Wednesday, April 12, 2006

B For Box Office

I'm not really a box office guy (readers: no duh) but every once in a while I check in on it, just to see what hijinx the American people are up to. Whether they're conspiring with Hollywood's dullest minds to destroy the cinema or perhaps disobeying ad budgets and giving marketing execs heart palpitations, etc... Here's what people are flocking to in 2006

1 Ice Age: The Meltdown $118+
2 The Pink Panther $81+
3 Eight Below $79+
4 Failure to Launch $79+
5 Big Momma's House 2 $69+
6 Inside Man $66+
7 Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion $63+
8 V for Vendetta $62+
9 Underworld: Evolution $62+
10 Curious George $57+

My first reaction: I thought everyone hated Underworld and The Pink Panther? I guess not. And I can't resist: All of these films, even Curious George are more popular than Crash was last year --and yet, the media kept telling me that that was this huge audience favorite. Like a Big Fat Greek Wedding or something. Curious George Media! I sometimes don't get these things at all. Your thoughts?

15 comments:

adam k. said...

Yeah, the statement that Crash was more the "box office" favorite among the nominees is just patently false. BBM made significantly more money. I suppose there is the argument that Crash made it's money without the awards hype, but the fact remains that fewer people had seen it... and I'd bet many of those who saw it didn't even like it all that much.

I have a friend who, before hearing of the oscar nominations, hadn't even heard of Crash.

Anonymous said...

Crash = sleeper hit, perhaps, but huge hit? I think not. I saw it in the $10 bargain bin at BestBuy just last December, so even on DVD huge it was not.

Anonymous said...

Just the general suckiness of people. They want to see brainless drivel.

Then again, if they flocked to Bad Education and Dogville I'd be depressed too. I mean, if that happened I wouldn't be allowed to feel superior to them, and THEN what would I do?

Rob

P.S. Had a bad day. Tomorrow I'll be less flippant.

Anonymous said...

why not get on and over with Crash vs. BBM?

Glenn Dunks said...

Why don't you use a name of some kind? That's just as easy to do (apparently) as getting over Crash vs. Brokeback.

:)

But, seriously, as much as it pains me to see such mindless drivel as Big Momma's House 2 (Martin Lawrence continues to somehow collect a paycheck), Pink Panther, Underworld 2 and the movie with the dumbest title so far this year Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion (couldn't they put a : after "Tyler Perry's" or just not said "Tyler Perry's" - it looks stupid!) i am glad to see Inside Man so high. That was a great unexpected little film from Spike Lee. It should get to at least $85mil and who knows... $100mil?

I'm a big box-office sort of person though. Always reading about it at the end of the weekend.

For a while I was sad that V was doing so poorly and then I saw the movie a couple of nights ago and... well... my review is at my blog (hint hint - along with A History of Violence)

Anonymous said...

In defense of Crash's box office story, it was just a nice sleeper hit of the summer a decent movie in the face of bloated action movies. It really wasn't an awards favorite until Lions Gate thought they could do something with it. But it was a nice box office story for the summer. Did it deserve the oscar, no. I liked Capote the Best, then probably Munich.

Anonymous said...

Halleluja-r!

Anonymous said...

There are several reasons why Crash's box office numbers are significant, moreso than Curious George, to use your comparison.

1. It was made for $6.5 million (as opposed to George's $50 million).

2. It's an independent film.

3. While its cast is huge, most are not really box office draws [anymore].

4. It's an "issue" movie - when was the last time one of those made almost 8.5 times its budget?

5. It's rated R.

Really, comparing it to something like Curious George is pretty silly.

Anonymous said...

Why aren't more people seeing Inside Man? That's one of the few genuinely thrilling, well-made heist movies in a long time.

NATHANIEL R said...

this wasn't really a dig at 'crash' so much as a dig at the media for those who are annoyed. sometimes they say silly things or sell something truthy that isn't really true. etc...

i was actually surprised to see these 10 movies all about the 50 million mark because I really thought that people didn't like some of these. But i guess they all had significant ad budgets and i guess people go to what's most advertised.

Anonymous said...

I'm still blown away that a Spike Lee joint is turning a profit.

Anonymous said...

I just found an interesting article between the difference of art and commerce. The movies we remember may not be the ones who made the most money
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12254963/

Glenn Dunks said...

Well that's obvious. How many are gonna remember Ice Age 2: The Meltdown in 10 years? My guess? Not many. All the kids who got it bought for them by their parents will be too grown up for it by then and it's not exactly a great movie...

Failure to Launch is a perfect example of being the only film of it's type out there. It got slaughtered by critics, but if you're going on a second or third date would u think Launch is a better movie option or... Big Momma's House 2? Or any other possibilities. And somehow The Pink Panther turned dismal reviews into family hit status. However, that DID cost $100mil to make, so...

cassondra said...

Good on Spike for getting in there. The rest of the top ten is crap that caters to creating zombies out of aimless youth. Blame lazy parents and/or an uninteractive society on that. Or, perhaps pharmaceutical companies are behind it?

Glenn Dunks said...

The Constant Gardener 2 just got a plot.