Posted by Tim at dialup-209.245.229.253.dallas1.level3.net on November 22, 1999 at 01:22:54:
In Reply to: Excuses, excuses... posted by pika-jew on November 21, 1999 at 23:42:50:
: James Bond and Sleepy Hollow should have little effect on the fate of a dialogue-driven "faith" flick. Two totally different audiences.
It does have an effect, actually, because you're talking about drawing in the mainstream audience, that's where the big money is. Chasing Amy was a huge hit, grossing about 12 million, i believe. THAT movie wouldn't have been affected by a bond or sleepy hollow type flick, but Dogma, even if it is dialogue driven, is a wider release and depends somewhat on drawing the mainstream folks who would see a Bond film into the theater. "Two totally different audiences?" how many people do you think are out there seeing movies? do you think the 'action' folks see the action films and the 'romantic' folks see the romantic comedies? it just doesn't work that way, and unless a film is a really low budget niche film, as clerks and amy were, then ANY big film coming out is a threat.
:Dogma dropped 52% because it isn't a good film; in fact, it's quite the opposite. An exercise in poor pacing that really needed a visual director, better performers (Carlin did more acting with his eyebrows than the rest of the cast), and an editor with no ties to the material.
You think that you're in the majority on that? The film got some very strong reviews from some very influential critics(Ken Turan, Roger Ebert, Janet Maslin). It had a strong opening, and had a lower percentage drop than Pokemon did. Anybody who expected it to hold up against Sleepy Hollow and James Bond was just kidding themselves.
: $4.1 mil isn't a bad gross, but I would be willing to hazard that a great deal of it came from View Askew fans who went for a second or third helping and likely drug a friend along. Drawing a new audience from here on out will be difficult for the film, in my opinion. Most people that I spoke to after seeing it on opening weekend were downright disappointed with the film from the moment the opening cards revealed a blatant rip-off of an old Robin Williams riff about the platypus. Needless to say, the talk around the proverbial water cooler Monday morning didn't entice others to plunk down their eight bucks.
again, i dont know which proverbial water cooler you are spending your monday mornings at, but Janet Maslin noted in her very glowing review of Dogma "When even a movie's opening disclaimer brings down the house, expect some very high leaps indeed." (i assume she was referring to the Cannes screening, but i could be wrong).
The movie won't lose anybody any money. some people around here were throwing around figures like a 12-15 million dollar opening, and the film grossing 50 million domestically, but that was just stupid. I seriously doubt that those closely involved with the film are gonna be too disappointed in the final performance at the box office. Like Kevin said after the first weekend, Dogma is going to outgross all three of his other movies combined. That's not so bad. Considering all the obstacles they had to face just to get the movie made and released at all, i think at the end of the day Dogma's gonna be remembered as a success.
Tim