Craig's MovieBlog

Wh... Wh... What?!?!

I'm stunned.  Over at the Bits section of The New York Times, there is actually lucid, coherent, intelligent discussion happening ON THE INTERNET!

I know, I know... hard to believe.  I'm sure we'll all get back to yelling FAIL! or FIRST! at each other soon, or debating the merit of Britney wearing a bra (she really should), but in the meantime, there's a super interesting piece about the cable companies getting upset about all the networks putting so much content on the web for free (South Park, Monk, The Daily Show, Battlestar Galactica, etc.).  Their claim is that putting it on the web devalues it, so they should have to pay less to carry the networks on their cable systems.

The networks seem to be trying to have it both ways, spreading their brand for free on the web or generating ad revenue, and still monetizing their content through the cable systems.

Now, here's the crazy part: the comment section is actually good and raises interesting points!  Mark Milner says:

When cable was first introduced years ago, its pitch went like this: “The reason you pay for cable is because there are no commercials.” 

The cable companies are making millions and millions on their overpriced product and they slam us with commercials as well. 

Seems like they are trying to have it both ways as well.

And I liked Tantrum's concise refrain.  I think I'll make a bumper sticker out of this: 

Show me a competitive business that has fought customers’ habits and preferences successfully yet managed to thrive.

Can Everyone Get a Grip on Reality Please?

I am certainly not a Disney apologist, but I have to say I'm flabbergasted (yes, flabbergasted) by the reaction to the box office totals of Prince Caspian, both from the public, and then from Disney itself.  After opening weekend, box office pundits declared it "disappointing" even though it made $55 million.  Yes, the 54th biggest opening of all time is now classified as disappointing... I guess because it made about $10 million less than The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe a few years earlier.  Yeah... sometimes that happens to sequels.  See, the people who didn't like the first one, don't usually go back to the second one.

Anyway, over this past holiday weekend, its second weekend in theaters, in the face of Iron Man, Speed Racer, and Indiana Jones, it still made another $30 million.  Mind you, I'm now apparently an old fogey who remembers when a $30 million opening was a big deal, but the film is now up to $101 million domestically AND has made another $51 million overseas.

So, to be clear, we live in a world where a film grossing $150 million after just being in theaters for 13 days is disappointing, or as Disney President Bob Iger put it, "isn't performing as well as expected."  Sigh...

Again, I'm not saying the movie was good or bad, and I'm not saying that they should have spent over $200 million making and marketing this film.  (No wait... I am.  They really, really shouldn't have done that.)  I'm just looking for a little perspective here people.  Not every movie is either the BIGGEST THING EVER or a giant disappointment.  I'm tired of the hysterical attitude, and I'm even more surprised that Iger addressed it.  There are shades of gray, and everyone needs to take a breath and think once in a while.

Marketing 101

If this ISN'T the preview attached to this weekend's debut of Sex and the City, then someone needs to lose their job.

Enjoy the trailer for He's Just Not That Into You.

Ouch - Four Word Sex and the City Review

"Another Taliban recruitment film"

The longer version: "Guys everywhere -- if you're in a brand-new relationship, take her to see this thing. If she even half-likes it, dump her and walk away cold."

Craigslist

• "Speed Racer is just barely going to beat out Harold & Kumar II at the domestic box office.  Brutal." - David Poland.  Yes, that would be the Harold & Kumar that cost $12 million versus the Speed Racer that cost $120 million.
• Brett Ratner wants to make movies based on video games.  I don't have a joke here.  Just ponder that for a while... and then try to stop yourself from crying.
• Motley Crue's new single sold 10,000 copies on iTunes, but 47,000 copies through Rock Band on the Xbox 360.  Very interesting to think about new distribution patterns...
• I can't believe how bored I was during Indiana Jones IV.  It's not that the film was bad... it was just "meh."  The ultimate sin - just plain boring.  After seeing how Bourne and the latest Bond film (Casino Royale) reinvented the action/adventure franchise, and reset audience expectations, why would Spielberg and Lucas deliver this?  Anyway, here's a good review  :)

This Just Doesn't Look Good

The Internets are getting flooded with "exclusive" clips from The Incredible Hulk, and um, yeah.  It doesn't even look like The Hulk is on the same planet as Tim Roth and William Hurt, but gosh Ed Norton looks really angry in those first few seconds, doesn't he?

