‘Underworld 4′ On Top With $25M, ‘Red Tails’ Surprising $19M, ‘Contraband’ Steady, ‘Extremely Loud’ Swells, ‘Haywire’ Struggles

COMMENTS (191)

• That’s great for Fox and Sony. Tough for Relativity but par for their course.

  Comment by Truth Speaker — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 5:25pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Not tough for Relativity at all. Haywire had a budget of $25 Mill. Soderbergh delivered UNDER by a 1-2 Million (which then got spent on reshoots on the ending to make it more climactic).

    People seem to look at Box Office takings and not at the overall picture. In the case of Relativity, it is (if you pardon the pun)-

    ALL RELATIVE

    Underworld budget was around $70 Mill. By the end of the weekend it will recoup around a third. Then a predicted fall off what with the less than flattering reviews (and the fact it didn’t even have a critic screening…. which tends to be a air-raid siren of a warning sign). So-

    $70 Mill budget- $24-27 Mill 1st Weekend- Around a 40-45% recoup.

    Red Tails budget (I think I read) was $58 Mill plus $35 distribution costs. So discounting distrib-

    $58 mill budget – $15-18 Mill 1st Weekend- Around 25-30% recoup.

    And Now HAYWIRE.

    $23 Mill budget – $8-10 Mill 1st weekend – Around 40-45% recoup.

    (couldn’t be bothered to do the actual percentages)

    Now factor in word of mouth which will be WAY higher on HAYWIRE than any of these. Especially with the Rotten Tomatoes percentage smashing both of these movies apart and also with talk of Ms. Carano’s fighting skills spreading and the fact this is really a lot different to anything else up here in terms of a credible female fighter kicking a$$. That’s great word of mouth there.

    I predict, by the end of this, Haywire will prove a nice little earner for Relativity. And, with the other higher budgets, will more than likely end up making more money for the studio than their two more costly competitors….. remember…. It’s all relative.

    Comment by Harbinger — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:31pm PST  Reply to this post

    • See, that’s why it floors me that studios have such an aversion to lower-budgeted movies, rather than the all-or-nothing mentality of the mega-blockbuster. If you make a film cheaply and responsibly, there is practically no crapshootas to whether you’ll recoup your losses.

      Comment by Rish Outfield — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:51pm PST  Reply to this post

      • You’ll have to look at annual reports, but the major studios claim to have hundreds of millions of dollars in overhead. Which might add $25-$30 million per major release. Only having some blockbusters is going to pay for all that overhead. Just a thought.

        Comment by mfan — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:25pm PST  Reply to this post

      • So, um, you REALLY think with a movie that stars Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender AND Michael Douglas, (not to mention the dir. Soderbergh has to be paid) – it only cost 23 mil.?? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Okay Alice in wonderland.

        Comment by SaywhaSaywhatmf — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 11:05am PST  Reply to this post

        • Yeah, but all those guys do the movie for cut rates just to work with soderberg (for the first time or again). Have you seen the movie? Aside from The lead girl, none of those guys could have worked for more than ten days, some only one or two days.

          Comment by Drew — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 7:33pm PST  

        • Sorry, dude, you don’t sounds like you know a lot about the film business. Do you really think actors receive their publicized going-rate for every film they make? You’re dreaming. How would low-budget films with big-name actors ever get made? Actors routinely lower their fees for back-end deals, like a share of gross profits. I’ve seen the film — it’s clearly not a big budget film, and it doesn’t surprise me that it only cost around $23M.

          Comment by Kat — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 11:08pm PST  

      • A lot ink of spilled here to avoid the obvious and the truth: Haywire is an unsatisfying experience. Critics were blinkered and got it wrong, with a few notable exceptions (NY Times, Time and Rex Reed got it right). The D+ has nothing to do with women, budget, marketing or the much trumpeted ‘bad taste’ of moviegoers and everything to do with the movie itself.

        Comment by A. Cowan — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 7:24am PST  Reply to this post

        • Haywire was not marketed right and should have been done by the people who did Fast & Furious – they are geniuses, cuz the movies suck but get amazing weekend gross.

          Comment by anon — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 9:17pm PST  

    • Your math is all wrong. Studios/distributors don’t get all of the boxoffice. How can you not realize that?

      Comment by Jeff Guillard — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:29pm PST  Reply to this post

      • It was a quick way to illustrate the numbers (hence why I even said that the percentages weren’t worked out right).

        I’m not saying that a movie recoups 45% of it’s budget in a weekend (and in the graveyard month of January). That’s insanity!

        But since all movies are subject to the same rules to some extent with regards divvying out the spoils, it seemed the easiest way to draw a box office comparison.

        It’s like saying there are three varying sizes of apple pies that cost different amounts. Each pie has to be divvied up into 4 slices. Well, the very fact they are all subject to the same rules makes it still valid to compare them and the money they cost/make. Even if it is in fact 5 slices. Makes no difference.

        The comparison is still valid.

        Comment by Harbinger — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:50pm PST  Reply to this post

        • Yet, there are other factors to consider. Underworld is part of a successful franchise, it has an awareness that may help it do better on video, sell for a higher price to cable. It can be packaged in four disc sets with the other films. It seems like you have to factor in everything before you say it will be less profitable for the studio than Haywire.

