April 26, 2024
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
I just think that people are tired of seeing Morgan Freeman in movies. Oh, wait. Actually $8 mill is more than I expected for fri, and sat may hold OK because I think the audience for the film is fairly broad. But I really doubt the film is going to get good word of mouth, so a 50% drop next week and a $60-$65 mill finish for the flick seems likely. Did it cost much? Will it do better overseas? I haven’t the faintest.
25m opening for a film that eveyone but a few fans expect to be a big flop is pretty good, but unless it has a surprising strong word of mouth I doubt it will go beyond 65m finish. On the other hand XXX2 is a disaster (somewhere Vin Diesel must be really happy) and David the first XXX drop Friday to Saturday.
But the big story is that the summer didn’t truly start this weekend, doesn’t matter how hard the press may try to cover their early mistake.
According to the-numbers.com, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy cost $45 million. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2005/HTCHG.php
I think that Disney knew HH wouldn’t get good word of mouth, which is why the marketing sort of turned a corner for the worse in the last month. After seeing the final cut they had to realize it would open then die off quickly. I know a number of people that have already seen it and the best I’ve heard is “not bad”. But maybe it will do well over in england?
Ok, so lets say $45 mill budget, another $25 mill marketing, they’re down $70. It does $65 in the US, about which the studio takes $45. Another 30-45 mill overseas and they’re in the black. Franchise numbers? Not really.
Actually, HITCHHIKERS could see a pretty startling dip on Saturday if you figure that the die hard fans streamed out to see this on opening day.
And Filipe is right; the summer season just won’t start in April. XXX2, despite a healthy marketing push, fell prey to the same illogic that felled THE SCORPION KING and VOLCANO, while HITCHHIKERS probably could’ve opened anywhere out of season and done this kind of solid, if not spectacular business.
That’s a lot of “felling”.
Oh, and I expect HITCHHIKERS to do extremely well overseas; if DVD sales are decent, which I expect they will be, Disney will likely reap a tidy profit. Still, this is the last Douglas Adams adaptation we’ll see for some time.
No one wanted to see a sequel for XXX. That’s the biggest reason behind this weekend’s disastorous results. Did you hear of anyone clamoring for a return after the dissapointment after all the hype for the first movie? Remember the sequel for TOMB RAIDER? Same thing. Sony should have done more research before greenlighting this thing.
Also, since Ice Cube is obviously a star…why not put him in the damn poster?
If Hitchhikers gets to $80 million Disney deserves some sort of award…
XXX2’s marketing was a disaster. The title alone “State of the Union” is fucking retarded. The action crowd and politics do not mix. That plus the disappointment over the original, the feeling that Cube is in there as a 2nd rate Vin Diesel, no great action shot in the trailers, and on and on. This is a movie that should’ve gone straight to video.
And unless Kingdom of Heaven surprises, the real summer starts with Star Wars.
Martin: Er, which movie stars Morgan Freeman? Last I checked, Samuel L. Jackson is the co-star of “XXX: Bottom of the Barrel” (or whatever the hell it’s called). I’m not gonna accuse you of thinking all black folks look alike, but….
Rhapsody for Lee
Once upon a time a film came out for all to see
There had been nothing like it in all of memory
ONCE WERE WARRIORS it proclaimed
Those who saw it screamed acclaim.
The Maori Man did come to town
Robot Newman signed him down
Recreate the glory flick
Check these scripts. Take your pick.
Mulholland Falls not the one by Lynch
The Edge with Lecter bored every inch
Soon the Maori who was the leader
Ended up with sequels to films by Fleder.
To James Bond he came and went
We saw it all, go get bent
You whored your talent for a song
Took five million for a sequel-that was wrong
Lee Lee Lee
You shoulda listened to me
Lee Lee Lee
Too late to come back, don’t ya see?
Looks like you might be a little off David…..
