Let’s Talk Movies! #31: Pandas, Zombies, Male Models, Superheroes, Greeks and…Caesar!

[PeterG]

Crossed another one off my list which I had been meaning to see for a while, One Week, a Canadian drama from 2008. It stars Joshua Jackson (Dawson's Creek) as a teacher who learns he has cancer and may not have long to live. On a whim, he buys a motorcycle and decides to travel across Canada. The main problem with this movie is that to me, the writer is a person who hasn't led much of an interesting life...or experienced any real hardships. So the tone is flat in a way, just simply lacking depth. The people are all plain and fairly shallow, which makes for an uninteresting movie considering the premise. That said, the Canadian scenery is beautiful, so at least there was that to distract me.

I think the premise of "Chi-raq" sounds interesting as it was apparently tried, with some success, somewhere in Africa. Wouldn't it be nice if withholding sex would stop the gun violence in Chicago?

Pretty much anything that Spike Lee makes I will see, even though often his work can be somewhat to very challenging for the viewer. Guess that's why so many of his films don't make much money. And Chi-Raq is no exception, it looks like it won't even make it to three million at the box office and Wikipedia says the budget was 15 million. But I'm very interested in this movie, so I could care less about what box office it did.

Biggest Box Office Flops of 2015

Ones I hadn't even heard of (so no surprised they bombed):

Strange Magic (animated, Lucasfilms) – 13 worldwide box office, 95m. budget

Ones that looked like such downers that I'm not surprised they bombed:

The Gunman (Sean Penn) – 13.5 worldwide box office, 40 m. budget
By The Sea (Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt) – 2 worldwide box office, 20m. budget

Ones that looked so bad from the first few seconds of their trailer:

Mortdecai (Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow) – 30 million worldwide box office, 60 m. budget
Rock The Kasbah (Bill Murray, Kate Hudson, Bruce Willis, Zooey Deschanel) - 3.1 million worldwide box office on a 15 million budget
Unfinished Business (Vince Vaughn) – 13 million worldwide box office, 35 m. budget
The Fantastic Four – 167 million worldwide box office, 120 m. budget
Pan (Hugh Jackman) – 123 The Fantastic Four – 167 million worldwide box office, 150 m. budget
Burnt (Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Brühl) - 27 million worldwide box office, 20 m. budget

And ones I'm surprised that bombed:

Our Brand Is Crisis (Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie) - 7.5 million worldwide box office, 28 m. budget
Truth (Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford) – 2.9 worldwide box office, 10 m. budget
Steve Jobs – 24 worldwide box office, 30m. budget
Tomorrowland – 205 The Fantastic Four – 167 million worldwide box office, 170 m. budget
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – 105 worldwide box office, 75m. budget
Crimson Peak (Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston) – 75 worldwide box office, 55m. budget
The Walk (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – 41 worldwide box office, 35m. budget

I never expected Bullock's follow-up to Gravity to crash and burn (sorry!!!). And Cate Blanchette and Robert Redford...I'm so there! (Not to mention Truth also having Dennis Quaid, Elisabeth Moss, Stacy Keach, Topher Grace, Bruce Greenwood and others in it.) And Aaron Sorkin coming off of the success of The Social Network and Moneyball, thought he alone could make Steve Jobs a hit (not to mention the cast). Tomorrowland I thought could be another Pirates of the Caribbean...but ended up being another The Haunted Mansion (well, maybe not quite that bad)!! I thought The Man From U.N.C.L.E. couldn't fail with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as the leads, but I guess I blocked out "The Lone Ranger" too well.... Similarly, I expected anything from Guillermo del Toro to be a hit, but maybe he should have directed Crimson Peak rather than writing it as well. Or is it the other way around.... And Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been so enjoyable in everything I've seen him in. I still want to see The Walk, hopefully I will like it regardless of what the masses thought of it.

 

[Vash01]

Just looking at the numbers (they made profit), these don't look like 'bombs' to me.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – 105 worldwide box office, 75m. budget
Crimson Peak (Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston) – 75 worldwide box office, 55m. budget
The Walk (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – 41 worldwide box office, 35m. budget

I actually liked TMFU, The Walk and Steve Jobs. I must like the 'bombs'

 

[PeterG]

With big movies like these, the publicity budgets will be close to the same amount as the production budgets. So 150 million for The Man From UNCLE (lost 45 million dollars), 110 million for Crimson Peak (lost 35 million dollars) and 70 million for The Walk (lost 35 million).