          Comment by dan — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 11:06pm PST  

        • The other thing to take into consideration is that Relativity, like Summit and Lionsgate, usually pre-sell the foreign rights, unlike studio pictures. Given the value of Soderbergh in the foreign market place, i would bet they sold foreign for close to the budget of the picture if not more, which would mean they have very little at risk against the domestic release. They may not make much money out of domestic after all is said and done, but they won’t lose much either. They’ll recoup their P&A most likely and that’s it. Films like Red Tails may do well domestically, but it is a tougher subject matter over seas. Like it or not, films about African Americans don’t travel well abroad, though the WWII stuff may help.

          Comment by Drogo — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 10:11am PST  

        • “Like it or not, films about African Americans don’t travel well abroad”
          Uh, who’s the biggest movie star on the planet? Uh, Will Smith, I think. One of the biggest movies of 2011? Fast five which starred FOUR men of African descent (Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel, Tyrese, Ludacris).
          Your racist rhetorical dodge has been trafficked in by white execs for years to justify not making movies starring African Americans, and it was declared dead in the late 80′s. Only idiots still repeat that crap in 2012.
          Got any other cheap falsehoods you’d like to share with us?

          Comment by JaySmack — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 1:55pm PST  

        • JaySmack – If you take a second to set your tantrum aside, you might realize that you pretty much provided the exceptions that prove the rule – outside of Will Smith and the Fast and Furious series – films with black leads don’t do well overseas. Look at Denzels entire filmography for more evidence.

          Comment by Jer — Monday January 23, 2012 @ 11:26am PST  

    • I would love to see her( Gina Carano) play the comic book vigilante, Everette Hartsoe’s RAZOR that would be a great follow up

      Comment by Cain — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 11:14pm PST  Reply to this post

      • Who the hell is Razor? More important, who cares!

        Comment by wtf? — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 9:01am PST  Reply to this post

    • I’m with you on the relativity spiel, but you lost me a bit when it comes to word-of-mouth.

      Correlating Rotten Tomatoes with sustained grosses is iffy. If Red Tails satisfies black movie-goers, as it is a huge part of black history, and if it entertains people, then reviews will become irrelevant after week one. Plus, movies like Underworld (and Resident Evil, and the like) are programmed down to a science. No matter how shitty it is, it’s going to open with roughly this much, and wind up roughly here.

      And based on anecdotal evidence, Haywire isn’t much of a crowd-pleaser. I know a few non-cinegeeks who have seen it, and the conversations were pretty consistent: How was Gina Carano? “Awesome.” How was the movie? “Sucked.”

      Just because a well-reviewed movie costs one mil to make and winds up making ten, it doesn’t necessarily mean it “registered” with people, or is more successful than a large-budget movie that doesn’t do much more than that in profit. Because at a seventy-million dollar gross, at least you’re out there and being seen, and that is the point at which you could argue that grosses become not irrelevant, but less relevant.

      Liked your post overall, tho.

      Comment by ONEandDONE — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:40am PST  Reply to this post

    • Haywire got a D+ Cinemascore. Word of mouth isn’t going to help this movie.

      Comment by Tricky — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 8:58am PST  Reply to this post

      • At a 230pm Friday showing of “Haywire” at a Regal in New York/Long Island, 85% of the theater was packed. I was shocked. When the film cut to credits at the end, people either applauded or laughed with excitement.

        No joke. People were into this movie. Perhaps drugs in the soda machines? And as a Soderbergh fan, it was cool and simultaneously weird to sit w an audience so engaged in a flick like this; collectively realizing a different kind of action film yet classic in its aesthetic.

        People dig the film. The score and the direction of the action sequences alone makes it stand out from similar genre films to have come out in the last few years. “Haywire” is super fresh and it was made two fucking years ago. Soderbergh even cast the Fass (M. Fassbinder) before he was hot!!

        Again, Soderbergh makes films that will play for a long time to come. All of his movies have an incredible half-life.

        Comment by richard313 — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 2:11pm PST  Reply to this post

        • Agree with everything said there, richard313.

          Comment by Todd — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 6:53pm PST  

        • I was forced to sit thru Haywire a few weeks ago. I am still stunned that Soderbergh is responsible for that shlocky, Bourne-wanna-be, poorly edited mess. Believe me, a D+ score is charitable.

          Comment by Neh818 — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 12:28am PST  

        • I saw the second matinee on Saturday – the one that generally is quieter as folks are watching football or whatever big sport is on – and the theater was 75% capacity [from the number of people who exited, chatting enthusiastically about the movie, I'd say the first matinee was pretty much sold out].

          The audience, which seemed to be a pretty broad spectrum, demographically, was thoroughly engaged. Makes me wonder what kind of audiences were giving it anything less than A- on those Cinemascore cards [A-minus is what I gave it in my review]. That’s certainly not what I saw.

          Something weird’s going on there.

          Comment by Sheldon W. — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 11:34pm PST  

      • What killed Haywire for me was the 7 minutes preview online. I wasn’t sold that it was such a good movie. Those 7 minutes didn’t convince me, no way.

