Re: [MOPO] Flashes and flops

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:42:05 -0700 

good points david.. one spot made way too much money.. War of the Worlds...
I finally saw it last night.. there were 4 people aside from myself in the
theatre (10pm show), and now that I've seen it I can call it a major turkey...

now I'll make a presumption that most anyone who was going to see it has
and so I can make some comments.

The "previously buried"machines is a crock. If the martians wanted our
planet, why bother burying machines a million years ago to come back once
the planet is populated.???

Why would every city on earth be decimated except Boston??

Why in the world would you be wanting to drive 150 miles to boston to get
out of new york??

why would you want to go to paces that people congregate instead
of  isolate themselves from what is going on... so the machines aren't also
after you?

why in the world would Tim Robbins be waiting with an open basement door
just so Tom & his little girl can get in before he shuts the door so no-one
else comes in?

Cruise having to kill Robbins is a joke

I have to admit that David Koepp & Josh Friedman wrote a terrible script
and Spielberg should have insisted on another storyline - (which I might
add that this story has little to do with the original novel except the
premise that martians came to earth and later died of germs..

Sorry, I don't buy it. Spielberg did indeed give us a turkey and Cruise's
role has such little depth that this flicker to me looks like something
that some minor studio with a minor script could have made with Roger
Corman......

so how in the world did it make $563,742,485.... idiots like myself who had
to see it I guess...

Rich================================


At 12:24 PM 8/23/05, David Kusumoto wrote:

I always find it interesting to track box office figures, esp. for films
which remain in release but are past their “sell by” date.  The following
comes from VARIETY, with films ranked by USA box office gross.  The second
figure represents cumulative world-wide totals including the USA.  Note some
films which are flops here are successes overseas (Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom
of Heaven,” ranked 19th here, but doing OK overseas).

Looking at these latest numbers for cumulative totals ending August 18, you
see the two biggest disasters relative to production cost are “Cinderella
Man” (which got good reviews, with talk of a re-release this winter) and
“The Island” (no hope for a re-release).  What’s heartening is to see a
documentary like “March of the Penguins,” which has an “A+” exit rating,
doing well enough (at #21) to make its money back many times over its
original cost.  Some films like Tim Burton’s remake of “Willy Wonka” are
doing far better than expected because of support from family audiences,
while others like “Fantastic Four” have tanked.

Deeper in the list (not shown) are some mildly surprising disappointments ­
like the remake of “The Bad News Bears” (#26 with $31 million) and bigger
ones (“Stealth,” #27 with $30 million).  By looking at this list you can
draw your own conclusions about mass audience taste, USA vs. world ­ and how
so-called art films, still make more money relative to cost, such as
“Crash,” a critically praised work with stars who worked for near nothing.

1. STAR WARS: EP.III-REVENGE SITH
$378,650,106   $829,350,106

2. WAR OF THE WORLDS
$229,557,485   $563,742,485

3. BATMAN BEGINS
$201,653,269   $363,637,870

4. MADAGASCAR
$190,001,070   $444,884,222

5. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE...
$188,203,635   $279,704,004

6. MR. AND MRS. SMITH
$182,928,911   $383,928,911

7. WEDDING CRASHERS
$169,639,990   $200,778,668

8. THE LONGEST YARD
$157,100,023   $173,014,256

9. FANTASTIC FOUR
$149,635,878   $287,035,878

10. ROBOTS
$128,179,627   $255,979,627

11. MONSTER-IN-LAW
$82,761,757   $130,430,424

12. HERBIE: FULLY LOADED
$64,148,239   $105,211,239

13. THE DUKES OF HAZZARD
$63,092,236   $63,092,236

14. BEWITCHED
$62,027,998   $71,054,827

15. SPACE STATION 3-D
$61,257,095   $88,933,772

16. CINDERELLA MAN
$61,201,835   $61,201,835

17. CRASH
$52,846,372   $57,989,193

18. T-REX: BACK TO THE CRETACEOUS
$50,040,202   $89,644,156

19. KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
$47,383,539   $210,383,539

20. SKY HIGH
$46,827,637   $46,995,637

21. MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
$41,956,522   $53,912,328

22. THE ADVENTURES OF SHARKBOY...
$38,826,841   $47,220,006

23. SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING...
$38,711,605   $40,222,637

24. MUST LOVE DOGS
$36,787,080   $36,787,080

25. THE ISLAND
$34,853,346   $98,016,669

-koose.

        Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
  ___________________________________________________________________
             How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List

      Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
           In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L

   The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.


        Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
  ___________________________________________________________________
             How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List

      Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
           In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L

   The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.

Reply via email to