 

[agalisgv]

With big movies like these, the publicity budgets will be close to the same amount as the production budgets. So 150 million for The Man From UNCLE (lost 45 million dollars), 110 million for Crimson Peak (lost 35 million dollars) and 70 million for The Walk (lost 35 million).

But you aren't counting DVD sales and rentals, sale of soundtracks, licensing to streaming, etc. And that's often enough to make up for (or even exceed) the publicity budgets.

 

[allezfred]

Carol sweeps board at New York Film Critics awards, as Keaton pulls off coup

Saoirse Ronan wins Best Actress! Suck on it haterzzzz!

 

[Artemis@BC]

I'm going to an afternoon movie today and having a hard time deciding between Brooklyn and Carol ...

 

[allezfred]

I preferred Brooklyn, but Carol was very good too.

 

[PeterG]

Carol sweeps board at New York Film Critics awards, as Keaton pulls off coup

Saoirse Ronan wins Best Actress! Suck on it haterzzzz!

I'm looking forward to head exploding if Kristen Stewart can soon be referred to as an Academy Award Winner.

But you aren't counting DVD sales and rentals, sale of soundtracks, licensing to streaming, etc. And that's often enough to make up for (or even exceed) the publicity budgets.

When I've seen stats for movies at the-numbers.com, DVD sales and rentals are around the three to five million mark. That'll make a small dent in the losses a movie that bombs will see, I expect the numbers are about the same for streaming and sales to networks and movie channels. Soundtrack sales I would think would see profits go to the record company that releases the soundtrack rather than back to the movie studio. Even if some of the money goes to the movie studio, I doubt the soundtracks for The Walk, Crimson Peak of The Man From UNCLE were big sellers.

 

[agalisgv]

When I've seen stats for movies at the-numbers.com, DVD sales and rentals are around the three to five million mark.

From one industry voice:

"DVD rentals and sales can tack on up to $60-$100 mil for a big title and TV rights, merchandise, and many other avenues can generate income," says Chad Hartigan, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations. And the studios get a much bigger cut of DVD revenues than they do of theatrical revenues, because the retailers aren't as "significant of a middle man" as the theater owners, according to Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com's Box Office division. There are a lot of costs that go into running a movie theater, and showing movies is all the movie theater does — unlike most places where DVDs are sold. There are some genres of film that do especially well on DVD — like horror films, which are often cheaper to make than other genres to begin with, says Dergarabedian. A horror movie might or might not break even at the theaters, but it's sure to make lots more money when it hits DVD.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5747305/how-much-money-does-a-movie-need-to-make-to-be-profitable

Article is a bit dated, but interesting look at studio profits.[/QUOTE]

 

[Vash01]

Carol sweeps board at New York Film Critics awards, as Keaton pulls off coup

Saoirse Ronan wins Best Actress! Suck on it haterzzzz!

So happy for Ronan!

 

[PeterG]

From one industry voice:http://io9.gizmodo.com/5747305/how-much-money-does-a-movie-need-to-make-to-be-profitable

Article is a bit dated, but interesting look at studio profits.

Damn. Just after I accepted the fact that publicity could double the cost of a movie...now my head is swimming!! Guess my first thought before reading this article is true. Studios want there to be a belief that a certain number of movies are flops when that's not necessarily true. I was thinking for accounting purposes, but this article mentions re-working the numbers so that back-end deals mean little payout. My guess is that's done in regard to less established actors. This article mentions that Tom Cruise made 12% of the profit for the first Mission Impossible movie, so his 20 million dollar fee ended up becoming 70 million. I can't imagine any studio would try to out-smart somebody like Cruise with his box office clout, but they might do that with the stars of the Harry Potter movie mentioned in the article you provided. It's all apparently rather complicated!

 

[Xela M]

I just watched 21 Grams and I am totally destroyed by this film. I don't think I have ever seen anything more horrendous. I mean its brilliantly filmed and the all star cast is amazing, but if you ever want to kill yourself this screenplay will definitely push you over the edge. I'm shocked by the overwhelming success the film had in view of its horrid subject matter. I feel like I have been beaten up for an hour and a half.