        Comment by SallyinChicago — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 6:27am PST  Reply to this post

    • are you drunk? word of mouth will be great on Haywire? did you not see the D+ cinemascore? you think its a win for Relativity to market a major release and get maybe $9m for the weekend? get a clue. this is another lose for Relativity. this film wont to get to $25m domestic. it was stupid to wedge this film on a crowded weekend. especially when they have so little in the way of a slate. these guys a as clueless as you are which leads one to be curious if you might not be one of these clowns. they may have fooled Ron Burkle but not many others.

      Comment by homer — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 10:02am PST  Reply to this post

    • Agree with you on Haywire, Harbinger. Once she’s more comfortable in front of a camera, i.e. she learns to act, I think Carano will be a star. When I saw the flick, I couldn’t help but picture that golden Amazonian tiara with the star in the middle sitting right smack above Carano’s perfectly formed forehead. It’s a match made in heaven.

      Comment by Fucking Studio Plant — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 8:09pm PST  Reply to this post

      • Hmmm….didn’t Soderberg also push Sasha Grey in that porn movie, as being the next best thing in Hollywood? What happened with that?

        Comment by SallyinChicago — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 6:29am PST  Reply to this post

        • Not saying Carano will be the next big thing. Just saying she’d make a great Wonder Woman.

          Comment by Fucking Studio Plant — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 8:46pm PST  

    • RT is one of the things I look at when I decide which movies to see, if the trailer did not yet sell me on the film. I don’t factor in CinemaScore seeing as how I’m never been asked to grade a film.

      Comment by Daniel — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 8:53pm PST  Reply to this post

    • They released the first 7 minutes of the movie online and after seeing it, I didn’t want to see it. That 7 minutes turned me off.

      Comment by SallyinChicago — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 6:24am PST  Reply to this post

    • Ummm… don’t bet on positive word of mouth on HAYWIRE, it is pretty bad.

      Gina can’t act, the music is god-awful, there are plot holes Michael Bay would be proud of, dialogue is pitiful and weak and Soderberg’s “take” on the action genre was not my style. It has moments of tension and enjoyment, but those don’t start until about 45 minutes in, when there’s a solid 30 minutes or so, but then the plot goes off the rails again. No emotion, very little fun and not very smart. Also marketing is very different than actual style (which is probably what lead to the D+ cinema score).

      Comment by Signor Ferrari — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 10:55am PST  Reply to this post

    • I saw Haywire today. The only bright spot was the female lead; overall, the movie didn’t flow well – poorly directed and edited…it sucked.

      Comment by Jack — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 8:24pm PST  Reply to this post

  • If “The Artist” had Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in it and was directed by George Lucas, it’s grosses would STILL be on the low side.

    We have spoon fed audiences such crap, or should I say, digital, 3D, dolby amplified crap, that to assume these folks will all rush to a silent black and white film starring no one anyone has heard of outside of France is absurd. “The Artist” has only grossed $12 million IN FRANCE. Where everyone actually KNOWS Jean Dujardin.

    I have friends who can’t watch a film it’s it’s not in color, never mind, without spoken words, never mind, with a plot line set in 1929.

    “The Artist” will continue to make money but it will never make blockbuster bucks.

    What matter is that the people who have seen it have walked away moved by it. These folks are re-looking at the greatness that was silent films. They are investigating a whole era of film that has lay dormant, or worse, mocked, for decades.

    Film Forum, in NYC is running “Silent Film Mondays” and good luck to you if you haven’t ordered a ticket in advance. It’s packed to the rafters.

    Silent films are great. “The Artist” is great. Greatness will out.

    Comment by Anthony Verrsuo — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 5:46am PST  Reply to this post

    • I love silent movies. I can’t tell you how upset I get if TCM doesn’t do the Silent Sunday.

      I think Greed is one of the greatest movies of all time and the silent Joan of Arc should be seen by every movie maker in hollywood. I don’t think there is an actress around who could play that part. Her performance haunts me.

      Comment by Selebraties Suck — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 12:31pm PST  Reply to this post

    • $33 mil and climbing worldwide. So give it time. Give it time. For many folks (if not most), the struggle here is just getting their butts in seats for a black and white, silent movie (well mostly), set in 1929. In the year 2012, could anything be more alien to pop sensibilities? Yet once under its spell, most folks I watched leaving the theatre had big fat smiles on their pusses…regardless of age or gender.

      Ironically, one possible problem with all the Awards buzz and promotion so far is that it makes “The Artist” seem more “important” and “serious”, than “fun”. Well, it’s both, but will probably require home video to reach its full potential via word of mouth and impulse discovery. So considering the audaciousness of this filmmaking ‘stunt’, I think “The Artist” has done just dandy B.O. so far.

      Comment by ROclockCK — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 2:54pm PST  Reply to this post

    • When I first heard about “The Artist” I couldn’t wait to see it. Now that it’s been hanging out there for months and I’ve heard all I want to hear about it, I no longer want to see it. Same with several movies out lately – My Week With Marilyn, Iron Lady, etc.

      What is it with these people? Don’t they know when to strike when the iron’s hot?

      I mean, this is your business people so someone explain to me why people get so sick of waiting on movies to come out they lose interest in seeing them and what is the reasoning behind it?

