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SUNDAY AM: I’m still traveling through tonight. Here are Friday and Saturday and weekend North American grosses. I’ll refine the figures later:
1. Alice In Wonderland (Disney) Week 3 [3,739 Theaters]
Friday $9.8M, Saturday $14.5M, Weekend $34.1M, Cume $265.4M
Major moolah and #1 for its 3rd week in a row. Again, these 3D pics with higher ticket prices continue to dominate the box office.
2. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (Fox) NEW [3,077 Theaters]
Friday $7.4M, Saturday $8.7M, Weekend $21.8M
As predicted, Wimpy passed much-hyped The Bounty Hunter on Saturday and place 2nd for the weekend. Who da thunk it? Fox already has a film sequel in development based on this wonderful book series. This is fired Disney movie chief Nina Jacobson’s first film as a producer. She brought Brad Simpson on to produce with her. Together, they spent 5 months looking for the wimpy kid and even had an audition website where thousands of kids tried out. The pic, which was championed by Fox 2000′s Carla Hacken, cost only $19M to make.
3. The Bounty Hunter (Relativity/Sony) NEW [3,074 Theaters]
Friday $7.6M, Saturday $8.2M, Weekend $20.5M
This is an embarrassingly soft opening considering the tabloid celebpower (Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler) and the wide release and omnipresent marketing. Maybe audiences are tiring of these imbecilic romantic comedies? Or these flack-phonied romances between stars leading up to the films’ opening? Stop the stupidity, Hollywood.
4. Repo Men (Relativity/Universal) NEW [2,521 Theaters]
Friday $2.1M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $6.1M
Still another disaster for both Relativity and Universal. This touted $32M budget pic was supposed to attract a sizable segment of the male moviegoing audience this weekend for an expected opening of double-digit grosses. Nope. As one rival studio exec snarked to me tonight, “Looks like the idea for Repo Men should have been repossessed.”
5. Green Zone (Universal) Week 2 [3,004 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Saturday $2.6M, Weekend $5.9M, Cume $24.7M
Relativity had a financial interest in this $100M-budgeted Universal pic which the studio unsuccessfully tried to sell as “Bourne 4″ just because it re-paired Matt Damon with director Paul Greengrass. Yet another total war movie write-off for fired Universal Pictures mogul Marc Shmuger’s disastrous tenure. Question is, when does boss Ron Meyer start to show he’s feeling the heat from all these losers?
6. She’s Out Of My League (Paramount) Week 2 [2,958 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.7M, Cume $19.6M
7. Shutter Island (Paramount) Week 5 [2,704 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Saturday $2.1M, Weekend $4.7M, Cume $115.7M
8. Avatar (Fox) Week 14 [1,246 Theaters]
Friday $1M, Saturday $1.7M, Weekend $3.9M, Cume $736.8M
9. Our Family Wedding (Fox Searchlight) Week 2 [1,609 Theaters]
Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $3.7M, Cume $13.6M
10. Remember Me (Summit) Week 2 [2,215 theaters]
Friday $1.2M, Saturday $1.2M, Weekend $3.1M, Cume $13.8M
This drama was always going to be a small film, even with Twilight Saga’s Robert Pattinson starring. Besides, Summit Entertainment spent only $16M to make it and then covered 2/3s of the budget with foreign pre-sales.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Wow. when is Universal going to get a break.
Uni needs some major change in their marketing.
Their campaigns are tired and dated.
Universal will get a break when they make a real change in management.
or what about their producers? i mean, really.
We all know that Nikki is not too fond of JA so I am not surprised that she would consider TBH opening at $20 million embarssing while other media outlets called TBH bringing in $20 million as “Solid.”
The purpose of any commercial film is to make money. Coming in at #3 – and dropping fast thereafter – is not the way to make money. This is an embarrassing opening, especially with two leads who are “supposedly” box office draws.
And what other “media outlets” are you referring to? There’s only one outlet that doesn’t kiss Hollywood’s ass and tells it like it is – and that’s Deadline Hollywood.
And for the record – JA is NOT a movie star. Never has been. She doesn’t have the talent to be one. The sooner she gets back on TV the better her career will be.
For you producers who insist on hiring JA, then what can I say? You get what you pay for.
Wow, what an idiotic comment. Then Matt Damon is not a movie star any more with several flops under his belt in less than a year.
BTW 20M OW is NOT a flop.
