SUMMER SLUMP? Will Smith’s ‘MIB3′ Slows … 
Oscilloscope Takes U.S. Rights To ‘Reality’ 
‘Mud’: Did Cannes Save One Of The Best For … 
Cannes Podcast: Pete Hammond On ‘Lawless’, … 
Over-Achievers Of This Year’s Upfront 
Aussie Pay-TV Shakeup Impacts Hollywood 
USA: ‘Rebounding’ & ‘Modern … 
Interview: Philip Kaufman At Cannes With ‘Hemingway … 
R.I.P. Television Mogul Lee Rich 
Cannes Biz Shines Despite Wind & Rain 
Full 2011-2012 TV Season Series Rankings 
2011-12 Season Network Rankings: Fox Still On Top But Down, … 
HLN Set To Air Daytime Emmy Awards 
Grant Bowler Cast As Richard Burton Opposite Lindsay Lohan … 
UPDATE: Dish Network And Broadcasters Ask Courts To Decide … 
Cannes Surprise Screening: Change Of Plans On Juan Antonio … 
Kevin Hart In Talks To Join Kevin James In ‘Valet … 
Anthony Hopkins Up For ‘Red 2′ Villain; Can … 
Cannes Conflicted Over ‘The Paperboy’ As … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘American Idol’ Posts … 
Ghost Of 2004 Hovers Over L.A. Screenings As Int’l … 
SUNDAY UPDATE: suspect all non-Gleeks now can relax since Fox will never make another Glee 3D unless a few execs at 20th and 20th TV undergo lobotomies. The concert film opened in only 6th place Friday with $2.7M, then Saturday plunged -37% for just $1.7M which took the pic out of the Top 10 completely. Its $5.7M weekend from 2,040 theaters would be humiliating and downright disastrous if it hadn’t been made for such a low budget — around $9.5M to $9.7M, according to Ryan Murphy, who emailed me: “That’s compared to the Bieber film which was around $14 million I believe. So the risk [was] very very low. No matter what it will be a money maker for Fox. I am proud of it.” Murphy, who produced but did not direct, was as befuddled as Fox TV and film execs why the pic didn’t do better, especially because it was given an ‘A+’ CinemaScore from audiences under age 25. “The CinemaScores were excellent. They don’t sync up with the results,” one Fox TV exec emailed me. Fox thought the film would at least reach double-digits, crack the Top 5 for the weekend, and perform respectably like the other concert movies. But the studio wasn’t really sure what to make of the soft tracking despite fan-favorite castmembers like Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer, Chord Overstreet, and The Warblers.
Murphy said that, by design, the movie wasn’t just a big-screen version of the TV show: instead it’s about three young people who say that Glee helped them live better lives and overcome struggles with their personal stories cut against 20 positive message songs. When moviegoers didn’t materialize Friday, the filmmakers still thought kids would come out Saturday and Sunday. But these concert films are frontloaded and it’s all downhill from opening day. Immediately Fox TV execs turned against Fox film execs. “I think it was a shitty campaign that did not effectively communicate what the movie was or that the people who had seen it reviewed it positively,” one suit told me. “I think the feature company took a very laid-back approach, feeling their only job was to alert the core fans, and that’s not enough to fill seats.”
I say these concert films are very unpredictable. Disney’s Hannah Montana concert film was a breakout blockbuster, but it was also among the first of its kind. But then Disney’s Jonas Brothers’ 3D concert movie didn’t do well (though its $12.5M opening weekend wasn’t as bad as Glee‘s) and they were really big at the time. But kids can watch the real Glee for free on Fox and faux The Glee Project on Oxygen, so why spend their milk money on a movie ticket? No one believes that limited-run two-week-only nonsense anymore. And maybe Glee is just over-exposed right now and not as cool as it was initially. Not even a Fox Television integration with the popular So You Think You Can Dance finale helped attendance.
So maybe Sue Sylvester’s email sent to the press as a publicity stunt was really prescient: “For two years, we’ve been mercilessly bombarded with the pubescent nonsense of carnival sideshow freaks calling themselves ‘The Glee Club’. And now, they’re trying to shove a 3D concert movie down our throats. It’s time to make a stand against these pimply-faced, hormone-ridden twits by joining the ‘STOP BELIEVING’ campaign. Say ‘NO’ to their insignificant cinematic experiment. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand looking at their little satanic faces in 2D, much less 3D.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
Lynch is a funny lady, but Glee is one of the most annoying and overrated shows in recent years. Thank God this fad is fading! ps Hollywood take note, Lea Michelle is no superstar. She’s annoying at best, so stop putting her in big movies now and save money later.