I also hated the complicated puzzle of little scenes that all jumped in time and at some point I was losing my mind. I loved Babel, but this was a lot more disjointed and the story was insanely tragic.

 

[Jay42]

^ LOL.

I loved The Way Way Back, btw -- though IIRC Colette had a pretty small role in it.

She played the main characters mom. Smallish role but still important. She was really good. I really enjoyed The Way, Way Back.

Tomorrowland I thought could be another Pirates of the Caribbean...but ended up being another The Haunted Mansion (well, maybe not quite that bad)!! I thought The Man From U.N.C.L.E. couldn't fail with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as the leads, but I guess I blocked out "The Lone Ranger" too well.... Similarly, I expected anything from Guillermo del Toro to be a hit, but maybe he should have directed Crimson Peak rather than writing it as well. Or is it the other way around.... And Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been so enjoyable in everything I've seen him in. I still want to see The Walk, hopefully I will like it regardless of what the masses thought of it.

Tomorrowland was mediocre so it's bombing isn't a surprise. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is really good though so I am disappointed it didn't do better.

But you aren't counting DVD sales and rentals, sale of soundtracks, licensing to streaming, etc. And that's often enough to make up for (or even exceed) the publicity budgets.

I think where it gets tricky with Digital/DVD/bluRay sales is that it can sometimes take longer for a movie to catch on when it comes out for home viewing. I know there have been a couple of cases where a movie has performed to well on DVD it got a sequel but it's been so long since I've looked I can't remember what they are.

Carol sweeps board at New York Film Critics awards, as Keaton pulls off coup

Saoirse Ronan wins Best Actress! Suck on it haterzzzz!

 

[PeterG]

I expected to like The Way, Way Back better than The Way Back, but after I saw The Way, Way Back I decided that I liked The Way Back better.

 

[Artemis@BC]

Saoirse Ronan wins Best Actress! Suck on it haterzzzz!

Well, having seen Brooklyn yesterday I certainly can see why she's getting that kind of love. She had control over that role -- and the whole movie -- from the first frame to the last. However it was an incredibly understated performance, so I'd be surprised it she got the Oscar (Oscar voters being notorious for favouring flashier performances).

 

[Xela M]

Just watched "At Close Range" with Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. Good film and it's based on a true story. But the best thing about it was Christopher Walken! Omg, he's so HOT in that film! Those eyes...

Can anyone recommend any films with a young-ish Christopher Walken? I've already seen "The Deer Hunter" where he was of course beautiful (but didn't really deserve his Oscar).

 

[Buzz]

Catch Me If You Can is one of only two movies that I can remember. I believe he was also in Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp but did not feature prominently in that movie.

 

[MacMadame]

S
Tomorrowland was mediocre so it's bombing isn't a surprise. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is really good though so I am disappointed it didn't do better.

Whereas I would switch those two. I enjoyed Tomorrowland much more than The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Which is probably part of why they didn't made a lot of money. I'm not sure I'd call them bombs though. We don't really know what the marketing budget it or how they will do long term with streaming and DVD sales.

 

[PeterG]

New movies coming out this week... smurfy might be onto something!

Back in the 80s I read a 'Wired' - biography of John Belushi.
I enjoyed reading it. One thing I remember was the discussion of the release of one of his movies and the difference between december and january (was it 'Neighbors'??). I am not talking about oscar bait movies that are only released in dec in los angeles and ny and then rest of the country in january. Basically the discussion was that any movie being release in jan is a dud and getting dumped by the studio. And whoever was involved was trying to prevent the movie from being released in january.
To this day I am a little suspicious of january release movies from this book.

Jan. 8th - The Forest – Horror with Natalie Dormer [Game Of Thrones] and Taylor Kinney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDs_DYow7xA

Jan. 8th - Lamb (Limited) – Drama with Jess Weixler [The Good Wife] and Scott McNairy [Halt and Catch Fire]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCCGvq9QWWU

Jan. 8th – The Confines aka The Abandoned (Limited) – Horror/thriller with Jason Patric
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7xUIpKgBdQ

Jan. 8th - Anesthesia (Limited) – Drama with Sam Waterston, Kristen Stewart, Glenn Close, Gretchen Mol, Tim Blake Nelson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JsgQp8MRQ8

