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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Box Office Hell – SuperAug

Updated, Fri Morning… first chart after the jump…
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22 Responses to “Box Office Hell – SuperAug”

  1. Joe Leydon says:

    Just curious: How many of you folks out there have any idea what The Last Legion is about? I’m not trying to tricky or snarky here, I am genuinely curious to see how clear it has been made by the trailer and TV spots that the movie is… well, let’s put it this way: I saw it tonight, and I was a tad surprised by the tone of the piece, and its obvious literary inspiration.

  2. ployp says:

    there’s a movie called the last legion?
    a big ouch for invasion.

  3. Rothchild says:

    Midnight Superbad was a madhouse. This film is going to be a monster.

  4. Rob says:

    Joe, I read a review of The Last Legion that says it mixes Arthurian legend with the fall of the Roman empire. How, um, does that work?

  5. Jackrabbit Slim says:

    Sounds like that bad Clive Owen King Arthur movie from a few years ago, which was also about Arthur and the Romans in Briton.

  6. I’d never heard of this Last Legion film before. Nowhere on the net. Strange.

  7. Wrecktum says:

    Another great job by Weinstein advertising their product. Not only was The Last Legion poorly advertised, but the marketing for the film was shitty. A terrible trailer reminscent of the Bruckheimer stiff King Arthur a few years back and a one-sheet that looks like a 300 rip-off.

  8. kit fisk says:

    Rob – Some of the Arthurian legend stories depict Arthur as a descendant of the former Roman conquerers… which relates to the “historical” Arthur, placed around 450-550 AD, is also popularly thought to be descended from Romans.

  9. Joe Leydon says:

    I can’t yet be more specific than this — my Variety review isn’t up yet — but: Have any of you picked up anything in the ads that might indicate to you that this movie could have more in common with Robert Louis Stevenson than Frank Miller?

  10. jeffmcm says:

    Oh good, a Roman/Arthurian version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

  11. Aris P says:

    No idea what Last Legion is. Never heard of it. Not one poster, or tv spot. If it’s some kind of Arthurian Legend movie, it’s a pretty safe assumption that everyone will pass on it, unless it has a giant star in it (which i’m assuming it doesn’t). I would think the public has had enough of these types of movies, which are mostly horrible. And if Harvey didnt spend any money on marketing/promotion it’s b/c he knows it sucks. why waste more money.

  12. IOIOIOI says:

    Joe; uh yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeessss, but I am not going to go see it. Nevertheless; I am curious as to how SUPERBAD plays with everyone else whose not online being deluged with ads.

  13. Joe Leydon says:

    OK, here’s the thing: Last Legion is at heart an old-fashioned adventure story that echoes Treasure Island and Kidnapped. And I was frankly amazed to realize this after being exposed to ads that led me to expect the Wal-Mart version of 300. Even more surprising: The action scenes are cut in such a way as to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the movie originally was intended as family-friendly fare. (The movie was shot in 2005, long before 300 appeared.) I’m not saying this is a great movie that has been sabotaged by bad marketing, or that it ever had potential for breakthrough success. But it does strike as weird that a movie that could have connected with some folks is being sold as something it most certainly isn’t — something that the folks who might have enjoyed it likely won’t go see.
    BTW: Here’s my Variety review.
    http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934446.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

  14. IOIOIOI says:

    Well, the Weinstein Company, blows balls Joe. How could they ever come up with a marketing campaign that represents the true essence of that film? I mean… gah.

  15. Mr. Gittes says:

    I think the bigger issue is what the hell happened to Ben Kingsley? Someone needs to do a piece on Sir Ben’s superior ability in choosing pretty awful projects. BloodRayne, Thunderbirds, A Sound of Thunder — YUCK.

  16. Joe Leydon says:

    IOIOIOI, I don’t know if I’d use “blows balls” as an insult. I mean, whenever someone blows my balls, I am grateful. And I always say thank-you.**
    **Wisecrack based on a classic routine by Lenny Bruce. No copyright infringement intended.

  17. IOIOIOI says:

    *”HIYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”*- Ed McMahon all rights reserved. Buy Alpo. That is all.

  18. ployp says:

    Any word on The Invasion? 21% on rotten tomatoes. Ms. Kidman seriously needs to pick better projects. I don’t understand how she can command such high salary when none of her movies has made a lot of money.

  19. You really don’t like Kidman do you? This is the third time in the last few days you mentioned her.
    I’d be inclined to think Oliver Hirschbeigel (sp?) had something different than the finished product implies.

  20. Geoff says:

    According to Fantasy Moguls, Superbad did $11 million – which is actually more than Knocked Up!
    Wow, Apatow is having one heck of summer. I know there was a lot of hype, but I did not see this one doing $100 million – how many times can lightning strike? It should do $30 million, this weekend. Apatow is now A-list and I can see him getting an Oscar nod for one of these films, now.

  21. ployp says:

    Actually, I use to like Ms. Kidman. It’s just that she’s done really, really bad movies since The Others and Moulin Rouge (The Interpreter, Bewitched, the list goes on). Come to think of it, I can only think of 3 movies that are good – To Die For, The Others and Moulin Rouge. I’m hoping Australia would stop her bad-movie streak.

  22. I discussed this in the other thread but what about The Hours? Or her amazing performances in (the amazing films) Birth and Dogville? And you don’t have any faith in Margot at the Wedding or The Golden Compass?
    And, well, The Interpreter gets a bad rap, I reckon. It’s not like it was even that critically reviled. It’s at 59% at RT and something like 66% cream of the crop.
    You should also check out Dead Calm, Flirting and, if you haven’t seen it, Eyes Wide Shut. All great films with great performances by Nicole.

Quote Unquotesee all »

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