Agree.
Agree as well except want to add that Lynch is the most overrated…not to mention a cliche.
Agreed. She’s a one-trick pony and the one-trick is getting quite old.
Wrong. The character of Sue is a one-trick pony. Lynch has comedic diversity. Check out Party Down.
She was great on Party Down. See that before passing judgment.
You do an autopsy on Glee (which will actually turn a profit with DVD, pay tv and tv sales) and duck an autopsy on Cowboys and Aliens which will lose $100m for three separate studios: Dreamworks, Universal and Paramount who has foreign? How does that make any sense?
Where is the autopsy on the biggest bomb of 2011?
Where are you getting your numbers? You are throwing out numerical figures and sighting various revenue windows with some authority. You have no clue. What was the P&A for this movie? With this opening – its going to be stretch that it even covers P&A yet alone negative cost. For the producers to state that this is going to make money is a farce. This movie is going to lose money period – not make money…..
This was her first movie and if you read the reviews she was one of the few good things about the movie. All the Glee cast is really talented and it’s not their fault Ryan is ruining Glee with bad writting and preaching storylines. Ryan Murphy is making all the money meanwhile his cast have one of the lowest salaries on tv and will be fire next year.
I agree as well. Nothing personal, but who cares.
Amen to that! I double down on everything you just said.
THANK YOU for saying everything I have been thinking for years!
It made no money in the theater because people would have had to go out in public and say that the want to see Glee 3D out loud where other people could hear them say it. Then they would have to walk into a theater where everyone with eyes could see them walking in. When they watch it home, they can watch it anonymously. It’s just as embarrassing as porn to admit you watch it and worse to pay to see it. It will make its real money when it is available on NetFlix or OnDemand. There is still talent displayed in this show, I’m sure. And there is an audience for it eventually.
that is so true. i really wanted to c it, but i wouldn’t go by myself, and i didn’t want to have to ask any of my friends. i have season 3 and the 3d move saved on Netflix ryte actually. Ur completely ryte, people are embarrassed to publicly b a gleek:/
Lea Michele is not even in a movie yet. Please stop hating her. Does she annoy you because she is talented? Well I said Go Lea Don’t listen to the haters.
BS Lea is the best part of glee, pretty, funny and a great singer.
Hell, I enjoy Glee but I had no intention of seeing this. I even talked my wife and daughter out of seeing it. From the outside it appeared dumb and unnecessary.
Season two really faded, the theme weeks and the nonsensical story lines really changed the entire tone of the series. It appears they were caught off guard by the success of the first season and didn’t have a plan for the second.
Get it together Ryan Murphy. Remember “Heroes”?
Couldn’t agree with you more about last season. They’re still trading off the phemonal explosion of popularity generated by the strength of the initial 13 episodes. The remaining nine from last year were not as solid as a group but had some very strong episodes and a clear-ish “through line”. They were forgivable: this past season – not. I think that had contributed to the somewhat ambivalent response.
i had been very hepped to go thinking it was essentially the concert brought to the screen for those who aren’t in or near a center to which the show travels However, hearing about how the movie follows and tells the story of how it follows and chronicles how affected three teens’ lives have been really makes it feel over the top. “Wait – really? Will it have an altar call too!”
This is a show, not a religion! The self congratulatory taste shot through all of these hyped events begin to leave a bad taste behind. Particularly when the quality of the show has steadily declined.
Murphy needs to spend his time tending to the quality of the main show instead of trying to launch some kind of entertainment franchise or empire. The film’s poor response is hubris displayed at its finest.
The comparison with Heroes was ap: going out with a whimper.
Answer: Worst. Marketing. Ever.
Compounded with it being an overrated TV show that no couple watches together – one loves it, one hates it. You can split a couple for a TV show, but you can’t for a movie.
Without James Cameron, Fox has nothing. They’re too stingy and their marketing is too incompetent to really compete with powerhouses like Paramount and Warners.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is #1 for the second week, making it the second prequel hit (along with X-Men: First Class) of the summer. Methinks you hate Fox or shill for the other studios too much.
Want to see some bad marketing? Check out the bang-up job Sony-Columbia didn’t do for 30 Minutes or Less.
“Without James Cameron, Fox has nothing. They’re too stingy and their marketing is too incompetent to really compete with powerhouses like Paramount and Warners.”
