April 26, 2024
Box Office
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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 think Beowulf will do big business. Even my old female English professor is going to see it. It’s funny to imagine her so prim and proper among the rowdy teenage boys in the theater.
Yeah, I think Beowulf’s numbers will be much better than those predictions.
I dunno. I expected this thing to be huge. Like 40 million + opening. Now I’m not so sure.
I just had lunch with my friend, who is the head animator at a leading animation studio in town and one of his co-workers. I brought the film up thinking they would both be psyched. His department will semi-regularly take off a Friday afternoon to see a new film if it involves new or heavy CG techniques.
Both of them shrugged at Beowulf. I was suprised and pressed them a bit and both couldn’t even really articulate why, but had little interest.
Another friend of mine who is a film teacher also had no interest. He thought the animation style was ‘creepy’.
As for myself, I will definitely see a 3D print of it, but I too am saddened that from a creative POV, they took the pagan angle of the story as opposed to a more balanced approach of the pagan/Christian elements.
I do not think this will do as well as expected.
Nicol – The premise of the religious side is that they are on the edge of a world of Judeo-Christian dominance and this is the last gasp of magical things, like dragons and demons.
Dave,
Oh, I know. I actually studied Beowulf in school. But what I have read in many places is that the film does not really explore that theme properly and merely has the characters take ‘potshots’ at Christianity or the ‘new faith’. The poem, as written, borrows much of pagan traditions but also does not denegrate the Judeo-Christian influences of the time.
My impression is the film does not really take this complex view. Obviously I am assuming this based on the reviews that I have read, but if that is right I will not be surprised.
Dead-eyes? Uh… no. Oddly constructed chins and cheeks bones? Uh… yes.
Nicol, I’m confused, I thought you were in Canada or at the very least the East Coast.
Considering that Polar Express had a pro-spirituality message, and Cast Away could be considered to also, I would be surprised (but not hugely so) if this movie was all Christian-bashing.
Oh, and of course I forgot the very pro-spirituality message of Contact and what there is in Forrest Gump, so Zemeckis strikes me as not exactly a limousine atheist.
Complexity? Not at these prices.
I’m not expecting anything more than really good 3D, which is enough to get me in the theater…this time.
If it cracks 30 million, I’ll change my name to Beowulf.
I have a hunch that Magorium won’t crack $10 million.
This film is a real wild card. I know that David has been pretty dead on about the “geek 8.”
But that has really changed, this year – I really underestimated 300 and Transformers. Those films seemed squarely aimed at the geek crowd, I thought they would not draw any one female or over 35. Yet they both did a “geek 70.”
I would doubt this could do that much, but who knows? Paramount has been very aggressive with this and there truly has not been a real mass appeal film in months – Bee Movie was aimed at families and American Gangster adults.
The market is there for a LOTR or Harry Potter type hit – I’m sure Paramount would be happy with a $40 million opening.
i’ll be surprised if ‘beowulf’ cracks thirty……the problem is, there are three audiences…..regular, 3-d and imax 3-d…..and those first two groups are going to walk away telling people it’s a crappy movie while the third group is going to walk away telling people it’a a really, really pretty crappy movie…….once folk realize that if it’s not imax it’s not worth it, i’m thinking this thing will sink like a stone……
and….am i the only one who thought john malkovich was doing a bad bette davis impersonation throughout this whole movie? just askin’…..
Jeff,
Robert Zemeckis is one of my favourite directors. Whether or not his films or pro or not “spititual” has nothing to do with it. I only mentioned it in the case of Beowulf because of the nature of the source material itself vs. what many people had written about the film. I am actually looking forward to the film very much. I just hoped it would be as complex as the poem and the history itself.Ihave read the it is not.
Wow! Major typos in that last post. See what four glasses of wine with pizza will do…
“the problem is, there are three audiences…..regular, 3-d and imax 3-d”
very true, I didn’t think about that as far as estimates. those numbers aren’t too low then.
The IMAX presentation I saw had a bit of ghost imaging, maybe the recycled glasses are getting worn. The theater also had two well-lit entrances at exactly 180 degrees to my field of view, just outside the frame of the glasses. Very distracting. Grendel….EWWWW!
this might be pedestrian news to some but it was a revelation to me…. if you ask the imax usher for the ‘large’ 3-d glasses that are meant to be worn over existing eyeglasses, you’ll get these ridiculously big glasses that are fairly fresh because not many folk know they have them…..believe me, it really does make a difference …….jus’ sayin’….
Nicol, the film doesn’t take potshots at Christianity in my opinion. My perception of the use of Christianity is that the world was moving on from magical things, like Dave said. Also, to me, the subtext was that this was a good thing. Beowulf was a man of his time, but that time was rapidly passing. It never mocks Christianity in the slightest, although at one point a church burns down. I didn’t get an anti-religious vibe from that, though, it was just mostly in the dragon’s way.
alan– i’m not too big on coincidence so when an artist chooses to burn down a church instead of a barn or a bar or a house, i’m inclined to think a statement is being made or an interpretation is being presented…. but that’s just me…
quit “justing,” you!
yeah, it’s getting annoying to me too….i’m trying very hard to not be one of those assholes who believe that everything they type is ‘fact’ just because they type it…..and because of interwebs turnover i keep repeating variations of the imho thing……
Does anyone know the maximum that the movie can earn on IMAX? There’s got to be a ceiling on that thing.
Nicol, I wasn’t trying to pigeonhole your opinion. Just saying that, based on his last decade+ of films, it would surprise me if Zemeckis was making a movie that was actively critical of spirituality. Maybe he has (and based on how much I didn’t care for Polar Express, maybe a good thing).
Bewoulf at 9.7 for Friday
Mr. Magorium at 2.6
Love in the Time of Cholera at 630,000.00
ouch
Yeah, pretty bad. So what, 24-27m for the weekend. They must have been hoping for more than that.
I’ve seen the budget for Beowulf touted all over the place as being 75m. Polar Express cost 165m after all, and although they were still developing the technique with PE, I have a hard time believing it cost less than half that this time around.
I read somewhere that Beowulf cost around $150m.
For numbers like that I wonder why they couldn’t have just made it in live action?
Because for Zemeckis, the whole point is to perfect this motion-capture/3D technology. He could have made it as a conventional movie, but he would rather boost the technology at the same time.