Uh, unlike Aniston the TV hacktress, Matt Damon has been nominated for an Oscar 3 times, and has one, along with many other notable achievements/accolades for his performances IN FILM, he’s also grossed in the billions, opening films on HIS NAME ALONE, and has a successful franchise. Your accomplishments as a movie star and your Oscar don’t get revoked because you take risks, and/or act in character roles in smaller independent films, or because you take supporting parts in dramas.
You really want to use the Good Will Hunting Oscar to defend Matt Damon? Really? Yeah, tell me about the rest of his amazing career as a screenwriter.
You’re joking, right? Or are you smoking crack? Just add up the Box office from Matt Damon’s films & then do the same for Jennifer Aniston. If you put it in batting average terms, Matt Damon bats .420 & Jen is a paltry .189. She needs to get sent back to the minors.
Checked on the Box Office #’s for Andy Tennant’s last film Fools Gold with Matthew McConaughey & Kate Hudson & it only opened at $21 million. Same wide release & heavily promoted plus it had a big budget of $70 million. Maybe the box office expectations were too high on The Bounty Hunter because of Aniston’s involvement. And I have to say I never seen an actress who is hated more well maybe Katherine Heigl. But, I think the real problem with the movie was that the director just made Fools Gold 2 instead of something new.
Kids will go because Fox knows how to market films. It’s how the opened the Ugly Truth, and the Lightning Theif. THey are heads and shoulders in front of every other studio in marketing acumen.
What about Sony???
Why the hate to Jen people? She wasn’t the one who stole a married man. She wasn’t the one who pretend to me Mr Theresa and duped the tabloid and the people.
C’mon now! 20M is not a bad opening. It could have been worst. So stop the hate people.
Jesus. Get over Anitson’s dumping already,would ya? It was five years ago. I don’t know why I’m continually amazed by people who think the world owes Aniston something just because she got dumped. People get dumped all the time and nobody’s holding 5 year-long pity parties for them. Aniston & Pitt’s marriage was on life support for a good 2 years before Jolie ever entered the picture. If you’re going to blame someone blame Pitt because HE is the one who ran screaming from the marriage and chased after Jolie like a heat-seeking missile. Why some people continue to hold Jolie accountable for the actions of a grown man nearly 12 years her senior simply astounds me. It’s 5 years and 6 kids later and you’re still whining that Brad Pitt escaped Aniston’s desperately needy clutches.
Better make sure you, her other fans and your wallets are up for repeat viewings. Critics are actually ANGRY over this flick.
Bounty Hunter will be a distant memory in 2 weeks.This movie WILL NOT have legs.My question is….why is a 40+ year old woman STILL making these dumb,brainless movies?Jen has money in the bank.Is she this desperate to work?Jen wouldn’t know a good script if it hit her upside the head.
Why is Aniston still making dumb, brainless movies? Because she doesn’t know how to act in anything else. She is a mediocre talent of extremely narrow range who plays theme and variations on Rachel in every film she is in.
I’m not very optimistic about Bounty’s chances. If it cost $40 million to make, it will have to gross at least $80 million just to cover the production costs. The box office is split 50-50 between the studio and the theater owners. So for example, if this movie ultimately makes $60 million, that’s $30 million for the theater owners, $30 million for the studio, and the studio is down by $10 million.
And then there are the promotion and marketing costs to factor in. If they spent another $40 million marketing this dog, the movie will have to make an extra $40 million to cover that. So taken all in all, this movie will have to make over $120 million to turn the studio a profit.
I don’t see that happening. I think after the first weekend, Bounty will sink like a stone. Even the most rabid Jenhens aren’t going to pay twice to see this stinker. Just hope Butler’s career survives it. The sooner hers goes down the toilet, the better for everyone so we won’t be bombarded with more crappy trailers for more crappy films like this one.
The box office take between theaters and studios is not 50/50 until the 3rd week of a movie’s release. The studio can negotiate to get from 70-80% of the ticket take on the first weekend of a films release and then it goes down progressively. In fact, when the last episode of Star Wars was released the studio actually received 100% of the ticket sales for the first weekend and the theaters had to rely on concession stand sales. The Bounty Hunter is guaranteed to make back it’s production budget with an opening of $20 million even with the promotion of the film. Now the film that is in trouble is the Green Zone that movie was a flop. So was the Musical Nine another big flop.