Wrong… Fox & Fox Searchlight in 2008 had 12.7% of BoxOffice compared to #1 Warner at 18.4% / 2009: 15.5% compared to 19.8% Warner / 2010: 15.4% compared to 18.2% Warner / 2011 so far: 11.4% compared to 20.9% Paramount due Potter.
These are not all Avatar numbers either. They ‘are’ one of the ‘powerhouses’.
Correction:
“2011 so far: 11.4% compared to 20.9% Paramount due Potter.”
Potter is Warner.
Paramount is Transformers
Actually Fox can market the sh*t out of good product. Black Swan? Even Rio. Unfortunately Fox misunderstood the strength in high TV numbers.
This is hardly a referendum on Lea Michelle’s movie career. Watch the trailer for “New Year’s Eve.” She’s the only star lighting it up.
Yeah, some of the other stars in that movie being Robert De Niro, Jon Bon Jovi, Zac Efron, Jessica Biel and Sofía Vergara, it’s really hard to tear your eyes from them and just look at Lea.
And her name is Lea Michele with only one ‘l’ btw.
Hell, watch her commercial for the HP tablet. More star power packed into that 30 seconds than any three Katherine Heigl movies.
as if that is difficult. she will ruin the movie version of the Plum books
In the HP commercial, they hide her face and mostly only showcase her voice.
Except not, and well all the HP commercial start with the star’s face hidden.
You were able to watch the trailer for “New Year’s Eve”? How does one do that? How did you like the “Change-Up” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love”?
Can it be referendum on Gwyneth Paltrow’s career? Can Gwyneth go away now? Please?
I doubt it. Gwyneth’s still got Iron Man 3, so she should be good, even without Glee.
I loved the 3D Glee and wish it was “required reading” for the positive message about being yourself. In this political climate globally, we need to have this out!
Glee, like the whole gaydom world, is grossly overrated. Inflating numbers, like “10 percent of the population” and “double digits” for this disaster of a film is finally starting to bite some asses.
Plus, Ryan Murphy is a dick.
Agreed on all counts.
I would agree with you if it wasn’t insultingly stereotypical and drowned an actual positive message with forced teen drama.
disgusting.
Please stop drinking the Kool-aid of the Corporate known as the “cult of positivity”. When you stop drinking it you will sound less stupid.
I couldn’t agree with you more…and you’re funny!!!!
‘Actors’ telling people to ‘Be Themselves’ – How hypocritical
Apparently only gay Hollywood feels the need to have “actors” tell people to be themselves. All a part of the agenda, I guess.
It was the subtle liberal view that is bringing this chapter to an end. Most don’t recognize it. But it shows the waning support for liberal idealism.
LOLOL. What are you bitching about? Most don’t recognize it, huh? Well thank the heavens you did, Yoda. I’m sick of people hating the show just because it’s “gay” or “liberal”. It encourages you to be who you are, and while I didn’t see this movie (the original show and the Glee project are kind of overdoing it for me), I love that.
1) Glee is overexposed
2) Ryan Murphy is a dick
3) 3D has lost its draw power and significance as a ticket sale money booster
4) Controversy (a weak and rambling Season 2, a possible spin-off, the exit and then non-exit of 3 of the leads, etc.) doesn’t always lead to interest
It will be interesting to see how the viewership numbers come in for Season 3.
Well said. Totally ‘unglee’ at these Glee stuffs. Glad to see the movie bombed at the B.O
Screw cinema score! Sucker Punch had a good cinema score (B-) and look at the hack job it was. It sucked in the BO…disaster.
Another example that based on just a fanbase, you can’t sell a film anymore. Its got to be worth seeing. Days are long gone when a fan base can sell a film.
for cinemascore, a B- is bad.
a B- Cinemascore is actually poor. You know nothing.
Agreed.
With respect to Sucker Punch, a B- is not a good CinemaScore grade. For recent wide-release movies, both the mean and the mode of the grade distribution are B+.
Audiences are so collectively stupid that they cannot dole out anything less than a B- for CS – it’s equivalent to an F.
From the article: “The CinemaScores were excellent. They don’t sync up with the results,” one Fox TV exec emailed me.
Really? Do these executives actually watch their movies themselves or do they just look at CinemaScore ratings to decide whether they’ve got a hit or miss?
Sucker Punch was an amazing movie but you probably aren’t sophisticated enough to understand it.
Anytime your top ad ends with “It Sucks”, it’s not a great sell.
Sure, marketing may have had something to do with it… but let’s face it, is it worth it (to Glee fans) to pay $12-$15 to watch the film?
