No doubt, there will be late entries from Nikki’s Pals & EW… but I probably won’t have an available web connection to post them here. Look at the front page of MCN, where someone will update them later.
Note: The Bourne Supremacy opened in 3,304 theaters and grossed $52.5m on July 23, 2004.
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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” ā 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 ā 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 ā he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā I was with her at that moment ā 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 namedā” “Yeah, sure ā 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 Iām on the phone with you now, after all thatās 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 didnāt seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereās not a case of that. He wasnāt using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā if that were what the accusation involved ā 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. Iām not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, āYou know, itās not this, itās thatā? Because ā let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatās what it lacked. Thatās 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 Ultimatum making less then 300? Really? Whateverthecase; here’s to Bourne making some 300-esque bank this weekend. While hoping Hot Rod makes enough to give some folks some comedic cred who are not associated with Apatow.
No doubt Nikki’s Pals will come in with a wildly accurate Bourne prediction of “10-200.”
aren’t you glad you changed your tune about the simpsons?
(maybe I am speaking too soon)
David, when are you doing another blog with your “chart”. I would like to see how you think the August movies will perform.
I think The simpsons will hold better. It’s a great time, very short, and I can’t wait to see it again.
Bourne will do identical to the previous one, which is impressive. I saw it two nights ago and it doesn’t disappoint.
I wonder if Hairspray may leapfrog over Chuck and Larry this weekend. It is already doing it during the week, and I think it is likely that Bourne will eat into C&L’s numbers far more than Hairspray
I’m deluded enough to think HP will hold better than expected and still has an outside chance at 300 mil. It’s daily grosses at this point are crushing Goblet of Fire’s by a 2 to 1 margin and are ahead of Sorcerer’s Stone by well over 60%. The only problem is the theatre count which is dropping faster than those two films. Still, Goblet of Fire made 9.9 million in it’s 4th weekend, and Stone finished the 4th weekend at 239 million. Phoenix will head INTO the weekend with over $251 million.
Good luck to Bourne
I think those numbers on El Cantante could be way low. It’s selling out shows in Manhattan at Union Square and Lincoln Square for tonight already. While NYC is obviously the big market for the flick, I think it could be a surprise niche hit.
(I think the numbers on Hot Rod, on the other hand, are probably way high, and Bratz is either going to be a surprise niche hit or a complete tanker.)
Hot Rod actually looks like a ton of fun. Video for me, but looks fun none-the-less.
Bourne Ubiquity should kill. It’s one of the few seeming gaurentees you get as a movie goer, and I expect a lot of people think the same.
Bourne is a lock for $60m+. Bratz, Hot Rod and El Cantante are dead on arrival. Underdog will get a very healthy $12-14m.
Video for you? Proclaiming that seems a bit odd in terms of this flick being a comedy. Comedies are the rare breed of film that works better outside of the living room. Due in large part to comedies being best be viewed with random people laughing their asses off with you or about something else all together. Nevertheless; Hot Rod is easily the funniest flick I have seen all year, thanks to it sincerity and Europe.
I loved Hot Rod, as did the midnight crowd I saw it with…but the reviews seem to be mostly bad.
I’m surprised at those who say it’s a one-joke movie, and that that one joke is stunts gone wrong…there’s a whole lot more to it than that in terms of humor, but it’s the kind of deadpan surreal stuff that doesn’t work for everyone.
Shocked that any theater would have midnight screenings of Hot Rod.
Is Nikki withholding and depriving you or something?
I too want to see Hot Rod, but will wait for DVD. Comedies may work better in the right theater, but I’ve had waaay too many experiences of having the 15-year-old kids behind me who repeat every remotely funny line 3 seconds after the main character said it or talk full volume on their cell phone pr to their neighbor through the whole movie, to the point where I get so frustrated I want to turn around and punch them.
In my opinion, theatrical has become such a sucky experience that I won’t do it for anything that I don’t have to see that way.
I saw Bourne today in the “Premiere” theater of my local Muvico, meaning for $2 extra per ticket I got assigned seats, bigger, more comfortable chairs, free popcorn and, best of all, nobody under 21 allowed. Best moviegoing experience I’ve had in years. My wife and I just walked in 10 minutes before the film started knowing we’d have the exact seats we want, and the crowd was perfectly quiet throughout.
I know adults can be as loud and obnoxious as kids in a movie theater, but excluding the under-21s goes a long way toward fixing the annoyance problem.
Oh, and Bourne kicked much ass.
Cool Beans…Cool Cool Beans! š
Actually, I wrote a new summer column and chart for this week and then screwed up and forgot to make the column accessible to me away from my work computer. So, it didn’t run yesterday. The central theme was how short the window has been this summer with most of the big films hitting 90% of domestic in less than 25 days.
And why not… here is a look at the unedited chart, which would be correctly dated Aug 2…
“nobody under 21 allowed”
How does that work? Is it even legal?
Wrecktum — if that shocks you, consider that there were also midnight screenings for Bratz and Underdog at that same theater. They do it every week for every new release.
What shocks me is that when they did it for Joshua, it sold out, even though the movie had been out for a week in L.A. (and it’s a stupid movie)
This midnight screenings thing is another symptom of frontloading. There is zero sane reason why Underdog needs midnight screenings.
“How does that work? Is it even legal?”
Perhaps they serve alcohol.
If a theater did that in Atlanta, they’d get 100% of my business.
Do you mind me asking which theater it is that showed Underdog at midnight?
I don’t mind at all. AMC 30 at The Block in Orange, CA. They always show all new releases Thursday night, even stuff on its way to DVD shortly like Slow Burn.
For a critic in the age of non-screening, it’s a boon; I much prefer Thursday midnight to 10 a.m. Friday when it comes to late reviews.
(Finally was able to sign in after weeks of trying…. had to switch to a different browser, which sucks.)
The frontloading thing is interesting because in the ’80s and ’90s, things were rarely very frontloaded but in 2001 when opening weekends and theatres counts started exploding, it became more common, but in the last few years, where there haven’t been as many big opening records, there’ve also been better legs for movies… this summer’s box office seems to be returning to 2001 with things doing exceptionally well opening weekend and then not much afterwards.
Me said; “In my opinion, theatrical has become such a sucky experience that I won’t do it for anything that I don’t have to see that way.” Where on earth do you live where the theatrical experience has devolved to such a level? Again; there’s few things cooler than a theatre, and experience the COOL BEANS sequence with other people. Oh yeah… Bourne… most likely making more than 57. Wootini.
Yes, they serve alcohol. And a full dinner menu if you want. I didn’t try either but might next time.
To quote The Simpsons – Boo-urns!
I agree that theatre is better for comedy, but you won’t find me paying ten bucks to see HOT ROD, sorry. It looks like fun but it’s still a video movie no matter which way you slice it. Which seems to be the general consensus now that we’ve seen the grosses – though I have to admit to being surprised it didn’t do better, because it looked funny enough. But opening movies without movie stars in them is always a tricky business, regardless of how the film is.
But then again I only see the best-looking Will Ferrell vehicles (Ricky Bobby, which disappointed, or Old School) in the theatre and have only paid theatre prices to see Adam Sandler one (for Punch Drunk Love), so I’m really not the best test case on the “stupid comedy” movies.
I recently saw IDIOCRACY against my wishes (she picked it) but laughed my ass off. Self-medication helps.