Thanks Shellie, I was going to post this clarification about the studio/theaters split for the first week also. Opening with a $20 million is decent and The Bounty Hunter met expectations. Green Zone, on the other end, is deep in red ink and it cost $100 million to make. Ouch!
It’s so typical of dumb Hollywood thinking that 90% of the anti-Bounty Hunter comments on this thread are about what Jennifer Aniston did wrong, whereas nobody even suggests that Butler is the emperor’s new clothes.
I’m not understanding the Aniston hate either, Rob. I’m indifferent about her. Butler on the other hand, he bores me now. But as usual the woman gets the blame, not the man. Stacy goes on this rant about Jennifer’s PR tactics. What about Butler? He’s part of it too. He’s doing whatever to sell this horrible film and it worked.
I agree. if Butler has any appeal, I must have missed it.
Gerard Butler is not attractive, sorry. He looks developmentally disabled. And anyone can do a round of gear and HGH to get buff for 300.
How about, BOTH OF THEM “are the emperor’s new clothes.” That’s way more accurate, and Aniston has been the ENC for a LOT longer. Or make that, the ‘Emperor’s New Hairdo.’
Jennifer Aniston gets the blame, Gerard Butler gets the blame…but any movie star will invariably look tired if the script isn’t good! If the creative execs don’t know how to recognize a real story that makes real statements about human nature, they hope the cast will magically turn it into a good movie. The result: studios start paying stars to be wizards, not actors. Movies certainly are magic, but the script is the spell, and if the spell ain’t right, you can’t blame the person who has to perform it.
Thank you! It`s funny how Butler, whose career is one huge line of crappy movies, is getting away. Both Aniston and Buttler were to be the draws for this crappola so singling out one and pretending that the other one isn`t there is not fair. Besides, at least Aniston keeps her looks in check, while Buttler went flabtastic ever since the painted abs from 300 washed off.
I don’t mean to pat myself on the back but I said at least 6 weeks ago that Diary of a Wimpy Kid would do better business than The Bounty Hunter. When is Hollywood going to get a clue – JENNIFER ANISTON IS NOT A FILM LEADING LADY OR A MOVIE STAR. At best she’s a tv hack who married well and parlayed said marital connections into movie roles via a joint production company. Why producers continue to waste money casting Aniston and funding her movies is beyond me. She couldn’t open a penny-per-cup water stand in the Sahara desert. She’s a one note character actress – as long as said character is “Rachel Green”.
And don’t even get me started on Gerard Butler’s lack of charm or on-screen personality. Put him in a loincloth and let him growl between gritted teeth and he’s at least tolerable. Ask him to do an American accent and play boorish but lovable oaf – not a good idea. The man sounds like he’s talking around a mouthful of mashed potates.
Someone ealier mentioned that the Butler/Heigl romcom “The Ugly Truth” opened $8 million higher than The Bounty Hunter. While Heigl, too, is a tv actress from a popular show she at least is capable of portraying more than one character all the time. However, notice what was missing from the marketing campaign for this movie – the fauxmance and tabloid circus. Jennifer Aniston and her publicist Steven Huvane continually play this ridiculous game of trying to garner as much attention and focus on her as possible, ie, that ridiculous underwear flashing at the Golden Globes through the public-high split of her evening gown and subsequent rumor that she and co-presenter Butler were making out in the kitchen after presenting their award. The focus of the night should have been the awards and the nominees (even if these awards are a fraud) and instead all the media talked about afterwards was Aniston’s thigh-high split and her possibly making out with Butler.
Any and all Aniston projects are surrounded by this type of silly PR fuckery from her and Steven Huvane. They pulled this crap with Vince Vaughn and John Mayer as well. A good actress, one who’s work stands on it’s own and who’s movies the public will see DESPITE who they may or may not be sleeping with, is above all of these moronic PR games. Yes, they all play media games and yes they all need to market their movies, but using the same ruse time and time again? Hey, the minivan majority are slow, but eventually even THEY will tumble to the fact that they’re being played just to sell a few movie tickets and will stop supporting the person’s movies. Aniston, sadly, never seems to learn and will undoubtedly pull a new boyfriend out of the closet this summer when she foists yet another lame romcom – “The Switch” formerly “The Baster” – on the world. God save us all from desperate actresses seeking movie stardom – especially when they’re already 41 years-old and not nearly as talented as all the other great 40-and-over actresses circling the same role. Enough of Jennifer Aniston, Hollywood!