      I’m getting the same reaction to “We Have To Talk About Kevin”. Waiting six months to see a movie just peesses me off.

      Comment by viewing public — Monday January 23, 2012 @ 12:53pm PST  Reply to this post

• Go George Lucas! This just shows that the old guy still has good commercial instincts.

  Comment by Wow — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 5:27pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Now if the old guy could PLEASE STOP FUCKING WITH STAR WARS… yeaaahhh… that’d be just great.

    I’ll NEVER get over the image in my mind of him crying before Congress that movies need to be “protected” and he BECOMES the very person he was speaking against. STAR WARS, in it’s O-R-I-G-N-A-L form remains a work of art to this very day. (A work of art George Lucas will allow no one to see on DVD)

    If da Vinci were somehow alive today would he be saying “Ya know, ‘Mona Lisa’ is all wrong. Let’s scan this into the computer and FIX IT.” ???

    Comment by Indrid Cold — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 9:50pm PST  Reply to this post

    • Hate to tell you, but the old Star Wars films are just as cheesy and weird as the new ones. Ewoks = Jar Jar Binks. Midochlorians or whatever they call it was weird. Luke kissing his freaking sister….WAAAAY more weird. You nerds continue to bash the guy so relentlessly that it’s to the point that he is retiring from major films. You are officially worse than Trekkies in the 1990s. Congratulations. And by the way…Nobody gives a shit if Han shot first except you small group of whiney nerds that think your childhood has somehow been robbed. The complete saga smashed Blu-Ray records and sold over a million copies worldwide the first week. Spike paid $11 million for the films and they get ratings. You lost. Only someone in their 30s that still lives at home would give a shit about this, because anyone else would have moved on from comparing fucking Star Wars to the Mona Lisa painting. Wanna bitch about George Lucas? Go watch THX1138 and American Graffiti. 2 great films that you nerds can’t even sit through because nobody fucking speaks hmmmm backwards make no fucking sense do I….

      Oh yeah for the record…
      http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Trilogy-Widescreen-Theatrical/dp/B001EN71DG

      Comment by Franco — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 11:47pm PST  Reply to this post

      • Dude no need to be so angry. He likes the movie so let it go.

        Comment by Jenny — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:10am PST  Reply to this post

        • Yeah my apologies to the poster Indrid Cold. Way too harsh and I will let it go. Pick up a DVD copy on ebay or amazon of the original trilogy unaltered. It will cost you a couple hundred but they do exist. It was nothing against the person. It’s just that I am so tired of seeing people complain about Star Wars & Lucas at every possible opportunity. Any story about him is flooded with the same complaints and it’s just old now. It’s been going on for years and I’ve had it because they have all been very lucrative financially and the new versions have their fans too. I don’t like how they pretend that success doesn’t exist, even though I’m not a big fan of any of the Star Wars stuff myself. However, I shouldn’t take it out on the people that are passionate about it so I apologize.

          Comment by Franco — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:20am PST  

        • Yeah, let it go.. Some people don’t like their childhood memory/history being messed with. I get that. You should too.

          Comment by Shotgun Bob — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 1:21am PST  

      • Are you George’s BFF or something? You clearly know nothing about the movies or their history. Go troll someplace else.

        Comment by Max Renn — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 6:38am PST  Reply to this post

      • I was talking about the original 3, Franco — 4,5 and 6; NOT 1,2 and 3.

        I have a passionate love for film you clearly rail against, and as someone who clearly values “numbers” over the “artform”, I won’t expect you to understand.

        And I hardly believe I came across as a nerd living in mom’s house. If you only knew…

        (MAN I wish there was a way of clicking someone’s name and pulling up an address. Franco… IF YOU ONLY KNEW. Careful my little Italian friend.)

        Comment by Indrid Cold — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 8:57am PST  Reply to this post

        • When does passionate love for film become obsession? The Star Wars movies are over and done. You didn’t like them. Why do fans continually obsess over it ad nauseum, ad infinitum and carry on as if there is a vendetta against Lucas. That’s just not healthy. They are movies, not a tsunami disaster in a third world country.

          There are people who love the movies and it just gets so tiresome to hear the same things over and over as if there is not another point of view. George Lucas is responsible for a lot of valued family time and memories for me and my children and I’ve often wished I could just say thank you to him.

          Some people have jumped on the bandwagon of tearing down anything they don’t like in the public arena until there’s nothing left of it. Let’s forget about the gift and imagination one man had and the vision that created worlds beyond our imagining. Not to mention the countless technologies we benefit from because of his passion and talent. I think George Lucas is the passionate one.

          I hope gratitude and graciousness are not completely gone from the planet.

          Comment by PaulaWB — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 8:34pm PST  

• Red Tails is selling out like crazy tonight so it looks like it will not fall apart tonight.

  Comment by curtis — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 5:35pm PST  Reply to this post

• how is 15-18 million on 2500 screens exactly soaring for a movie that was HEAVILY marketed?

  Comment by HUh — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 5:47pm PST  Reply to this post

  • George Lucas has a lot of experience maximizing home market revenues. Red Tails should do excellent business in the home market.