Life Does Go On

The loss of Sydney Pollack is incredibly sad.  The world has chimed in with their loving thoughts: Roger Ebert, Ray Pride, David Poland, Jeff Wells, Anne Thompson, the LA Times, the New York Times, and so on.  The world is worse off without him.  Even if I just thought of his recent roles in The Sopranos, Entourage, and Michael Clayton, I'd feel that the entertainment world would have lost someone special.  Fortunately for us, Sydney Pollack gave us so much more, directing Tootsie, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor, Out of Africa... and even producing The Fabulous Baker Boys, Sense and Sensibility, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Iris, Cold Mountain, and on and on.  He was a powerhouse.

I had the opportunity to meet him a few years ago at the annual Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley.  I was a measly peon, there to support a non-entertainment executive, but I felt that I just had to go speak to Mr. Pollack during a down moment.  As you would expect, he was warm, generous, friendly, funny, engaging, and a good listener, even to a person who was clearly the least important person in the room.

I liked these quotes from his friends and colleagues:

George Clooney: "Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better.  A tip of the hat to a class act. He’ll be missed terribly."

Robert Redford: "Sydney’s and my relationship, both professionally and personally, covers 40 years.  It’s too personal to express in a sound bite."

I'm selfishly using this opportunity with the loss of Sydney, to also express why I stopped writing for a few weeks.  My heart truly wasn't in it, due to my family's own recent loss, making the entertainment world seem appropriately insignificant.  A few weeks ago, we received some tragic news.  In a horribly shocking, violent, awful moment, we lost our friend and family member, Kevin - a husband and father of two beautiful little girls, and my brother-in-law.  My heart hurts every day with the thought of Kevin, his wife, his girls growing up without him, and my kids not being able to play with "Dodo" anymore.

We are incredibly lucky though, in that Kevin's family is surrounded by hundreds of family and friends who love them and will support them through whatever it takes, whatever they need.

This is beginning to sound cliche and tacky.  I think I now understand Mr. Redford's hesitancy to put his true thoughts about Mr. Pollack in a sound bite.  At times like this, I wish I was a more elegant author.

We miss you, Kevin. 

We miss you, Sydney. 

And for me, it's in ways that are so different, I just don't have the words...

It's The Movie, Stupid

So, now that Iron Man debuted to a $100 million opening weekend AND Grand Theft Auto 4 opened to $500 million in first week sales, maybe (just maybe) it's time for Hollywood to stop blaming poor ticket sales on video games.

If you make a good movie, that people want to see, it doesn't matter whether Halo 17 comes out that week or not.

Just a thought.

The Dark Knight Trailer

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain," Harvey Dent.

Hmmm....

Just So We're Clear...

...about the insanity that we've created: with Iron Man opening to $100.8 million this weekend, it has now become possible to break $100 million in your opening weekend, and yet still NOT be in the top 10 of all time best opening weekends.  In fact, Iron Man will most definitely fall out of the top ten in just a few weeks, when Indiana Jones 4 opens.

It feels like we need to track box office differently now, and I'll use a sports analogy.  In baseball today, there's a complaint that the small markets can't even hope to compete with the larger ones, especially since there's no salary cap in baseball, unlike basketball or football.  Some are even saying that it's so unfair, that to maintain competition, the league should be split in two: one for the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox of the world, and another for the small market Twins, Royals, and Brewers, etc.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, and I've written and re-written and deleted some ideas a few times now in this entry, but it feels like there's a level of "fairness" that isn't being addressed in regular box office tracking.

What does it mean when a film in just 3 days can (hypothetically) gross more than all the Best Picture nominations combined through their entire runs, but still can't break into the top 10?  I don't know...

I have to noodle on this a bit.