Gerard Butler was part of the PR antics at well, yet he’s not being looked at as a media whore. As usual the women get the blame. The Bounty Hunter’s opening weekend is better than Matt Damon’s flick and Pattinson’s. I think Jennifer and the studios are happy about that.
Can’t speak for anyone else, but I didn’t see Gerard Butler’s personal life being used to sell his other movies. Good, bad, or indifferent Butler doesn’t have either the baggage, or the tendency to pull that baggage out at the drop of a hat every time they have a project they want to sell.
Aniston knows she doesn’t have the chops to be a Streep but thought she could be a Bullock, if she got the chance. She keeps thinking if she just gets the right project and can get the public to see it, she’ll be an actual movie opening star, and she will sell any aspect of her life to try to make that happen. Sadly she doesn’t even have Heigl’s limited talent and her charm is strictly small screen.
As for those that think this turkey is going to make money. This weekend didn’t even cover the marketing budget, and it is down hill from here. Maybe the dvd will sell enough to break even. Maybe.
What I don’t get is people who don’t like a certain actor and don’t watch his/her movies but go on these boards and rant and rant over and over again with long posts. Get a life, will ya?!
It must be nice to be you since your obviously so much smarter than the “minivan majority”.
anniston has no talent, she is NOT a movie star, she is a sitcom star (ensemble) I don’t think she could do a sitcom on her own.
They promoted the heck out of this movie all week, both of them. I didn’t see Matt Damon at all.
I saw Marley last week, the movie was awful, if it wasn’t for the dogs…….ughhhhhh. the money that movie made was because of the cute dogs on the poster.
I guess she believes in quantity not quality.
Her PR people need to drop the “victim” aspect, and focus on getting her acting lessons.
Jennifer Aniston needs acting lessons desperately. She is so mannered in voice and body movement it’s truly sad. She has no range and she picks terrible projects.
Bounty Hunter is a CAA package. They wanted their money. They don’t care about their clients career.
$21m opening?? embarassing for america maybe — not the stars
The big difference is the amount of promotion between the two films is what is really the big cost difference. The actors in the Wimpy Kid flicks were not everywhere hanging off each other, showing up at awards shows, again, hanging off each other, shooting tacky photos in W magazine and having ads at the Super Bowl. Initial cost may have been middle, but promotion costs for hunter were through the roof. Major disappointment. Plus, apparently, the movie really sucked, but many bad films make a mint, so no excuse there either. Anniston cannot open a movie and as one critic said “hair flipping is not acting”.
Wimpy kid is a very popular series. People went to see it with their kids because they were fans of the series, not necesarily the promos. These type of films don’t need huge advertising. And isn’t normal for stars to promote their films on tv shows. Why the HELL does Aniston get all the hate from that. Oh wait, because she invited Butler for her birthday. Did you know that Bateman was ALSO there with his wife. Sh!t she cannot even invite the people she worked with this year for her birthday???? The wh0ring part is mostly the tabloid’s work, even when there was nothing to show they would run crappy stories about Jen and Gerry. When are people gonna learn to distinguish between actual promotion and crap from tabloids. By now most people remotely familiar with the entertaining bussiness know that Jen is a media target. If she takes a dump and the tabloids find out where and when it will make huge headlines.
Inviting Hollywood Access to catalogue your beachfront poolside fun with Gerry Butler, uncoincidentally the same thing she did with John Mayer at a public pool in Miami, as Brangelina was hitting the Cannes festival, and she was set to promote her latest crap movie? She does it all the time. It was documented on CNN, the 3 stages of Jen’s ‘Love Hoax’ promotion for movies – 1) Get a ‘new man!’ (preferably famous) 2) Drop Brangelina’s name 3)Partial nudity/sexy shoot (no, it doesn’t matter if it’s a movie about a lovable dog). She’s become a joke at this point. Oh, and you don’t think Huvane, planted the story about them making out his paper of choice (the NY Post), or started that ridiculous ‘revenge dress,’ business that overshadowed the Globes…and by the way, why exactly does she show up to award shows she’s not invited to, where she’s not nominated ANYWAY?? Yeah, exactly. Coattail riding FAMEwh*re
Forget Aniston, she will forever and always be in these dumb movies.
