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
The #’s really aren’t all that surprising, except maybe for the strong hold for the bashed-upon Chicken Little.
Zathura, sad as it is to say since I love Favreau, just didn’t have the “it” factor I think…no big stars, a sorta been there done that plot…i wish it had done better though.
No surprise that people aren’t reccomending Jarhead…such a shame too as for me, it’s the most underrated movie and one of the most misunderstood movies of the year. Smart and provocative and stylish…so it’s gotta be a bad movie right? Because explosions arent going off everywhere and heads arent coming off?
Get Rich was being compared unfavorably and irresponsibly to 8 Mile in a lot of different ways. They’re completely different movies in almost every respect. While not spectacular, the opening has to be considered solid, just look at the per screen average.
Prime continues to play exclusively to the older, i’ll-go-see-it-on-the-3rd-weekend crowd. And as usual, a crapped-on thriller (which I haven’t seen but sort of want to), Derailed, defies the critics and makes some coin. Good for Clive.
I just wish Good Night and Good Luck would get bigger and bigger.
good night and good luck continues to hold in there. A $30 mill. finish before Oscar noms is definitely a solid number and easily good enough to put it in the top best pic crowd. Getting a Quiz Show feeling about it though (some noms but not many wins).
50 Cent isn’t half the seller that Eminem was when his film came out. Smaller CD-buying audience = smaller ticket buying audience. Plus the fact that to some crowds it looked like old hat: 8-Mile 2? The horrible reviews kept older crowds away. $50 mill. seems like an ok finish for this film, but I have no idea what the budget was. Jim Sheridan also seems like completely the wrong guy for the job. How about a Spike Lee 50 Cent movie? That would have had people talking.
I think a big reason why Chicken Little is doing business and Zathura isn’t, might be as simple as the name. With a strong push in the marketing, Disney made the kids and parents understand what the movie was with the name: instantly you get it; even though the movie isn’t that great. With Zathura, you’re getting a sharp movie and something young boys would probably enjoy, but before you even learn about the film, you have poeople saying, “Zathura?” What does that mean? At least Jumanji had Robin Williams to sell it. I just don’t think a Tim Robbins cameo is going to cut it. Maybe if they called it’s “Space House” or something… it would have done better.
” . . . and Pixar
It means I screwed up… and have fixed it.
Good points on the diff between 8 Mile and Get Rich. White as a sheet indeed.
When I first saw the ads for Zathura and noticed Tim Robbins name in the credits but nowhere to be seen in the marketing I knew this was in trouble.
I like Favreau and Robbins but this just felt so…generic. And a truly awful title. It sounds like the name of a disease one might get if they drank the water in a country that didn’t have proper purification process’. “Please, gotta find a bathroom quick. The Zathura’s kickin’ in again.”
As for 50 cent. I am a little surprised, but again, this feels like so many other films we’ve seen. Belly, Boyz in the Hood, Juice etc. The genre of Mr. Cent’s life is simply tired.
With 8 mile, the ‘white boy’ element made it feel fresh. Sadly, in this case, the fact that 50 cent is black made it feel more generic. I say this irrespective of whether or not he is more or less talented than Eminem.
Also, whether it had to do with the film or not, that opening day shooting scared a lot of white urban folks away. Guaranteed. Maybe wrongly scared them away of course. But one can’t deny this was not good publicity.
Great analysis on the Disney/Pixar deal, Poland. Most “entertainment journalists” have been spinning the personality conflict story for so long, they probably wouldn’t even know how to approach the story from a business angle.
When Sony made Jumanji back in the day, they awkwardly rewrote the story to include a starring role for Robin Williams, who was coming off the 200m+ Mrs. Doubtfire. It worked…Jumanji crossed $100m. Zathura doesn’t have a Robin Williams. It needs one, badly…even with the “jailbait” (couldn’t you wait until she’s 17 to throw that one out, Poland??).
That argument on theaters cutting back “Get Rich or Die Tryin’ ” doesn’t hold water.
The AMC Hamilton opened 4 prints of “Get Rich …”, thus that megaplex could not open “Pride & Prejudice” or pick up “Capote”. The AMC Neshaminy outside Philadelphia did play those 2 upmarket titles.
