong, you act like David is wrong when he is right.
Swim away, chumboy.
spammer what are u talking? try to keep up the convo here and not backtrack to a post from a week ago
thanks, sweetums
Every single studio would love to sign Kutcher to an exclusive contract. This ain’t exactly news. Thanks for the “scoop”, Spam.
Terence D, give us all a break! Where did I ever say Christians don’t buy movie tickets for “R”-rated movies? If anything, all I’ve said is that “Sin City” is going to do extremely well across the board. How on earth could a film stay at the top of the box-office charts for at least a couple of weeks, as I have predicted on this page, without attendance by the Christian majority in this country?
If you’d bother to actually read before shooting your mouth off, you’d see that the comments in question weren’t in any way about Christians in general, but rather were about the very vocal, puritanical fundamentalists on the far right. For you to suggest that the Christian right wing, as represented by leaders such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, hasn’t openly and repeatedly publicly denounced in the media the “sinfulness” of the film industry is one of the most ignorant, revisionist remarks ever placed on this or any other blog.
I grew up in Utah around Mormons, and know that, at least untill recently, it was VERY much frowned upon by that church’s leadership for their “faithful” members to go to R rated movies. Some of them had real crises over going to Passion of the Christ, according to a friend who still lives there.
That’s why there have been so many stories, over the years, about Utah video stores being sued by the MPAA for renting out home-made PG versions of R rated VHS tapes. No one seems to love movies more than Mormons (if you ever go to SLC you’ll find 2:00 pm Friday matinees virtually SOLD OUT, and not during school breaks, either.) On the other hand no one seems to get more upset at nudity or sex in movies than they do. It’s a true love/hate dynamic…. I guess that’s why so many of them are starting to make their own movies, not that any of them, “God’s Army”, “The Book of Mormon Movie” have really made much dough.
Sin City will probably do well.
There are many people from a variety of backgrounds and fanbases who are camping out for this movie. The fact that Frank Miller is directly involved and tough guy/scumbag-icons are playing roles and young popular babes have roles AND it’s rated R means Generation X & Y will be flocking to it. I doubt very much it will drop off after ‘two weeks’. Dark Horse has a huge geek fanbase including myself, even though SIn City is more of a tough boy mag so I didn’t read it much. I just hope the movie is more Noir than Rock&roll.
I’m going primarily to watch Benicio, and to see if Hartnett’s improved any on his manly-ness.
And I cringe when I see the ‘A lot Like Love’ movie poster, even though I can’t help liking Ashton Kutcher. That poster is F*cking awful cheese and it’s everywhere now.
its unfaithful for mormoms to see r rated movies yet they have multiple wives and families? interesting. u learn something new everyday
Modern day Mormons don’t have multiple wives, Bobby. Those fringe people are not real Mormons. I’d think you’d be the last person to attack Mormons, by the way. The average Mormon is as slavishly GOP as you are, Bob. Should you really be attacking your own allies?
I’ll tell you right now. I hate Ashton Kutcher and have never seen any of his stupid films. However, we all know what these knucklehead teenage girls are like, they probably have posters of that loser on their bedroom wall. If I see Guess Who, its cause of Bernie MAc and that fine chick, shit, I wish Kutcher wasnt in the movie. Damn, Bernie Mac is much more appealing than Kutcher, who sucks.
David Poland and that groupie Stella have said some of the dumbest shit I have ever heard. I wont be surprsed if Poland knows Kutcher personally.