Monday Morning Quarterback Part III

By BOP Staff

January 9, 2014

As far as you know, I was amazing!

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Kim Hollis: The Wolf of Wall Street, the latest Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration earned $13.2 million this weekend and has accumulated $63.1 million since Christmas. What do you think of this result?

Felix Quinonez: I'm really torn on this result. On one hand, I really thought it would and wanted The Wolf of Wall Street to do a lot better. The movie was marketed like crazy and had a lot of hype and buzz around it. Aside from that, Martin Scorsese is a living legend who is only recently really hit his peak commercially. And if that wasn't enough, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who has has been pretty much on fire at the box office lately. Most people agree that they are a great director/actor combo. Because of all that I really expected Wolf of Wall Street to perform closer to Django Unchained did last year. So my first reaction is to call its box office performance a disappointment.




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On the other hand, it is three hours long and doesn't really scream out family Christmas time entertainment. I know the same can be said about Django but I felt like that had a more appealing story. So I think maybe my - and a lot of other people's - expectations for Wolf of Wall Street were a bit unfair. I think this is a movie that was never really supposed to explode out of the gate but maybe it's more of a slow burner. And I know a lot has been said about the fact that it got a "C" Cinemascore. Yes, that's really bad but I remember Shutter Island had a similar score and that went on to have pretty good legs. I think sometimes the score can be misleading because for some movies, audiences have to mull it over a bit before it really grows on them. Because of this I think the first reactions might not be the best way to gauge audience response.

So I guess what I'm saying is that even though the result might seem disappointing, it's still pretty good and there is still chance for Wolf of Wall Street to grow.

Edwin Davies: I think this is acceptable verging on good, considering we're talking about a three hour long, extremely hard-R rated satire, all of which are potentially limiting as far as the box office is concerned. I loved the film, especially how uncompromising and unrestrained it was, but those same qualities will rub a lot of other people the wrong way, which is why the word-of-mouth for the film has been so wildly divided. That it has done so well despite all of this is a testament to DiCaprio's current hot streak and Scorsese's reputation as a real master.


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