The real story is Robert Pattinson. Isnt this guy suppose to be the biggest up and coming superstar? Some kind of Adonis phenom, that moms and their teenage daughters wet their pants for? Only 9.5 mill opening, only 14.2 after 2 weeks? It appears that his box office draw is directly tied with Edward Cullen and not himself. Eek!
I like the guy. Doesn’t make headlines from bad boy behavior, and more importantly, comes across as thoughtful and intelligent. But you can tell already — kid is gorgeous, but he’s not going to age well. And I mean, he’s going to be aging poorly at 27, 28.
i believe the film opened at 8.5M opening weekend. 2200 screens. big story. big failure. apparently the tweens weren’t really screaming for robert pattinson, but for twilight guy.
Big story! His last movie opens at 160 Million this at 8.5 Mill? How does this affect his and Lautners negotiating for future projects? Not that Lautner has a future…
The question I’m debating in my head is, are most of young hollywood full of good looking bores. NO originality and NO personality, that audiences dont care about seeing them, and only interested in the plot of the movie? Or is the overexposure and Internet destroying their box office draw. People don’t need to go see the movie when they can just go on the YouTube and watch 2 hours of interviews of the young star from GMA, E News, The View, Rachel Ray, Regis, Today, Local morning news chanels, Late Nights, all those stupid little Internet journalists with their websites interviews!
Megan Fox came off of Transformers and 3 months later and flopped with Jennifers Body. Pattinson same thing. Mysterious.
O and how Green Zone gets that kind of budget after a track record of iraq war bashing movies flopping, beyond me.
The movie is terrible… but that’s a real solid opening for the Bounty Hunter.
The only people who think otherwise are the bitter commenters here who either hate Anniston as much as Nikki does and/or know nothing about the film biz.
But a 20 million weekend for a 50 million dollar film ain’t bad at all. In fact, it’s good.
That said… again, the movie is terrible.
Like I just told someone else – it may opened half-way decently, but what’s it going to do next week? This movie is going to sink like a stone. Domestic ticket sales may equal the film’s budget but what about the tens of millions for marketing? Or the fact that the studio has to split the box office proceeds with the theaters? Didn’t think about that, now did ya? You were too annoyed that people were people negative simply because we don’t like Aniston. The opening numbers won’t mean jack if the movie doesn’t have legs – and it won’t. Repeat business is NOT in this movie’s future.
Stacy,
You should teach a class in how the business really works!
Do you?
I would love to take it.
Do all theaters take a cut of box office proceeds? I have never heard of that. Is it a new trend, like 3-D?
I always thought once a movie have opened half-way decently, it was gonna be profitable, no?
theatres have always taken a cut of the box office. although they make a lot on popcorn, etc. too. but i think the exhibitor box office take is closer to thirty percent, not fifty, and it depends on what they negotiate with the studio, and there is a sliding scale over time.
but i’ll bet anniston got a gross participation also.
I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not. Yes, there is a big difference between gross boxoffice receipts and the film rental. As a quick rule of thumb, the studio gets about 50% of the gross with the other half going to the theaters. So if a movie that cost $50m grosses $50m it’s opening weekend, it has NOT broken even (and let’s not forget the tens of millions in P & A that the studio has to bear all by itself). In fact, in this example it’s only about half way there (again, not counting the P & A). Of course, the ancillary revenue streams help mitigate losses and even sometimes provide profit for a movie that has underperformed theatrically.
Pattison’s film had a small budget it wasn’t suppose to be a blockbuster by any means. I’d say it’ll have no trouble making back it’s costs and then some. Remember me is right in line with the studio’s expectations. It’s a nice little film with a controversial ending which as a result turned off some critics. It’ll do better as a rental.
Jennifer needs to stop already. She’s embarrassing herself.
Green Zone is the real flop.
yep matt is embarrassing himself and needs to stop already! Bounty Hunter is having a average opening so they will have no problem making the film pay for itself. however green zone…….now that is a different story…….so if you could look beyond your hate for an actress and look at the bigger picture … damon is the failure!
Remember Me opened on 2200 screens and made $8M it’s opening weekend. And it has taken a nearly 70% dive. If that’s meeting expectations, gawd help Summit.
Good for Nina. She deserves it. Poor Universal… Repo wasn’t a very good script. Let’s see how Mark Romanek’s organ/cloning project does with Keira Knightley. The one i’m hopeful for is the script circling town entitled TISSUE.