FROM MOVIECITYNEWS Summer Box Office Chart:
XXX2 Total Gross: $115m Comment: The summer starts early this year…
HHGG Total Gross $48m Comment: Even the cult will be challenged to offer a $20 million opening…
Mr. Bloppy: Now don’t be dissing Dave’s predictions. He gets sensitive about that stuff.
Spamster: Hey, “The Edge” wasn’t that bad. The bear was cool.
Kung Fu Hustle was never going to take off big time. It’s not arty enough to appeal to an art crowd (Hero, Crouching Tiger, Flying Daggers) and it has subtitles, which is going to turn off the “blow shit up” crowd. Honestly, while I thought there was a lot of interesting “stuff” in the movie, I wanted an actual plot rather than just “everyone beats everyone else up.”
On XXX2, what the real test is going to be is week 2. Cube’s last movie held up asroudingly well, despite horrible, horrible reviews, though, obviously, it’s in a different genre than the last one was.
HHGG is going to be interesting. I don’t know how word of mouth is going to be–I think it may wind up being a movie that satisfies absolutely nobody–too impenetrable to non-fans and not closely hewn enough to the source material for fans.
the only thing to like about XXX2 is Ice Cube. Lee Tamahori…I Hope he likes all the money he’s made, no one will hand to him a work of dramatic art, like that of WARRIORS, ever again.
HHGG has been trailerized into a Dr WHo mid 80s episode. we’ll see what the movie is like today or tomorrow.
Having seen HHGTTG. I must say that I truly love this film. Of course, only people who dislike Zooey Deschannel or a dancing Sam Rockwell could dislike a movie with this much silly Brit humour. If nothing British has ever made you laugh, then avoid the movie. IF not, go have a good time watching a slightly epic Sci-Fi flick from Britain not titled LIFEFORCE.
As long as the Brittons pull a Bridget Jones on this flick. It should be a financial win for Disney. Neither the flop or failure many of you said it would be. Good times all around man. Good times.
HG is not going to pick up unless someone starts to tell people what it’s about. And I don’t see that happening. I still don’t know.
What worries me is Kingdom of Heaven. I want it to do well. But the Fox PR for it sucks, just as it did for Master and Commander. They just don’t seem to know how to tell people outside of the already enlightened, what their films are about and why people should want to see them.
Ridley is god at making epics. KOH has all the earmarks [except for iffy casting of teen idol Bloom as action hero] of something wonderful. So why isn’t the PR screaming it’s potential to people?
I’m not sweating Hitchhiker… but xXx2 is a marketing mess. They tried to do 2 Fast 2 Furious and failed utterly… above and beyond the issue of the quality of movie, which was irrelevant to opening.
“HG is not going to pick up unless someone starts to tell people what it’s about. And I don’t see that happening. I still don’t know.”
That’ll be impossible considering it’s not actually about anything.
Man, the further away I get from seeing Hitchhiker’s Guide the more I dislike it. Sure, I like British humour (The Office and other stuff) but here it was all just “I. AM. BRITISH. PLEASE LAUGH.”
or, ya know…
Technically, the film is great, but as a film it isn’t. Films are meant to go somewhere, have characters do stuff that makes us feel something, etc. This one just has characters going from one wacky british situation to another. It starts out fine but it wears out it’s welcome very quickly. I agree 100% with Roger Ebert’s review of the movie. ABSOLUTELY.
xXx2 failed because nobody cared… and it’s not Summer. Seriously, who knows ANYBODY who was legitimately excited about a new xXx movie being released?
And, somebody up there talked about “State of the Union” as a bad sub-title, well Australia (and I’m not sure where else) got the even more horrible “The Next Level” sub-title! How’s that for horrible game tie-ins!!! It is sad about Lee Tomohori. Once Were Warriors was great and now he’s reduced to making this shit.
At least when Peter Jackson or Sam Raimi made big blockbusters they were actually, ya know, GOOD. Great! Excellent! …xXx (and Die Another Day for that matter) are just poor.