    Comment by mfan — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:31pm PST  Reply to this post

• Red tails FTW!!!
  Loved the movie. Lucas, is right the movie is about heroes not victims.
  Critics show again how out of touch they really are with reality.

  Comment by Onion — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 5:49pm PST  Reply to this post

• Would it be foolish of me to hope, in light of these numbers, that Hollywood greenlights just a few more pictures headlining black actors?

  Comment by Ralph — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:00pm PST  Reply to this post

  • No, because Lucas tried to get Hollywood interested in the movie and they turned it down specifically because there’s no foreign market for movies with black people, and foreign revenues are mandatory for movies nowadays.

    Let’s see how it does internationally. If it’s weak, then the moguls were justified. Maybe Lucas needs to take it upon himself to make movies for the domestic audience. Why can’t Americans have our own movie industry? Other countries do.

    Comment by scifi_fan — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 11:17am PST  Reply to this post

• I’ve never understood why Lucas doesn’t form his own studio like Spielberg did with DreamWorks. He’s a great idea generator and they could produce 6-8 movies per year easily that fit his brand. Just don’t get it. He could be doing so much more. He could be part of the solution once again if he chose to be.

  Comment by x — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:02pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Haven’t you heard that george lucas is retiring after this movie to do smaller projects i suppose. I guess he can do what he wants, but retire really?

    Comment by jake — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 8:31pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Forget about Lucas doing his own version of Dreamworks. Why hasn’t he even tried to do his own Amblin? If you look at his IMDB page, beyond the nine gazillion projects he’s overseen for the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises, he doesn’t have many producer credits. And those are for mostly forgettable (or memorably bad) movies like Howard the Duck, Willow, and Radioland Murders. I might guess he’s never been all that interested in being his own studio boss. Besides, he’s been plenty busy with all his other ventures like ILM, THX, LucasArts, and Skywalker Sound.

    Comment by Magilla — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 8:35pm PST  Reply to this post

    • He isn’t interested. In the 1980s he had to be told by Spielberg he was a studio filmmaker. He grew up making experimental films and looking back on it, he was probably the last person you would have expected to make a mega blockbuster. He wanted to be a French New Wave type director. He is going to make the same kind of films Coppola is making now. Basically run around with a Red camera and screen them in a dozen theaters. David Lynch even said he doesn’t think George enjoys directing much so it will be interesting to see if this pans out or not.

      Comment by Jenny — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:07am PST  Reply to this post

      • It would be nice to think George has those movies in him.

        Comment by Todd — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 7:25pm PST  Reply to this post

  • “He’s a great idea generator”

    Well, he may generate a lot of ideas, but most of them seem to have to do with Star Wars.

    Outside of that universe, on can only conclude that he’s short of ideas–considering the resources at his disposal. This is a man who could make any film he wants.

    Mostly, he makes more and more variations on Star Wars. Certainly his prerogative, but to me very odd.

    Comment by hobbled — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 2:20pm PST  Reply to this post

• Surprisingly, I really enjoyed Red Tails. Not saying it has no faults (It definitely does, specifically in the screenplay department) But I didn’t have many expectations going in. It definitely felt “old fashioned”, but that’s no excuse for poor writing. The Arial dog fights were extremely well done though. Easily some of the best I’ve seen. The fact that I could actually tell what was going on was a plus. And no 3D? Saved a bit of cash…

  Comment by boo — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:09pm PST  Reply to this post

• RED TAILS is a wonderful, inspiring, movie.
  Go see it!

  Comment by Nancy — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:18pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Red Tails currently has a 33% on RT. Not so fabulous.

    Comment by Phil — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:35pm PST  Reply to this post

    • 81% this morning from the audience. The critics are the ones dragging it down. Also, RT has been wrong more times than right as well.

      Comment by lotx — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:05pm PST  Reply to this post

      • The huge discrepancy between the critics, who hate the movie, and the audiences, who love it, just goes to show how irrelevant film critics are.

        Comment by scifi_fan — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 11:18am PST  Reply to this post

    • “Red Tails currently has a 33% on RT”
      Which clearly means nothing to people who pay MONEY to see a movie. The movie’s doing well in the early running and all you can do is whine about what internet critics say? LOL

      You know, I’ve found people cite RT figures when there’s a movie that they hated and are angry that it didn’t bomb. RT can’t stop a movie from succeeding, no matter how much you wish that was the case. So deal with it.

      Comment by JaySmack — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 2:05am PST  Reply to this post

    • The critics rating was low, because apparently it glamorized war a little too much in a jingoistic rah-rah America fashion. God forbid, a movie featuring Americans at war that DOESN’T paint us as the bad guys.

      Love movies like this, where the disconnect between Critics and normal audience is made crystal clear.

      Comment by NotQuiteRight — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:24pm PST  Reply to this post

    • Critics have ben tripping over themselves to attack Lucas for years anyway. Not a shocker.

      Comment by Jer — Monday January 23, 2012 @ 11:14am PST  Reply to this post

• How is an 11M 4th place opening with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock good news? ELIC has been a disaster since the day those creepy billboards started popping up. This used-hankie movie needs the bomb disposal unit to come and put it down once and for all. Spending 5 weeks pretending that this POS has any hope or legs is just cruel.