A multiplex near me isn’t playing “Get Rich …” because that theater is not playing anything from Paramount, period.
As for the jailbait-ness of Kristen Stwewart in Zathura, he’s quite right, she does look absolutely stunning in this film (remember 3.5 years ago, in Panic Room, when people thought she was a boy?).
Funny story… I was lucky enough to attend the first test screening of Zathura back in oh, June I think(?). Anyway, much of the male audience started giggling when she made her first appearence, wearing basically underwear and a sleep shirt. Even more amusing, about 30 minutes into the film, her character gets temporarily ‘taken out of play’ (don’t want to spoil), and that same audience sighed in annoyance, knowing we… I mean they… wouldn’t get to oogle for at least the rest of the act. It was highly amusing.
Scott Mendelson
Actually, I think that’s not what happened at all. I think “Get Rich…” was very ghettoized, with heavily African-American theatres taking as many prints as they possibly could and theatres in more upscale white neighborhoods passing. Hence, it killed any possibility for it crossing over to people who weren’t drawn in by “Fiddy.”
Y’know, technically Disney’s first CG animated film was Dinosaur. Which did a healthy $137 million back in 2000.
^ Disney doesn’t consider Dinosaur their first CG animated film. First, all the backgrounds were filmed live action (a cameraman died in the process of filming a background plate in the desert). Second, it wasn’t made by Walt Disney Feature Animation: all the CG was done by the Secret-Lab, which had previously been Dream Quest Images, a separate company purchased by Disney. Dream Quest had worked on Armageddon and Mighty Joe Young, among others, before their work on Dinosaur.
The Secret Lab no longer exists.
Dinosaur was a neat looking film, with a rather unfortunate script and a hugely overblown budget. $137 mill. for that movie was a gigantic loss.
Anyone seen “Chicken Little” 3D? How is it?
I remember Dinosaur as a huge bomb.
Dinosaurs talking–it just wasn’t right.
I sorta don’t remember Dinosaur at all. I remember it being made and released but that’s about it. It was a bad way of capitalising on Walking With Dinosaurs, right?
Zathura DID have a bad name.
So happy for Pride & Prejudice. Hopefully this will get the Oscar ball rolling for the film, which essentially everybody seemed to have all but ignored. It ain’t getting near Best Picture but Actress and the techs are very real possibilities.
I don’t think they were capitalizing on Walking with Dinosaurs; the movie would have been in development long before that. There was one of those periodic dinosaur boomlets going on at the time, and in that sense, they were both trying to cash in. No question, though, Walking with Dinosaurs was superior, even if it’s oudated now, because the science moves so fast. Indeed, just compare the presentation of raptors in WwD with that in Jurassic Park, to see how much things can change in only six years.
“Dinosaur” — $137 million budget, $354 million worldwide gross.
“Toy Story” — $90 million budget, $361 million worldwide gross.
“A Bug’s Life” — $120 million budget, $363 million world wide gross.
“And with no true young kids movie the rest of the year (Yours, Mine & Ours is the only other major release slated with a PG or G)…”
How do “Cheaper By the Dozen 2” and, more importantly, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” not fall under that category?
And then there’s “Hoodwinked.”
parents are so desperate to take their kids to a movie that they’ll see anything. chicken little example number one.
You can make a good case that the title “Zathura” was a terrible call and didn’t help the film at all. A movie aimed at kids and kids couldn’t even pronounce the title. Terrible marketing there.
Zathura didn’t have a star. that’s what hurt it. If lucky, word of mouth will keep it chugging along.
Here’s an interesting question–we all know Potter will bust up everything this weekend. (In NYC, every Imax showing of it all weekend is alredy sold out and regular shows are becoming tough to find.) Just how big will Walk The Line go? I can see it getting lost in Pottermania or I can see it opening to 25-30.
I think it Walk the Line is limited this week, and expands more next week (Thansgiving weekend). I could care less about Harry Potter 4, bring on CASH!!
Josh Massey is correct. Both Narnia and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 are coming out as PG.
I think it was a reasonable gamble to make Zathura with an unusual name and no stars. Kids don’t really care about stars if the movie looks cool, and I’m sure they were hoping for a ‘what’s a Zathura? We better see the movie to find out!’ kind of buzz.