Jan. 8th - Diablo (Limited) – Action adventure with Scott Eastwood, Walter Goggins, Danny Glover and Adam Beach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL9F-Irm5tQ

Jan. 8th - Yosemite (Limited)- Drama with James Franco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJmcMSdm0h4

Jan. 8th - The Masked Saint (Limited) – Christian drama with Diahann Carroll and Roddy Piper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w7V0RErX4U

 

[Spareoom]

Whereas I would switch those two. I enjoyed Tomorrowland much more than The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Which is probably part of why they didn't made a lot of money. I'm not sure I'd call them bombs though. We don't really know what the marketing budget it or how they will do long term with streaming and DVD sales.

For me, Tomorrowland was a dud not because it was necessarily a bad film, but because it was a massive missed opportunity and huge letdown to expectation. It was directed by Brad Bird, for petes sake. That film *should* have been brilliant, and the early trailers looked so cool. I was so excited and then film ended up being...not so exciting. It wasn't a bad film, but missed expectations just killed it.

 

[Vash01]

Yosemite interests me. I am sure the scenery is breath taking and I like James Franco.

 

[Jay42]

Whereas I would switch those two. I enjoyed Tomorrowland much more than The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Which is probably part of why they didn't made a lot of money. I'm not sure I'd call them bombs though. We don't really know what the marketing budget it or how they will do long term with streaming and DVD sales.

Tomorrowland's poor performance permanently killed the possibility of Tron 3. I know that Tron 3 is not exciting for everyone but I was kind of excited at the chance of it.

I can say that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. DVD's and bluRays sold better for us than the Tomorrowland ones. Not that that means much, we are one small electronics department that people keep forgetting exists inside a drug store. But Tomorrowland did significantly better in the box office. I do think Tomorrowland was promoted better though. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was practically a masterclass in how not to market a movie.

For me, Tomorrowland was a dud not because it was necessarily a bad film, but because it was a massive missed opportunity and huge letdown to expectation. It was directed by Brad Bird, for petes sake. That film *should* have been brilliant, and the early trailers looked so cool. I was so excited and then film ended up being...not so exciting. It wasn't a bad film, but missed expectations just killed it.

The success of The Leftovers notwithstanding, I've found every movie I've seen since Cowboys & Aliens that has been scripted or co-scripted by Damon Lindelof to be underwhelming and full of missed opportunities. Tomorrowland had so much potential. It could have been a great movie and it just... wasn't.

 

[PeterG]

Recently I saw The Electric Horseman, I believe that it was @Nell411 who said that she didn't like it...but I thought it was sweet and fun. Loved the connection between Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. It seemed pretty evident that they liked each other. And their characters were so much more interesting and likeable than the ones they played in Barefoot In The Park. I also enjoyed the script for The Electric Horseman and the scenery as well. And who doesn't love a cowboy in a tight pair of jeans? (Although Redford looked a bit too underfed...or maybe he should have worn jeans one size larger!)

I'm almost done looking over and responding to posts from the last thread...! From mid-December:

Not a lot of surprises with the nominees for the Critics Choice Awards released today.

I'm always happy to see someone like Jennifer Jason Leigh back in the spotlight after seemingly being forgotten by Hollywood. But I'm bummed that they shoved Jacob Tremblay off the stage and made him go sit at the kids table.

A pretty scathing critique of Adam Sandler's latest made-for-Netflix film and its extreme racism.

I agree with every word. My response to this kind of dreck has always been to just not watch it, but I can certainly understand the desire to stamp it completely out of existence. But I'd much rather that that decision came from the producers of said dreck -- for them to stop putting their money behind such hateful material.

I love the claims that white people make about their work not being racist when people of colour have just stated that said work is indeed, racist!

 

[Jay42]

Recently I saw The Electric Horseman, I believe that it was @Nell411 who said that she didn't like it...but I thought it was sweet and fun. Loved the connection between Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. It seemed pretty evident that they liked each other. And their characters were so much more interesting and likeable than the ones they played in Barefoot In The Park. I also enjoyed the script for The Electric Horseman and the scenery as well. And who doesn't love a cowboy in a tight pair of jeans? (Although Redford looked a bit too underfed...or maybe he should have worn jeans one size larger!)