  Comment by Participant — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:23pm PST  Reply to this post

  • It’s maybe good considering how terrible the reviews have been. Although, judging from its marketing, ELAIC seems to be aiming for the same middle aged housewife demo that “The Help” appealed to, so critics probably don’t matter as much.

    Comment by Jcar — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:19pm PST  Reply to this post

    • Regardless of its box office performance, this was CLEARLY made to be bigtime Oscar bait – everything about it – cast, director, subject matter, release date, it’s screaming OscarOscarOscar, and it’s getting no awards recognition across the board.

      Comment by Clark Griswold — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 8:06pm PST  Reply to this post

      • That’s because it’s boring and the kid (who is the star) is annoying. I walked out, I hated it so much.

        Comment by the black chick... — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 11:27pm PST  Reply to this post

        • The movie is TERRIBLE. And the kid is more than annoying, he cannot act to save his life. Not to mention that Tom Hanks starts with the worst NY accent you have ever heard and by the end of the movie – he no longer has one! It was a painfully bad experience to sit through and I cringe every time I see one of those billboards in memory of the hours of my life I lost by watching it.

          Comment by Anonymous — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 2:11am PST  

    • “….the same middle aged housewife demo that ‘The Help’ appealed to….”, sniffed Jcar condescendingly.

      $169.5 million domestically? I’ll take all the middle aged housewives you got, thank you very much.

      Comment by herhusband — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 9:31pm PST  Reply to this post

  • What I don’t understand is how exactly it earned an A- Cinemascore, with a 49% Critics and 67% General Audience rating over on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ve heard nothing but bad things about this movie, and just how unrealistic the premise is (what mother would let her 11 year old run around NYC alone or with complete strangers, even if she were grieving) plus everyone seems to universally hate the kid who.

    Comment by NotQuiteRight — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:28pm PST  Reply to this post

  • The ‘people falling’ billboard (seeking to schmaltz up a still very unsolved crime) that I was grossed out to see this morning means I will never watch this insulting, cynical garbage. Then I had the joy of watching eulogies for ‘Joepa’ (whatever that means) at my gym.
    And people say there ISN’T an illuminati?

    Comment by disgusted — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 10:01am PST  Reply to this post

• Glad to see Red Tails doing good business. Everyone wants to be represented at the movies, everyone wants to see heroes who look like them. Hey, Marvel, why dontcha give us a great black superhero flick?

  Comment by ksb36 — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:25pm PST  Reply to this post

  • On top of that it’s Lucas’ first production that he and Spielberg didn’t direct. No Howard The Duck or Radioland Murders esque flop here this time.

    Comment by Alex — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 9:25am PST  Reply to this post

    • Wait… you say its the first Lucas production that neither he not Spielberg directed…. then cite 2 films he produced, that neither directed. WTF?

      Comment by Jer — Monday January 23, 2012 @ 11:18am PST  Reply to this post

  • Hancock 2?

    Comment by WPanofsky — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 7:03am PST  Reply to this post

• The ads for Red Tails have been inescapable. If I hear Terrence Howard talk about returning soldiers to their wives one more time, I’ll tear out my hair.

  Comment by Cameron — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:33pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Haha. Terence has a horrible voice! What a stupid trailer it is and basically the sole reason why I choose to not see the stupid flick.

    Comment by columbo — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 8:32am PST  Reply to this post

    • You haven’t seen it and yet you call it “stupid?”

      Doesn’t that make you the idiot?

      Comment by JaySmack — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 9:30am PST  Reply to this post

• “How you like that Mr. Iger?” (c) George Lucas

  Comment by Red Tails — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:41pm PST  Reply to this post

• So happy for Red Tails. WOM is great and the CGI dogfights are outstanding. Sorry critics but nobody is listening.

  Comment by tyson — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:45pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Someone must be paying people to post these comments.

    I saw “Red Tails.” It’s a 50 million dollar parade of bad dialogue and cliches.

    The made for cable Tuskagee Airmen movie from a decade or so ago was much better.

    Comment by jcar — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:22pm PST  Reply to this post

    • went to see it tonight and wore my Tuskegee shirt. Sat next to a woman whose father in law was a Tuskegee airman, nope no one is being paid to post these comments, its a great movie, exciting, dramatic, patriotic and finally giving honour to those men who risked and lost their lives for our country. In Columbia, MD, the AMC theatre had to open another theatre to accomodate all the people who wanted to buy tickets for the 7:30 show. I know because my roomate was in the line for the second theatre. Critics be damned, this film is about much more than just a story. It is about proving to Hollywood that films with all Black casts telling stories important to everyone WILL be supported. Hopefully more than the vampire werewolf fantasy film. I was very moved and I am telling everyone I meet to go see RedTails.

      Comment by bdsista — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 8:00pm PST  Reply to this post

      • It is great to see black moviegoers supporting a good film. It is supposed to,be cheesy patriotic fun. Lucas himself said he made it for 13 yr old black kids as his target. Now if he were doing a tuskegee syphilis expirement film it might not be appropriate but to glamorize true american heroes cheesy patriotism is always fun.

        Comment by Schneider — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 2:07am PST  Reply to this post

    • @j car

      I’m not being paid and I have to say I did enjoy Red Tails. In fact I’ll be seeing it again this weekend to support the telling of more diverse stories.