Nope. Walk the Line goes to 2,500 screens on Friday.
I stand corrected.
My bet is the high teens for Walk the Line. I think Potter will come close to cracking $100MM. The one I’m most curious about is Narnia. How much will that do?
Cheaper 1 was PG-13, I believe. Not sure what LWW will be, but I don’t imagine it will be a first choice for parents of kids under 10 unitl it proves “safe.”
And Dinosaur was way over $137m.
Cheaper 1 was PG. Part of the reason it did so well is that the cast hits a lot of bases–Tom Welling, Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, and Hilary Duff all draw different demographics in, though the Ashton Kutcher factor, which helped the first one, isn’t present here.
Narnia has a very tough line to tread–“real” enough to satisfy fantasy fans without being so dark to scare the kiddies away, and “Christian” enough to have that marketing angle without being preachy.
Cheaper had some star power. It certainly helped it in the opening weeks.
All I know is what IMDB says for each movie’s ratings.
Replacing Kutcher with Eugene Levy will definitely tilt the movie towards an American Pie-type demo.
Walk the Line should get close to 20 million.
Narnia is PG. It starts screening this week…we’ll know soon if it’s any good and/or little-kid friendly.
If Harry Potter continues the trend of a lesser bang each time out, Narnia should benefit. Narnia will also benefit from all the thirty-somethings like me who read the Narnia books a gazillion times and can’t wait to see a big picture version. Tilda Swinton should rock as the Witch.
Eager to see Walk the Line too, even though I do have a slight problem in seeing Joaquin-I-have-a-fucking-frog-jumpin-out-o-my-head as the Man in Black. I think he’s a good actor, but I always think “short-ish and vegan” and think of Johnny as tall and imposing & ultracool. I’ll still go anyway.
I think that Harry Potter will gross somewhere between $85-$100 million this weekend. If it wasn’t for the PG-13 rating, I would say it was a threat to break Spiderman’s record.
The movie that I think has an excellent chance of breaking Spiderman’s record is Chronicles of Narnia. The movie is based on a universally loved novel which means that the fans will be coming out to support it.
However, it is the fact that the books are supported by the Christian right-wing, normally not avid movie-goers, that will entice those people to come out and support the film. The PG rating means that they can bring all of their kids , even the little ones.
If Passion of the Christ can get to $85 million with an R-rating, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Narnia break $115 million.
We’ll see in a few weeks if I was right or just smoking some really good stuff. 🙂
There are plenty of people, specifically of the religious persuasion, who will not bring children to a PG movie. Not enough to matter for Narnia, but some.
No one really gets Christians. Some of you people must live well in your ivory towers.
If the movie is good Christians will support it. You think they’ll flock to it just because some think its “Christian”? Give me a break.
I think this discussion has already been made regarding the Left Behind and Omega Code movies, which were seen for no other reason than because they were ‘Christian’. They certainly were not quality productions. Granted, none of them ever made as much as Narnia will its opening weekend.
“(ZATHURA) sounds like the name of a disease one might get if they drank the water in a country that didn’t have proper purification process.”
Actually, ZATHURA sounds like the drug you take when you get the disease! A reversal on the old joke that all drugs sound like “Star Trek” names; e.g., “Ambassador Zoloft from the planet Cialis is in your ready room, Captain.”
That’s an extremely dumb statement and that’s saying something because you say about one a day, Jeffrey. Just because you didn’t like something or can’t see why millions would like something doesn’t mean its only popular because its “Christian”.
Typical liberal who doesn’t relate or even want to relate to most of America. Not everything you don’t like or understand is hated by everyone else. Time to get down from that Ivory Tower, Jeffrey.
It is insulting to a whole group of people that they’re dumb to like something because you don’t like it. You want to bet how many people don’t like what you like?
I would politely suggest that you guys are choosing to be insulted by what I said, which really had no explicit statement of opinion. The only reason for the Left Behind movies or Omega Code was to exploit a particular section of the market. They were not well-made movies. Just like Saw II was made to exploit the horror market. There are always fans of horror movies who will see any crappy horror movie, and there are fans of Christian movies who will see any crappy Christian movie.
jeff, those same guys just wait to pounce on us. I don’t think they carefully read what we say or take any time to consider it thoughtfully. They see our name and they go into attack mode. It happens over and over and over again.
