Are You With Us?: Almost Famous
By Ryan Mazie
October 21, 2010
Released September 15th in a scant 131 sites, Almost Famous surprised, opening in eighth place with $2.3 million ($3.4 million adjusted for today) and a killer $17,669 per theater average. DreamWorks added 1,000 more theaters the next weekend, resulting in the film's biggest weekend with near $7 million. Sadly as more theaters joined in the subsequent weeks, the box office went down. By week five the film was on 2,262 screens, the highest number it reached, but had an awful $969 per theater average, sending the film into freefall from there. Winding up after a promising start with $32.5 million ($48 million adjusted) and an additional $14.8 million from overseas, the money it earned still did not cover the film’s surprisingly large $60 million budget.
However, Almost Famous found its real audience on DVD. Released for Christmas time in 2001 was the “Untitled: Bootleg Cut” edition (Untitled was the film’s original name until DreamWorks demanded a name change). The Bootleg Cut adds an additional 40 minutes to the films already long 122 minute run time. While I wondered why Crowe would choose to expand upon his already perfect film, it shows that there were two excellent paths this movie can go down and if the expanded version had been released, Hudson might not have just been nominated for an Oscar, but won it.
While it is hard for a movie to stand the test of time - especially one that is set in the past - Almost Famous feels ahead of movies even today. With the smartest and most realistic writing for a teen actor among any other film, Almost Famous rings true, especially in today’s fame obsessed culture, making the film with us. Further cementing it as a current favorite, when Blu-Ray came on the scene, this was among the initial batch of films to get the High-Def treatment.
One of my most favorite movies, Almost Famous isn’t almost perfect. It just is.
Verdict: With us
10 out of 10
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