Gotta echo an above poster – “The Edge” is very underrated (although I would have changed the ending to make Baldwin a good guy, because the villain role was too expected). That said, Tamahori has wasted his talents since.
Can’t believe I was so wrong on XXX2 – then again not as nearly as off as Dave was. The Edge is a lil ripper but I think it shoulda just been a wilderness action flick without the stoopid subplot. I agree Josh.. ending misses the emotional punch it should have.
Regarding some of the “Kingdom of Heaven” comments, I would be very surprised if it did the super-blockbuster business some of you have forecasted. Sorry, but Ridley Scott is still not the sort of director who can guarantee significant box office with his name above the title (anybody remember “Matchstick Men”?), and Orlando Bloom has probably already scared off a lot of business after his wimpy performance in “Troy.” Bloom is no Russell Crowe, and comparisons to “Gladiator” seem a bit too convenient and rushed IMHO. Given the dour weightiness of the trailers and the underlying subject matter, I can’t see younger audiences choosing it over the competition. I have no idea why the studio is releasing it now instead of Oscar season.
Camel, HHGTTG is about something so simplistic
among something that seems so complex. Feel that,
and I cannot wait to see this film again. It has
heart, and Zooey Deschannel. That counts for
something.
XXX2 just goes to show you; PEOPLE LIKE VIN DIESEL
MORE THAN ICE CUBE. Ice Cube is not Eva Mendes,
Paul Walker, Devon Aoki, Tyrese, or even fucking
Chris Bridges. When it comes to an ACTION FILM.
Rev Studios would have been better suit making
Xzibit the star, because he does not have all of
that family film baggage bogging him down. Who
would have that the man who first uttered, “The wrong
***** to fuck wit” would have become a family
box office draw.
My 2 cents is that I’m glad that an off beat, unorthodoxed flick was given the light of day at the B/O instead of a cookie cutter noise maker.
I live in Trinidad and have never been exposed to any Hitchhiker lore, so therefore the preview had me the time I saw it, so I had no pre-hype expectations to deal with. I’m sure the studio would have been happier with 30+M opening, but they will take this with a smile for now.
Most,including myself, felt xxx2 would be #1 this weekend. Box Office Prophets had HGTTG at #1 with 42M, so while it’s only half that, its a victory nonetheless. Most prognosticators got this weekend wrong.
So will HGTTG have long legs ar a short shelf life? Weekend 2 holds the answers. I hope more of an audience gives this flick a try.
“I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick some ass…..and I’m all out of bubblegum.”
One other thing I forgot to mention in my previous post, another sub50% drop for Amityville. Does this horror have hold or what. It might go past Constantine and Ring 2 or at least come close. Who’d have thunk it?
“One for me, and one for my homies.”
Hey, but if we agree with the New York Post’s recent assessment, “Kingdom of Heaven” is destined to succeed because Orlando Bloom has starred in five of the biggest films of the last few years.
(As if Bloom’s presence had anything to do with the financial success of the “Lord of the Rings” films, “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Troy”).
I’m somewhat ambivalent about Bloom’s acting abilities, but he just looks ridiculous in the trailers for this movie, as out of place as he did standing next to Brad Pitt in Troy. He’s a goofy looking dude and hardly the action hero that Crowe was. He also feels like a cheap attempt to bring in the teenage crowd. If Crowe was in Kingdom of Heaven I guarantee you this film would have a much higher profile and do a ton more $$.
Weekend estimates per Mojo: “Hitchiker’s Guide” $21.7M, “The Interpreter” $14.2+M, the “xXx” sequel $13.7M.
When “The Interpreter” is the only title selling out in a New Jersey megaplex you know people are starved for a good picture.
Summer season starts 5/6 per Nielsen EDI. Given the surfeit of product, the EXCESS HYPE!!! and the OVERWROUGHT TRAILERS!!!! it doesn’t look good.
I see “Star Wars Episode 3” opening big and falling off big. “Episode 2” lasted all of 4 weeks in the Hamptons.