I assume that the best part of Glee (for most fans) is watching/listening to the characters break into song and dance in the middle of a TV show. The entertainment value of the performances is not solely contained in and of the performances — they’re enhanced by the storyline/context in between performances; if you had an hour long TV show of non-stop song and dance, no one would watch it.
You lose just about all of the “TV musical” shtick and structure in a live concert, and what you have left is a bunch of overgrown “teens” covering pop songs without the aid of a studio…who really would want to watch that for $15? Again, what presumably makes Glee popular is NOT the song covers in and of themselves — it’s the song covers woven into a TV episode. It wouldn’t surprise me if Glee fans preferred watching the TV performances over live concert performances, and of course, the former is free free free.
At least with the Bieber concert film, it gave many Bieber fans the chance to catch the next-best thing (after a live concert). Fans who were either priced out of live concert tickets or who live in rural areas probably snapped the movie tix up. And of course, Bieber is a real person (as opposed to a fictional character), and the intimate look into all that backstage stuff, his hometown visit, the old family videos etc. gave his fans plenty of value and reason to watch the movie.
With Glee, I’m guessing its fans probably care more about the fictional characters than they care about the actors playing them. Would fans care enough about the actors to go watch the movie in order to access a backstage look? It almost “shatters the illusion” of the Glee fiction by giving an intimate behind-the-scenes look at the cast. You kind of lose that spirit of what makes Glee special.
What also needs to be considered is the demographics. Obviously, most of Bieber’s fans are under 18. But how about Glee? If roughly half their TV viewers are in the 18-49 group (and more than half overall are over 18), is that a good thing? Sure, having 5+ million viewers in the 18-49 is great for advertising on TV, but does that translate to viewers fanatical enough to watch the movie? It’s not exactly scientific, but I feel like the under-18 Bieber fans would be more enthusiastic towards a Bieber concert film than the over-18 Glee fans towards the same (as for the Jonas Bros. movie, no idea).
Agreed completely. I’m a hard core show fan, mostly for cracky escapist fun, and I’m a fan of the Kurt and Blaine storyline. I’m also a grown up. I’ve always thought the tour was a gratuitous money making scheme and the movie even more so. I watch the show and love the show for the soapy plots combined with cute cover song performances, exactly as you said.
Still, I almost considered going to see the movie, until I heard about it. They don’t show all the performances, the fan stories are of no interest for me, they did some half assed interviews of the actors in character, with half the actors not knowing they were supposed to be in character, and the 3D aspect seems useless. It sounds like a DVD featurette for which they’re charging $12. Even as a fan, sounds gratuitous and self-congratulatory, and I won’t see it.
I like that they’re getting the message that these side ventures aren’t as successful as they hope. Maybe they’ll concentrate on making the show better.
ummm…. my kids wanted to see it and we didn’t figure out it opened this weekend until Sunday…. maybe that’s a clue
Exactly.
I didn’t realize it opened this weekend AND my daughters apparently still haven’t realized it… because they haven’t begged me to see it. What kinda suck-ass marketing campaign did they have?
Also – could they have picked a worst weekend for this to open in LA? Every high school age girl in town is getting ready to school to start on Monday. Ain’t no time to see movies in my house.
Finally – I like Kevin T. And I wish him luck on his next directing project.
“it’s about 3 young people who say that Glee helped them live better lives and overcome struggles with their personal stories” yah cuz thats what i’d go to the movie theater for
Wow.
Worst.plot.ever.
Glee made my life better, as a plot. Just wow. No others words… just wow.
It does sound preachy. Honestly, I just wanted too see a Glee concert on a giant screen. Not a Glee-themed True Life episode.
The tweens who live their lives on Glee fan sites and other Internet comments sections will be waking up shortly, and will go crazy when their Google Alerts inform them of this post.
So to those with functioning brains, get your comments in before this section is overrun by the mindless rantings of all of the Ambers, Tiffanys and Brittens of the world who will be out for the blood of ANYONE who dares to criticize their darling Darrens, Corys, Chrissies and other various and sundry objects of maudlin, treacle-y worship.
Wow. Stereotype much? I love Glee. And contrary to your asinine comment, that doesn’t make me stupid or tweeny. I’d say that you’re the immature one for bashing so inherently on fans who simply enjoy watching it. I’m gonna do some stereotyping and assume you call movies “films”, listen to NPR non stop, and think Mad Men is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Ryan Murphy made the mistake of putting the BTS stuff in the movie in stupid in-character mode and putting in a lot of self-congratulatory fan story stuff that no one really wants to watch. Fans wanted to watch the performers in concert, not a documentary about how wonderful and fabulous the Glee franchise is. The core fandom only tolerated and suffered through the inconsistent storylines in Season 2 because they love the actors. The concert movie would have been much more well-received if they had scrapped all that in-character stuff (which was not really well-directed, was it Blaine or was it Darren that was on the screen?) and just showed the cast members who have a lot of chemistry with each other preparing for the show.