Gerard needs to get back to his dark-edged roots. Do something psychological. A thriller that actually thrills and I’m not talking about cheap mindless crap like Law Abiding…
I actually liked LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, it wasn’t a masterpiece but it was watchable which coincidentally, was one his more successful films. I think the movie going public is tired of Aniston or tired of predictable romantic comedies.
I enjoyed Repo Men. From the moment I saw the trailer I knew it was gonna have a hard time finding an audience. It has talented actors, but they aren’t the type that sell tickets. The premise is a hard sell and it’s difficult to get the concept across in trailers.
It’s probably too cerebral for the gore hounds, and too gory for the intellectual crowd.
I enjoyed Repo Men. From the moment I saw the trailer I knew it was gonna have a hard time finding an audience. It has talented actors, but they aren’t the type that sell tickets. The premise is a hard sell and it’s difficult to get the concept across in trailers.
It’s probably too cerebral for the gore hounds, and too gory for the intellectual crowd.
Poor Deadline. I see the Jen hating trolls from Just Jared have made there way over here.
The real story of the weekend is Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Most of the tracking did not predict over $20m. It looks cute so I’ll pack up the kids and head out to see it this afternoon.
Jennifer Anniston and Gerard Butler. Ugh they promoted the heck out of this thing and all they could do was $20m even though it is the only PG-13, date night movie. They’re two crap celebrities who make crap movies. This will be true until the day they die.
Repo Man got killed. Nothing left to say.
I have to admit, I don’t get the appeal of Jennifer Aniston. I’ve never seen mediocrity so celebrated.
“But a 20 million weekend for a 50 million dollar film ain’t bad at all. In fact, it’s good.”
Are you serious?This movie is going to drop like a stone after this weekend due to word of mouth.No one is going to pay to see this crap twice.The studio will be lucky to break even….and I don’t think they will.
A big article breakdown about a Aniston “bomb” but not a Niki peep anywhere about what’s rounding out to be this year’s biggest bomb “The Green Zone”. Wonder why.
Maybe Hollywood should stop making American bashing movies before they stop the stupid romantic comedies?
You must of come over from Drudge. There is nothing “American bashing” about GREEN ZONE. Damon’s character couldn’t possibly be more patriotic. His only goal is the truth and the truth shouldn’t be scary for a country as strong as ours. In addition, most of the soldiers are portrayed as valiant and brave and up for doing whatever is asked from them by their country. But perhaps your definition of “American bashing” is calling out our civilian leaders for making disastrous decisions based on lies and motivated by seriously un-American motivations.
The GREEN ZONE bombed because it has been proven over and over again that American audiences have zero interest in being reminded of what’s going on in the middle east. And I think that’s fine. Studios shouldn’t make $130m dollar movies that the mass audience has no interest in.
Green Zone IS America bashing. The US Military, the CIA, are both clearly “bad guys” in the movie, and the movie WANTS YOU TO CHEER MILITARY DEATHS in a scene where a US helicopter gets blown up.
Its nothing but America bashing, from beginning to end. I.E. the “insurgency” is started and controlled by one man, a “good Iraqi General” and only Matt Damon “getting to the truth” by killing fellow soldiers to “expose the evil military/CIA/Wall Street Journal” triumvirate.
Pathetic anti-Americanism, and one moreover that the LAT is claiming has …
KILLED THE BOURNE FRANCHISE.
Matt Damon has the stink of an American hater, at a time when we actually won in Iraq. His movie makes the US soldier, the CIA (last seen getting blown up in Afghanistan), and the military (which won when everyone said they couldn’t) the bad guys. Not folks who blow up their crotch to bring down airliners or shoot up Fort Hood.
We are not going to stop fighting Muslim Jihadis (in Afghanistan or at home) any time soon. So Damon just stepped in it, ending basically his action movie star career. Hope enjoys being Ben Affleck!
It’s always nice to hear idiots commenting who have clearly not seen the movie. Paul Gleason’s CIA officer is absolutely not a bad guy in Green Zone
As Gleason’s CIA guy tells Damon’s character, “If you want easy answers, I’m not your guy for that. If you want to help, then come and see me.”
Neither was the Iraqi General “good”. Duh!
And even the journalist tried to obtain the truth after she realized that she had been duped. And gosh, they made her someone from the Wall Street Journal! Imagine that! A Wall Street Journal reporter caring about the truth!