      Yes the dialogue was corny but Lucas mentioned that in the publicity leading up to release, so I think many were prepared for that. The fact of the matter is, in an industry were the loudest complaint each and every year is a lack of originality, this film fills a void. The studios themselves said they don’t know hot to market it (and whoever placed dubstep techno music in the trailer should be slapped!). The reason they don’t know how to market it has less to do with race than it does with an aversion to taking on the risk of promoting something that hasn’t been seen before.

      So, does Red Tails deserve it’s “A” Cinemascore based on great screenwriting, or Oscar caliber acting….probably not (IMO). The marks are coming in high because you have an audience that is happy to be paid attention to and appreciative of a filmmaker and producer who acknowledged that everyone has a story to be told. When they are being respected, American audiences can be incredibly forgiving.

      I saw the midnight screening on Thurs at the Arclight and while more African-American’s were in the audience than usual, when the lights came up I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity that I saw in the audience.

      If it crushes the original projection of $8 Million, “Red Tails” could easily come in 2nd place and still be the big winner of the weekend.

      Comment by Pleasantly Surprised — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 8:56am PST  Reply to this post

    • I thought it was a great movie. It wasn’t up there with high class fare like Saving Private Ryan, but then it wasn’t supposed to be. It was head and shoulders above the very similar CGI dogfight-fest “Flyboys” from a few years ago, however, both in story and acting.

      Comment by NotQuiteRight — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:30pm PST  Reply to this post

    • Yes, anyone who enjoys Red Tails is obviously being paid… Really, is that the excuse now when the audience appreciates a movie more than the critics?

      Would I have loved the emotional punch that Paths Of Glory, Saving Private Ryan or Thin Red Line gave? Of course. It’s clear most critics felt the same way. And that’s fine. But I tend to judge a movie for what it is, not for what I wanted it to be…so does the audience.

      It was a fun movie with some amazing visuals. “Fluffy” on the subject matter, but fun nonetheless.

      Comment by boo — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 8:41pm PST  Reply to this post

    • The reason this is funny is because actual critics are the ones who get paid to like or dislike films. When I wrote reviews for films back in Florida about a decade ago, I was paid many times to rave and pan films.

      You’d be surprised to know this, but a bad review can actually help some films. Especially horror films. A reviewer gives it a bad review and 1 or 0 stars and you say how disgusted by the violence you were or how gratuitous the nudity is and you’ll see a bump in the box office for that film.

      Comment by General Consenses — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 5:56am PST  Reply to this post

• Underworld 3 was a prequel that lacked Kate Beckinsale’s main character, so it’s not too surprising that part 4 is doing better.

  As for Haywire, a top five finish is pretty good- especially given the competition and small budget. It won’t be a massive hit, but could do well between word-of-mouth and home video.

  Pretty good hold for Contraband.

  Comment by kevin — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 6:50pm PST  Reply to this post

• RED TAILS’ strong opening shouldn’t be a surprise. Apart from the “Black John Wayne” angle, audiences are definitely craving old-fashioned, feel-good movies right now, and this fits squarely into that trend.

  Comment by cadavra — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:05pm PST  Reply to this post

• 15-18 is somewhat soaring domestically. Unfortunately, prod and p&a is steep. Domestic is where it’s going to need to make its money back. There’s no int’l upside on the picture.

  Comment by Jennifer — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:27pm PST  Reply to this post

• Did anyone find it unusual that Fox opened Red Tails today and didn’t take out a single ad in the LA Times. When was the last time a major release opened in this town without an LA Times ad???

  Comment by Eagle Driver — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:44pm PST  Reply to this post

  • I find it more unusual that it didn’t open last weekend, during the MLK weekend, to be honest.

    Comment by NotQuiteRight — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:32pm PST  Reply to this post

  • “Did anyone find it unusual that Fox opened Red Tails today and didn’t take out a single ad in the LA Times. When was the last time a major release opened in this town without an LA Times ad???”

    Actually, this might be a very good thing, as it may indicate that the Fox marketing department has finally arrived in the 21st Century.

    LA has a population of over 11 million. The LA Times has a circulation of under 500,000. It has no reach, and no penetration, outside the West Side of Los Angeles.

    You see all those full page ads for films? A total waste of money at 150k each. When was the last time you went to the paper to see what’s playing? When was the last time you went to the paper to look up a movie time? Most likely, the answer is “Not in Years.”

    If Fox took that money and put it into radio, TV, outdoor and the internet, the money is much better spent, and much more likely to reach today’s movie-going audience. Particularly if you’re going for an audience that is wider than the Brentwood school district.

    Let’s be honest here: Fox probably assumed there was (is) a huge market for this film in the black community. You don’t reach that community through the LA Times anymore. (And before we get into issues of race here, you also don’t reach white college kids, or anybody in the so-called “working class” through the LA Times anymore, either.)

    So I don’t see this as a bad thing. The only thing that counts is getting an audience into the theater. And if Fox dropped the LA Times and went for other forms of media to make this picture a success, I say bravo. Any picture that does well is good for all of us in the industry.

