New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Pete Kilmer: Plus with The One, if I recall correctly, Jet Li was coming off his Matrix movie exposure and that surely helped as it came with a huge marketing push and if I recall correctly they showcased a lot of the CGI/wire-fu in the tv ads to get that 'Matrix' flavor. War will be a huge international movie and huge DVD and on demand release. I just wish they had a better story for the both of them to have fun with.

Max Braden: I'm a big fan of Statham's, but after the pointless noise of Crank, I decided to wait for this one on DVD. The numbers make sense to me: the fan base comes out to the theaters while the rest stay home. There was nothing I recall from the trailers besides tough talk that would have been a draw for bigger box office.

A Hot Nanny film would have done better.

Kim Hollis: The Nanny Diaries, the first film where Scarlett Johansson could claim to be the primary draw, earned $7.8 million despite having the largest venue total of any of the new titles. Why did it fail?

Shane Jenkins: Like Running With Scissors, it looks like they screwed up a sure thing. The book the film is based on is frothy and fun, and you can almost see the movie adaptation while you're reading it. The actual movie apparently has nothing going for it aside from Laura Linney's performance (much like Annette Bening's in Scissors). I think people were scared off by the reviews.

David Mumpower: Face it, the power of the distributor matters and thus far, The Weinstein Company is Hoodwinked away from laying a goose egg to date. When they were running Miramax, these guys were masters of maximizing profits for low budget fare. Out on their own, they are experiencing the same struggles DreamWorks had when it was a start-up. Mrs. Henderson Presents, The Libertine and Sicko are all titles that should have earned more than they did. The Weinstein Company has not gotten it done yet and perhaps no title reflects their current struggles better than Pulse, the film that almost ruined Kristen Bell for me...almost. Now, with The Nanny Diaries, I guess they are trying to do the same with Scarlett Johansson. Someone stop them before they get their claws into Samaire Armstrong.

Max Braden: I saw zero advertising for this movie. With all the release date changes, maybe people thought it had already been released months ago.

Jon Voight isn't dead yet!

Kim Hollis: Resurrecting the Champ earned only $1.8 million from 1,605 venues. With a performance this poor on opening weekend, it's probably unlikely to expand wider, correct? Does this performance also eliminate it from end-of-year awards contention?

Dan Krovich: I would say yes and yes. I think they may have been better with a platform release.

David Mumpower: I think that the release pattern here was less of a platform strategy and more of a "This sucks and we're burying it" one. As for the latter point, I think that the reviews had largely done that. Even the positive ones are not glowing enough. It might get a stray nod here or there, but it's largely a fait accompli.

Max Braden: It's likely out of sight, out of theaters, and out of mind pretty quickly.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5       6