You got people who hate religious folks. And frankly they hate more that they don’t understand them. You think you’re better than them because they believe in something else. Something spiritual.
Bruce, would you please elucidate? I think there are a couple of typos in there keeping me from fully grasping what you’re saying.
There is a difference between what you believe and what you value. I believe in something else, a higher power, a bigger life force than my own. But I value differences, I value discussion and debate and I value ideas.
Certain groups value being right and making sure others feel wrong.
And certain folks freak out anytime they think they’re being threatened, rightly or wrongly.
What typo’s? Obviously, you know what I’m saying. If you want to deflect the point, that is fine to me because you will never see it anyway.
I’ll make it clear to you JeffMCM. You hate religious people. You hate and make fun of and laugh at the fact that they believe in something that you think is weird or crazy. You can’t or don’t want to understand them so you disparage or make claims that they all stick together. And if they like something or it is popular and you hate it, it must be dumb or stupid or “christian”.
Bruce, calm down. Your earlier comment seemed vague. I think it’s great that you have such a spiritual life and plentiful inner peace.
So would you like to discuss my point, that there is a section of the movie-going market that will see anything with the proper marketing regardless of quality, just as with any other demographic?
Jeff be real. If it was that easy don’t you think Hollywood would only make those kinds of pictures because they would be sure things?
An exec would have to be brain dead not to do away with their entire slate and just greenlight those kinds of films.
And do you seriously think Left Behind and Omega Man were box office hits? Maybe from the same guy who thinks Prime was a success.
Josh, there is such a thing as the exploitation market. There are segments of the movie-going audience who will see anything marketed to them in a particular genre. There is no other reason for the Left Behind movies etc to exist. Is it a huge section of the market? No. But it does exist.
Prime is not going to lose money, which is enough to make it a financial ‘success’.
Jeff sounds about right. They’re called genre fans. Just like I’m sure there’s people who see every film with gay themes, I’m also sure there’s people who see every film with Christian themes. It’s nothing to get angry about, sheesh.
I thought that was one of the biggest principals of marketing. Market to your predetermined audiences. Horror movies like Devil’s Rejects, that really don’t have a chance of breaking out, are marketed towards horror fans.
Hollywood has always made movies targeted towards certain demographics. I believe when movies like In Her Shoes and such were released they all got called “chick flicks” because they are conceived and marketed towards the female demo. Or, am I missing something there?
Onto Harry/Narnia, the thing that will affect their grosses is surely their running time. Isn’t Harry nearly 3 hours long?
If every Christian in the world saw Left Behind why wasn’t it number 1?
Your argument collapses.
Potter predicts…
Friday – $37.2 Million
Saturday – $30.3 Million
Sunday – $23.4 Million
Total OW: $90.8 Million
Total Domestic: $279.3 Million
Total Worldwide: $866.1 Million
This is going to DROP on Saturday, just like the last installment. All the fans will be at the midnight showing, or on opening day. A major hit to be sure, possibly the biggest of the year.
Narnia will likely have an opening in the high 40’s, but I’m doubtful of it cracking $200 million domestic, and worldwide is a shot in the dark. The marketing just isn’t THERE yet to predict it any higher.
Won’t do a worldwide. But I’ll do weekend.
105 million dineros.
Blustealer, the argument is over. Not every Christian in the world saw Left Behind, just like not every black person is seeing, say, Get Rich or Die Trying. But GRoDT wouldn’t have been made without the sure-fire knowledge that rap movies have a fan base. Left Behind only existed because the producers knew there were enough people who would see them. Post-Rapture enthusiasts.
You guys have got to stop thinking that you’re being set apart and oppressed.
What argument? I’m making a point not getting into an argument. I know enough to avoid you on this site because you have a nice habit of inflammatory remarks, you never seem to stop, and you like fighting/arguing. Not my style. I’m sure you can appreciate that.
Have fun arguing away.
I don’t like to argue. I just find it necessary to say something when people are spreading false information. Non-argumentative discussions would be GREAT.
Jeff doesn’t like to argue? You can’t make a point here without trying to engage someone in verbal fistacuffs.