“I see “Star Wars Episode 3” opening big and falling off big. “Episode 2″ lasted all of 4 weeks in the Hamptons.”
Well, the Hamptons can do that, but the rest of the country’s ready to go beserk for this thing. People have been clamoring THE Star Wars movie for two decades. If this thing delivers, the box office across the country won’t know what hit it.
It’s not hard to predict the #’s for episode 3, just look back to when the last “last” SW movie came out, ROTJ. It did between Empire and SW numbers. Sith will do better than Clones, less than TPM. Not very complicated.
Yeah, since when are the fucking Hamptons a barometer for box office success? Episode 2 did over $300 million. Without Spider-Man, it would have probably pulled in $350 mil. If you think that’s a disappointment you’re crazy.
The repeat business on Episode 3 is going to be through the roof. Plus you’ll have people holding back and then deciding to bring the kids after all. Don’t be surprised if it does $400 mil, and the “inbetween” theory is a good one. Nothing could top Episode 1 at this point.
In the name of all East Coast commuters who have
to travel out to that little hunk of land via the
traffic from hell. Let me say; FUCK THE HAMPTONS.
Revenge will be cutting down people like Sidious
after Mace Windu talked smack to him. Keep doubting
this flick. It will come back and bite you in the
ass.
One more time just for Fred Norris of the Howard
Stern Show; FUCK THE HAMPTONS!
Filmmakers beware of Mike Broder and Small Planet Pictures. They have been in breach of contract Ie they havent paid for the film Rockets Redglare and have ignored their contractual obligations since November of 2004. Small Planet Pictures are financed in part by Palasades Pictures. Mike Broder is a liar and
Filmmakers beware of Mike Broder and Small Planet Pictures. They have been in breach of contract Ie they havent paid for the film Rockets Redglare and have ignored their contractual obligations since November of 2004. Small Planet Pictures are financed in part by Palasades Pictures. Mike Broder is a liar
I’ve said for a while that I reckon Revenge of the Sith will make around $100mil opening weekend and end with roughly $390mil.
Although this movie could actually play for a long time if die hards like it and continue to go back.
Now, onto this week’s numbers. I estimated a few weeks ago that xXx2 would open with about $28 mil and finish with around $80. Man, am I glad it did less that half of that!
To quote Box Office Prophets:
“XXX: State of the Union is neither the number one nor the number two film, making it a disaster of epic, epic proportions”
and this
“In a devastating third spot this weekend is XXX: State of the Union”
and this too
“This is unmitigated disaster territory for Revolution and distributor Sony, as the production cost on this one was an astounding $118 million. Released to a large 3,450 venues, folks probably heard a lot of crickets at screenings, as the action flick had a venue average of $3,936 (remember we
Yeah, and what about the dumb bastard who said XXX2 would do 80 mill without breaking a sweat? Wotta moron. Sheesh, I haven’t been this wrong since I told Cher she’d never survive without Sonny.
I caught Hitchhiker’s Guide last night at a late show on Sunday night and it was packed! Packed! of course, I live in Los Angeles so that is not too out of the ordinary. I think the film will do decent. I mean the film has laughs, but no big laughs. We tend to forget that above all selling points, the film is rated PG. What else are the kids to see before Star Wars?
I think what will blow us totally out of the water will be Monster-In-Law next weekend. It’s previewing in about 800 theatres and it will do huge numbers.
But… kid’s aren’t out of school yet, are they?
I don’t exactly understand your school system over there so I don’t know, but it’s not even Summer yet so the kids have plenty of stuff to occupy them while they wait for Star Wars.
right?
Yes, school is still going on all over the country. That’s why the first summer movie of the year has traditionally been released over Memorial Day weekend. It’s been successfully moved back over the last few years to be beginning of May, but that’s only worked because the successful movies (Van Helsing, X2, Spider-Man, etc) have been juggernauts without competition. This year they crammed four or five mid-level movies unto the release slots before Star Wars and none will make a huge amount of money.