The fans were jokingly saying that the fun group interviews that came out of the press junkets were much more interesting than the 3D movie. Rachel may be annoying but Lea and her playful friendship with Amber, Dianna and Jenna is so amusing to watch. Fans who may not like Finn’s character adore the charming Cory Monteith. Kevin is much more hip and funny as Kevin. Chris’s sharp wit is much better than woobie Kurt and we can hear Harry talk! I can go on and on about how the actors are much better, funnier, more awesome than the characters they play. They should have gotten that magic on the screen.
It could be because Glee has become insufferable. The lead girl’s voice is annoying and her “Let Me Entertain You” commercial is like nails on a chalkboard. I’m sick of their overexposure. It was fun the first season, but, I don’t know what happened to it. Too many themes, I think.
HP went for cutesy she has a great voice.
And whom do the Fox TV execs blame for “The Glee Project”?
I think another reason why actual fans lost interest is because the movie focuses so much on these three particular fans rather than the concert itself. If you’re a fan, you hear fan stories all the time–you don’t need to go to a move for that. And a lot of the songs from the concert got chopped up and shortened to fit around these fan stories, so that even though this is supposed to be a concert movie people felt like they didn’t see the concert itself.
LOL at Nikki’s use of “autopsy” in the headline describing this Glee debacle. She’s funny — but spot on here. This is one post-mortem that ought to to be held up to symbolize the overrated, sing-songy DOA mess Glee has devolved into after having such a promising early life. So sad.
Totally agree. Best post title I’ve ever seen on Deadline!
How credible is CinemaScore? Has an objective third party ever tracked their tracking?
CinemaScore measures the degree to which the audience that came to see the movie liked what they saw. A good CinemaScore grade correlates to strong word-of-mouth, and that is highly predictive of the ratio of final box office to opening box office, the “multiple”.
But CinemaScore data are only captured from those who saw the movie when it opened. Predictions of opening weekend box office require metrics based on data from the entire potential viewing audience. For example, definite interest and first choice from tracking data of active moviegoers.
To predict a volumetric number like opening GBO you need volumetric predictors. A grade is necessarily not volumetric.
Remember “playability” vs. “marketability”? It’s important not to confound the two measures because they are somewhat independent.
My wife flips through the morning shows while watching an infant.
She said the GLEE stars were on virtually every AM show the past two weeks, to promote the movie.
Even that kind of bombardment could not overcome a crappy ad campaign.
Hopefully this is a wake up call to Ryan Murphy’s ego. Why would any teenager want to pay to 3D prices to hear these songs again? Pop in the CDs, DVDs, or watch the TV repeats. Coming out to fans (no pun intended) that you are ditching cast members before the new season has begun is not only reckless, it’s stupid. Nice way to piss off and alienate your fan base. I don’t think the marketing for the film was poorly done-letting people know it had personal “real” stories wouldn’t have sold any more tickets (it might have even sold less). I for one was glad when the movie opened because it meant I’d never have to see another ad for it again!
One of the problem with the fans in this movie was they center to much on new characters , as Darren Criss and The Warblers (3 songs) ans whose CD sales bomb as well, as opposite of the most popular actors of the series who were less in the movie. Even they cut songs of principal actors to show some fan bull stories.
Sorry Murphy but Darren/Chris couldn’t bring the money as you hope. Looks like he went blind for the only song Darren/Blaine could sell (teenager dreams).
Gotta love the honesty of the guy. “It’s a total piece of shit but making it was dirt cheap so it’s profitable either way. I’m proud of it.” This guy must look at the inside of his toilet bowl with nothing but love and pride.
Really happy to see this bomb.
There was no promotion for this movie. (At least I saw no promotion anywhere). Besides, Season one was great, but season two sucked- (and I dropped it half way). There was just no need for it.
No promotion? Are you nuts? It may have been poor promotion, but it was all over the place. Couldn’t turn on the TV without being bombarded by ads for it.
Bad timing is what htis is about… and Glee has been over exposed…so why go see the movie. It’s not a terrible show but this movie reeked of just being another scam to grab dollars out of kids pockets..they are not that dumb.
go see the ape movie instead.
mickey
People are done with Glee. It’s over. Quit pushing it so hard, media people.