The movie even made the point that in the end the fractions in Iraq were the ones who stood in their own way, by having “Freddie”, the Iraqi translator killing the Baathist general and thus shutting down any potential chance of getting some backing of the Iraqi army as the country descended into chaos.
That’s the whole point of the movie.
Everybody has blood on their hands.
Before you open your mouth and come across as Glen Beck’s retarded stepson, at least get your facts about the movie straight.
Repeat after me: The Bush administration was not, and is not, “America.”
Moron.
it really is just another tired movie representing the little heard argument from Hollywood that Bush is evil, Iraq War is evil, America is run by evil white men…my mind was blown but no way was this going to make a dime, a total vanity project for yet another overindulged Hollywood lib
I watched Green Zone , and as far as movies go, it’s quite a good one. Damon’s portrayal of a soldier who cares about one thing, and one thing only, the truth, reminded me of America’s best qualities.
Damon plays him like an icon, and if he’d be wearing the red, white and blue costume of Captain America and played him the same way, everybody’d be singing his praises.
The problem with the movie, though, is…
(a) that nobody in the US cares about being reminded of the mess you made. Yes, in the immortal words of Colin Powell, “if you break it, you own it”. Nobody wants to see a nuanced (and the movie is nuanced) portrayal of what happened.
(b) the movie suffers from the same problem as Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie . In short, we all know the ending to this one, and for all the Bourne hyper-kinetics that are thrown at you, you already know that Miller’s battle is one he will lose in the end. And that means it is hard to connect with the story.
(c) war never makes for a good story, unless it is seen through the prism of mythical history. World War 2 movies worked for a good long time, because they had a mythical good vs. evil battle as a background, but the further you move up along the time line to modern day, the more the line between news and movies blue, and you don’t pay 10 bucks to see something that bothers you on a TV screen every night. You want to be entertained.
Having said all that, to call the movie Anti-American is ridiculous. In order to do so, you’ll have to accept the premise that going to war on a bunch of lies… is what America does these days. And I still like to think that America is better than that.
Hell, in this movie you even have the CIA being the good guys, desperately trying to salvage a very bad situation that is getting worse by the minute. You have an honest American soldier who doesn’t know who to trust anymore, be it his own superiors or the Iraqis. And you even have an American journalist who does good in the end by trying to find out the truth (as opposed to the actual Judith Miller who is still lying).
The movie praises all the qualities that people around the world loved about America. Truth. Honour. And a stubborness to pursue all of those qualities.
We have to remember that none of the Vietnam movies that are now seen as milestones in cinema were successful at the box office when they were made. Neither Apocalypse Now nor Deer Hunter ripped it up at the time they were made. People just don’t like to be reminded of things when they are still so vivid in their own memories.
And I think it will take another ten years before Green Zone joins the ranks of those movies…. right now, from a business point of view, it is a complete failure.
And that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Like my Irish dad used to say, “Our time will come”. You have no idea how much we detest you.
Jimmy Huero
USMC
Nurf gets it. Thank you!
Not as embarrassing as the FLOP Green Zone…
AVATAR in 10th place, I knew it would bomb.
I like the cut of your jib.
FWIW, News is projecting that AFTER all the DVD revenue and TV sales come in, they will NET around $200 Million for AVATAR?
WHY?
They gave away most of the upside to get it financed. Murdoch even spoke to its high cost making them go co-finance and give up the upside of box office and a lot of the DVD rental.
Bear in mind, that’s not even money in hand. That’s a projection. DVD revenues could collapse, and really what is the point of seeing the movie at home in flat 2-D?
Lesson: if you want BIG profits don’t make movies so expensive you have to co-finance and give up all your upside. This is why James Cameron works once a decade — he’s too expensive.
According to her fans and the media.. Jennifer Aniston is a A list power house.. but the truth is no. And 20 million dollars after the of pairing her and Butler is a big fail. If the movie makes 20+ this weekend look for it to drop off a great deal next week.. and I can’t imagine where it will be next weekend. Next week you have the Dragon movie and that Hot tub film.. I don’t see the TBH holding strong. So no this not a good showing.. especially considering how much they shoved that movie down our throats. Which I think was a big mistake. Most people feel as if they have already seen it. There is such a thing as Over promotion..
I think Matt Damon’s anti-military flick being a complete and utter bomb is more embarrassing…