comment #1

Mark G. says ...

Hmmm, shouldn't the column be called "Friday numbers?"

comment #2

Sweetbubba says ...

At 4 showings a day per theatre, doesn't that mean only about 30 people saw each screening of Stop-Loss?

At least you'll be able to put your feet up on the seat in front of you

comment #3

vansmith says ...

hows this new french flick with asia and michael madsen?

comment #4

Filmsnob says ...

I'm laughing at the Stop Loss numbers.
America doesn't wanna pay $10 bucks to see the women Ryan commited adultery with.

comment #5

Mgmax says ...

America doesn't wanna pay to see a movie about a guy deciding to desert, which is basically what Stop-Loss is, when you come down to it.

comment #6

D.Z. says ...

I think both Filmsnob and Mgmax are right about Stop-Loss. No stars, a director whose last film wasn't that huge in the first place-even with the Oscar wins-and a subject which didn't seem compelling enough in how it was presented. I'm still going to say that Horton's fairly low for a CG flick, especially after the gross of the second Ice Age film from the same company. That kind of thing might bode badly for Wall-E. Moving on, Superhero Movie failed, because people already saw it when it was called Sky High and Mystery Men. Well, that, and superhero parodies never do well, because they usually involve geek jokes, and not regular jokes.

comment #7

Mgmax says ...

"people already saw it when it was called Sky High and Mystery Men"

I suspect it was more because the dreadfulness of Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans etc. killed that entire subgenre, which frankly I don't understand the existence of in the first place-- I guess it makes sense for teens to get out of the house to go watch Mad TV, rather than be cooped up with the 'rents, but that really is all it amounts to. But certainly superhero parodies have been done to death going back as far as The Greatest American Hero and the original Batman TV series-- I mean, jeez, when a Wayans brother has beaten you by a decade (Blankman), you're really behind.

I'm still convinced there'd be a certain hunger out there for a REAL Iraq movie, by which I mean, not a movie that repeats Bush talking points, but something like Three Kings that represents a real engagement with the subject and the territory, completely free of Vietnam-era left coast assumptions and cliches and realistically portraying the craziness of a messed-up place like Iraq and America's semi-surreal presence there. (It could still be an anti-Iraq war film, though I'd love to see just ONE movie which showed the occupation as trying and achieving admirable things, but it needs to be antiwar in an original, based on present-day observation, way.) Jarhead, as dramatically unsatisfying as it is, remains the only movie that feels like the people who made it ever actually spoke to someone who was in a modern middle-east conflict.

comment #8

Mgmax says ...

only OTHER (besides Three Kings), that's what I meant...

comment #9

BurmaShave says ...

Mgmax makes an excellent point. THREE KINGS and JARHEAD are both miles above almost all of the new crop because some distance is involved. I thought ELAH was strong, but it could have been about any war. I doubt we'll see the definitive film on this war for at least a few years yet.

comment #10

EDouglas says ...

Jeffrey, who ever is doing those studio estimates isn't accounting for the fact that many schools are still on Spring Break which probably made Friday higher than it normally would be, and it's probably going to make closer to $17 million or less when all is said and done. 21 seems high to me, too.

comment #11

frankbooth says ...

We need a Green Berets for Iraq!

comment #12

D.Z. says ...

Mgmax: The original Batman series was done more noir style. You're thinking of the 60s show.

comment #13

Sweetbubba says ...

If only an Iraq movie to "support the troops" captured some of the feeling and emotion captured in this tribute made using Al Pacino's speech from Friday Night Lights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiWD3mo1s74

then we'd actually have a box office success

comment #14

Movie Watcher says ...

I can almost hear O'Reilly cackle about Stop-Loss. Very predictable. American isn't ready yet for a movie like that. Maybe if bigger stars were in it, or people actually cared about the war. The only reason I pay attention is because I was in the military; it doesn't affect most people, so they don't pay attention. Wait until we are paying 6 bucks a gallon, then people will be pissed off.

comment #15

Movie Watcher says ...

I meant America.

comment #16

actionman says ...

Stop-Loss was excellent. Shame on people for not seeing it.

comment #17

Mgmax says ...

I said TV series. The only Batmans on film before that were the two theatrical serials in the 40s.

"We need a Green Berets for Iraq!"

See, Frank, that's what I explicitly did NOT say. Try to keep up here. You could certainly make an anti-Bush, anti-Iraq movie which nevertheless felt like it really got the conflict and the atmosphere there. That's not what anybody has made; they keep making Vietnam retreads. Being true to the conflict and the place it's happening is not automatically rah-rah pro-Bush and America-- unless, that is, you secretly fear that any accurate portrayal would make the US and Bush look good, and so it must be prevented at any cost.

comment #18

last_child says ...

When did Horton get his doctorate?