Wasn't me I'm afraid, I haven't seen it. I have mentioned conflicting feelings about Barefoot in the Park. I haven't found The Electric Horseman to see it yet.

 

[Xela M]

I went to see "The Danish Girl". Superb acting by the leads, beautiful costumes and art design. It's a very stylish film. I found it a tad boring though, as very little actually happens.

 

[Cachoo]

Just watched "At Close Range" with Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. Good film and it's based on a true story. But the best thing about it was Christopher Walken! Omg, he's so HOT in that film! Those eyes...

Can anyone recommend any films with a young-ish Christopher Walken? I've already seen "The Deer Hunter" where he was of course beautiful (but didn't really deserve his Oscar).

The thing is I loved him in the "Sarah, Plain and Tall" and "Skylark" films with Glenn Close. But there were many who thought he was miscast. I thought he pulled if off though. But compared to the films you have mentioned these movies are sweet and sugary. He scared me in "At Close Range" and broke my heart in "The Deer Hunter" which is one of my all-time fave films.

 

[Xela M]

Catch Me If You Can is one of only two movies that I can remember. I believe he was also in Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp but did not feature prominently in that movie.

Christopher Walken is much older in Catch Me If You Can. He really was breathtakingly beautiful as a young man. In "At Close Range" he was 43, but just stunning! I thought he stole every scene from Sean Penn, which is pretty darn hard.

 

[Xela M]

The thing is I loved him in the "Sarah, Plain and Tall" and "Skylark" films with Glenn Close. But there were many who thought he was miscast. I thought he pulled if off though. But compared to the films you have mentioned these movies are sweet and sugary. He scared me in "At Close Range" and broke my heart in "The Deer Hunter" which is one of my all-time fave films.

Hey, Christpher Walken playing someone's love interest is never a miscast I will check those films out

 

[Artemis@BC]

Can anyone recommend any films with a young-ish Christopher Walken? I've already seen "The Deer Hunter" where he was of course beautiful (but didn't really deserve his Oscar).

The first time I "noticed" him was in The Milagro Beanfield War. One of my favourite movies of all time. More "ish" than "young" in that one, and he's not the lead, but it's a great character and a great performance.

 

[PeterG]

On the weekend I watched Big Game, which stars Samuel L. Jackson and newcomer Onni Tommila as a young Finnish teen who comes upon a stranded president of the United States in the woods after his plane has crashed after an assassination attempt. But the bad guys on the ground are close by to complete the mission. This one is very much a family-friendly movie, I see at Wikipedia that it has been referred to as "a throwback to ’80s and ’90s adventure movies with a dash of comic book violence thrown in for good measure". Jackson and Tommila play well off of each other and the movie is light, but fun. It co-stars Felicity Huffman, Jim Broadbent, Victor Garber and Ray Stevenson.

We mentioned Daniel Mays earlier. He is not handsome but I bet with the right part and his wonderful ability he could pull sexy off. There was a thread at another place I post (college basketball website.) In this thread the question was if they could have a night with one actress in one film who would it be? So there are all of these pictures of beautiful, barely dressed women. I think Phoebe Cates in her red bikini in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" had multiple votes. And when I thought about the actor I found sexy it had little to do with seeing him undressed. Even a conventionally handsome guy, like Chris Pratt, is a favorite because he's so damned funny. And I see him when he was heavier and still think him adorable because he is a hoot. One guy I've found attractive is Louie C.K. And his character runs the gamut of emotions in his show. That willingness to open up is part of his attractiveness imho. I am running on and would love to read what you and others see as sexy.

I tend to be drawn to the typical leading man as far as what I think is sexy, but I like lots of different types. In my last job, one of my co-workers looked at me once when I pointed out someone I found attractive and said, "you really don't have a type". I guess the men I had pointed out in the past to her had been varied enough that she couldn't gauge what type of guy I saw drawn to. And the first gay man I ever had a big crush on was "a dog face" according to a friend who finally got to see me after hearing me pine away for him maybe a bit too much. I guess Daniel Mays is a good example, because I can see why people would think he is not handsome, but I'm really drawn to him. Partly because of his talent, his ability to play many varied roles, and his willingness to make a complete goof of himself when the role requires it. And he's tall (6' 2"), that's a big bonus. And I get the feeling that he has a humility to him, which is also appealing. All in all, I find him very kissable.