Fisticuffs is spelled with an i.
🙂
But you somehow knew what I was saying so it’s not all bad. Thanks, Johnny English Teacher. I’ll spell check my posts from now on for you. GREAT.
I thought this was an interesting little tidbit.
Hollywood: Praise the Movie!
Newsweek
Nov. 21, 2005 issue – A movie director, a studio executive and a preacher walk into a church. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but it’s the beginning of a new trend in Hollywood marketing. Inspired by the surprise box-office success of “The Passion of the Christ,” distributors have increasingly been taking their faith-based movies to church, much to the delight of many religious leaders. “Films can speak powerfully,” says assistant pastor David Manne, who fields calls from studio executives to set up movie screenings at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in Santa Ana, Calif. “People that wouldn’t normally go to church will come in to see a movie.”
And people who wouldn’t normally go to a movie in a theater will see it if it’s pastor-approved and shown at their church. To tap into that market, Disney has hired “Passion’s” PR firm to promote the Christian-themed “The Chronicles of Narnia” with dozens of sneak-peek events at churches across the country. (Preachers are reportedly urged to give “Narnia”-themed sermons and invite non-Christians to see the movie with the congregation.) The latest film adaptation of the best-selling Biblical end-of-times “Left Behind” books skipped theaters altogether with a straight-to-church release; it played last month on screens in 3,200 churches. For perspective, rapper 50 Cent’s film “Get Rich or Die Tryin’ ” opened last week in just 1,652 theaters.
The marketing tactic hasn’t been limited to evangelicals: an anti-Wal-Mart documentary by left-wing director Robert Greenwald is currently being screened in some 1,000 churches across the country, and “Ushpizin,” a Hebrew-language comedy, is being shown to Orthodox Jews in venues where men and women sit on separate sides of the auditorium. “It’s another way for people to praise God,” says Peter Lalonde, executive producer of “Left Behind: World at War.” And it doesn’t hurt if they praise the movie, too.
That’s a scary title for a movie playing in churches. And I don’t mean Ushpizin.
Obviously, they make the movie to get the biggest audience possible and make the most money and a lot of Christian people love the books to death. Wouldn’t you try and get as many people to see it and make as much money? You would be doing a huge disservice if you didn’t market to them.
Same thing for Get Rich. They should be blanketing black and urban markets with ads.
It’s strange. The black teenagers I know have been extremely excited about seeing movies like Saw II and Exorcism of Emily Rose, but hardly any were looking forward to seeing Get Rich. I was really surprised at their lack of enthusiasm for it. They go to the movies a lot, and constantly talk about what they’re going to see or want to see. Hardly anyone mentioned Get Rich.
Pigeon holing movies is not a good idea and I’m sure no director or artist wants that to happen to his or her work. They want their work seen by everyone so they can have a voice.
Whether it’s a good idea or not, every movie falls into one more more genres and every marketer knows that they have to pitch their movie for maximum returns. Ideally you’re correct.
That said, I don’t think the director of, say, Saw II wanted ‘everyone’ to see their movie. Not much appeal to small children/grandmothers/the Amish.
Ideally, you want to appeal to everyone so you can make as much as you can. Some can’t so they must be marketed as such.
AgentArc, you think HP could become the biggest of the year, yet you predict it will make approx $290mil. Star Wars made $380mil.
…or were you talking worldwide?
Yes, you want to appeal to as many people as possible but a movie like Left Behind was never going to cross over into the teen market, or the gay market, or whatever. So it seems pretty obvious that is was made for the Christian demo.
If you needed any more proof of that, the third film in the franchise got a limited one-week run (i think one week anyway) run IN CHURCHES. If they’re aiming for non Christians by doing that then they really need to re-evaluate their marketing strategies.
Correct, I see Harry Potter topping Star Wars for the year, in the worldwide market, by $20 to $30 million.
I don’t see Potter beating out Star Wars for this year.
To MattM: The AMC Hamilton does play upmarket product — I’ve seen more than a few arty pictures in that megaplex. The arty fare does very well or very poorly depending on product flow.
AMC does have a tendency to get into bad booking practices. Opening 4 prints of “Get Rich …” while turning down “Capote” is bad booking.