    Comment by A Screenwriter — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 1:58pm PST  Reply to this post

    • They also did a LOT of promotion within the aviation community. They were hyping it up last summer at the EAA AirVenture and continued on with it since then(July).

      Comment by Cali — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 7:58am PST  Reply to this post

    • I can’t believe you spent 6 paragraphs to write a reply to a question almost nobody cares about. Marketing wise, NotQuiteRight’s comment is the more interesting post.

      Comment by jkl — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 8:12am PST  Reply to this post

      • No, the poster “A Screenwriter” has a point. You see a lot of movie marketing in Los Angeles that seems like it’s only put up for the benefit of industry people who reside here.

        Comment by Magilla — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 3:19pm PST  Reply to this post

      • So if the question is so uninteresting, why are you reading the posts on it?

        And commenting on them?

        Comment by herhusband — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 9:38pm PST  Reply to this post

• I can’t believe anyone’s paying to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It was my least favorite film of 2011. I’m hoping it gets shut out at the Oscar nominations on Tuesday.

  Comment by Fretts on Film — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 7:53pm PST  Reply to this post

  • have you seen “I don’t know how she does it”, johnny english reborn, drive angry, cedar rapids, big mamma’s, unknown, hall pass, larry crowne, zookeeper, our idiot brother, abduction — watch those movies (I have) and tell me again what your least favorite movie of 2011 is.

    It did get an A from cinemascore so, I saw it yesterday — thomas horn and sandra bullock give amazing performances, not as superb as I thought it would be, but not as bad as you make it out to be.

    Comment by jake — Sunday January 22, 2012 @ 7:00am PST  Reply to this post

• dIt’s obvious Underworld is gonna be #1, ‘cus it has a chick in leather, while Red Tails is a sausage fest. But I’m still glad RT did better than expected, in spite of the Lucas factor.

  Comment by D.Z. — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 8:04pm PST  Reply to this post

• I hope The Phantom Menace 3D still bombs, though.

  Comment by D.Z. — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 8:04pm PST  Reply to this post

  • That is a battle I do not think you can win.

    Comment by mfan — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 2:18am PST  Reply to this post

• The scifi action horror genre – why is Screen Gems the only studio exploiting this genre?

  Comment by Bob — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 8:12pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Universal’s Rogue used to do it until it got absorbed into Relativity. Dimension is the only other genre studio I can think of although Paramount just got started with Insurge.

    Comment by Alex — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 9:27am PST  Reply to this post

• What is this “soaring” talk for Red tails? The film’s marketing has been ubiquitous and it’s not going to be number one or break 20MM. It’s not terrible or anything, but soaring is not the word I would use for a big budget film with tons spent on P and A. The title should read: RED TAILS might get out of the red, if they’re lucky.

  Comment by Jake — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 9:55pm PST  Reply to this post

  • The budget for this film was $50mil. That’s the AVERAGE budget for a studio flick: drama, comedy, whatever.

    Saving Private Ryan’s budget was 70-plus million in 1998, when a 70 million dollar budget still meant something.
    Pearl Harbor’s was $200 million. Want to guess what the P&A was on that one?

    This movie has been assaulted by small-minded hate-filed people from the jump. But no matter how much you hate it the movie about the black guys winning the war just won’t fall!

    Comment by JaySmack — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 2:13am PST  Reply to this post

  • A probable $7,000+ PTA for a film starring no one (sorry, Cuba Gooding jr.) is excellent. Especially for a crowded weekend.

    Comment by mfan — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 2:25am PST  Reply to this post

  • Nikki, glad to see you took “soaring” out of the headline. Much better now. I guess any non Star Wars/Indiana Jones George Lucas film that earns in the double digits IS a “surprise.” It would be to me too, anyway.

    Comment by Jake — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 10:38am PST  Reply to this post

• I was AMAZED at how badly Haywire was marketed

  First, by featuring a trailer solely based on Carano, yet putting all the co-stars on the publicity circuit

  Second, by giving very little merit to Soderbergh and what other fan-favorite movies he’s done

  And then they put the release date opposite a UFC event to further isolate the fans

  I hope they do better with other releases, unfortunately for them Mirror Mirror looks SO BAD! They ought to take a page out of Summit’s marketing

  Comment by Derek Vl — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 9:59pm PST  Reply to this post

  • And why only have Gina promote the film on talk shows? She’s boring as hell!

    Comment by columbo — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 8:32am PST  Reply to this post

• The problem with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is simple: It’s not a “mall movie” or even a “multiplex movie” for that matter. It will play and do well for those fortunate enough to have an upscale commercial venue in their community.
  Call it movie snobbery, but there are many who wouldn’t be caught dead at a mall or multiplex theater, unless they had no other choice!

  Comment by Borla Karlosi — Friday January 20, 2012 @ 10:17pm PST  Reply to this post

  • The problem with Extremely Loud is it’s horrible translation from a decent book, which left the story feeling far-fetched and the main character extremely unlikeable. Casting a first time young actor in such a complicated role wasn’t exactly rocket science either. After sitting through that cinematic waterboarding, I wanted to slap the kid, the director, and the screenwriter.

    Comment by NotQuiteRight — Saturday January 21, 2012 @ 12:35pm PST  Reply to this post