Are we surprised? Like I said Sunday: "As for "The Island"? Can't say I am surprised. First, you know I'm not a fan of the directing style of Michael Bay and his ilk. The film's trailers throw out the concept, then assault you with lots of vehicle crashes, explosions, and people running. Looked no different from Bad Boys or The Rock or something. That did nothing to make me want to see it despite McGregor and Johannson, actors I really like". Most of the dreck that Bay and his kind put out which makes money has stars like Will Smith, Bruce Willis, or Ben Affleck. I like McGregor and Johannson, but they're not going to draw as many mainstream people. Without that, the movie needs to be good and clever, or at least trully entertaining. Over-the-top as I think it is, no surprise... -----Original Message----- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Said Kakese Dibinga Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 12:37 To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com; Tope Oluwole; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Bay's 'Island' no paradise this time
BOX OFFICEBay's 'Island' no paradise this timeThe action director tries to figure out how the opening of his latest megabudget blockbuster became "a debacle."By Chris Lee Special to The Times July 26, 2005 Anticipating that the heat would be on in Hollywood this weekend, "The Island" director Michael Bay slipped away - to sweltering Arizona. "I didn't hear the numbers all weekend," he said. "I relaxed, called my agent Sunday and said, 'Give me the bad news.' " When he did, this much was clear: "It's a debacle. It's my worst opening weekend ever," Bay said. This summer, box office doldrums have claimed any number of victims: "Rebound," "The Honeymooners," "The Lords of Dogtown" and, on a bigger-budget scale, "Cinderella Man" and "Kingdom of Heaven." But last weekend, moviegoers crowned the biggest big-budget dud yet: Bay's "Island." According to Paul Degarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., its opening comes as a major disappointment for DreamWorks, the studio that released the film. "There's a lot riding on a tent pole movie like that," he said. "Everyone expected this movie to come in at No. 1 or 2." Bay said "The Island" suffered from low awareness among potential moviegoers. In a phone interview, he said he felt the movie, which stars Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannson as clones who go on the run after discovering they have been raised for harvested body parts, had fallen victim to a number of factors. "It could be the subject matter, the lack of stars," he said. "I'm not blaming the whole thing on the marketers." A spokesman for DreamWorks said the studio mounted the biggest print, online and broadcast marketing campaign in its history for "The Island," an effort that included five theatrical movie trailers, a word-of-mouth screening campaign, three websites and numerous Internet ads. In the weeks leading up to "The Island's" opening, though, marketing executives at other studios said they thought the campaign was confusing and unfocused. Bay himself, in an earlier interview with The Times, worried about the marketing campaign and complained that "The Island's" poster made Johansson look like "a porn star." In its first three days of release, the $124-million sci-fi epic took in just $12.4 million, opening in fourth place behind the previous weekend's top draws, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Wedding Crashers" and "Fantastic Four." That means "The Island" grossed just 10% of its production budget, placing it ahead of "Cinderella Man" and "Kingdom of Heaven" as the most expensive dud of the summer so far. Its lackluster performance is another indication of a continuing moviegoing slump in which overall admissions are down about 10% for the year. The director's previous five films opened at No. 1 and have combined to gross $1.7 billion worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com. He said he felt reassured by the knowledge that other successful directors had also experienced commercial missteps. "Everyone from Spielberg to Zemeckis to Kubrick - they've all had big flops," he said. "I was five for five. You know it's going to happen." "It hurts," Bay added. "It's always the director's fault." If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. "If you could make a difference, what would you do?"...Said Kakese Dibinga __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] _____ YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS * Visit your group "scifinoir2 <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2> " on the web. * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> . _____ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
