Profound Disconnect

email this story
read comments (38)
post a comment

I didn't have an especially great time with Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I can see people taking the kids and maybe deciding they have no choice but to catch it because of the 3D factor. But I found Hubble 3D much more interesting and fulfilling even though it's a somewhat routinely-made documentary. Why? Because it provides a feeling of awe that is 100% real.

All to say it really, really doesn't add up that Alice in Wonderland is #1 at the box-office for the third week in a row, having yesterday brought in about $9.8 million from 3,739 locations. Okay, it's a livelier-seeming attraction than The Bounty Hunter, which seems instantly dismissable to all age groups, creeds and cultures, as well as Repo Men, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Green Zone and so on.

But Alice in Wonderland is still a fairly tepid thing to sit through, and I just don't get why it hasn't fallen off. I'm coming from knowledge and experience here. I don't just "think" Alice isn't that great a movie -- I know it isn't. I sat in a theatre with mostly Hispanic Eloi, side by side, and I could sense their emotional engagement levels, and they were not enthralled -- they were sitting there like bean-bag chairs.

The Fattest States<< previous | next >>Keep Abreast

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 20, 2010 at 11:08 AM

comment #1

Ray DeRousse says ...

Totally agree, Jeff. The 3D isn't even that good here, yet people seem to be on some sort of 3D contact high right now.

Posted by Ray DeRousse at March 20, 2010 11:49 AM

comment #2

Eloi Manning says ...

It's a much-loved classic book, a recognizable star, one of the few "name" directors and 3D. It's not hard to see why it's making money. And the competition has been fairly weak.

Posted by Eloi Manning at March 20, 2010 11:51 AM

comment #3

George Prager says ...

It's a good movie to answer emails to.

Posted by George Prager at March 20, 2010 12:08 PM

comment #4

Ray DeRousse says ...

@ Eloi - Technically, it's not the book. It just borrows the characters from the much-loved book for a poorly-designed story that is diminished from those books.

Posted by Ray DeRousse at March 20, 2010 12:13 PM

comment #5

Spartan Tell says ...

Eloi Manning pretty much nails it in my book...and of course, Eloi will be Eloi, won't they? Just repeat H.L. Mencken's famous quote to yourself as often as necessary.

Posted by Spartan Tell at March 20, 2010 1:14 PM

comment #6

berg says ...

i can easily see Hubble 3D again, just for that fly through of the universe that ends up in the Orion nebula

Posted by berg at March 20, 2010 1:20 PM

comment #7

Gordn27 says ...

DZ made it happen, when he pointed out how the unprecedented success of 'Avatar' proved that 3-D was a dead format.

Posted by Gordn27 at March 20, 2010 1:35 PM

comment #8

Krillian says ...

I just saw Alice today with the kids. We had free tickets. It's a disposable barely-thumbs-up experience. I liked the heads in the moat and most of the stuff with the Chessire Cat, but, yeah, it's debatable to me if this was any better than Prince Caspian.

But last night when my wife and I were looking to see a movie, nothing appealed. There's no competition. Bounty Hunter looks awful. She's Out of My League's at 20% for RT. Green Zone's plot is a "meh". Pass on Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Repo Men, Remember Me, our Family Wedding... Ghost Writer and Runaways aren't at a theater near me yet...

So I looked at the dollar theater and saw An Education was playing and we went to see that. Good film, not great. Possible spoiler question: Would that movie had been much different if it turned out Peter Sarsgaard was an okay guy and just died at the end of Act 2?

Posted by Krillian at March 20, 2010 2:48 PM

comment #9

DeeZee says ...

Jeff: I'm interested in Hubble, but at 45 minutes, it's a bit steep for what they charge for IMAX tixx. Really surprised Diary of a Wimpy Kid did better than I would have expected of it. I guess it's this generation's Sandlot or something? Still too many fucking theaters for it, though. Feel sorry for Repo Men, but it probably needed a good bad guy. Johnny Mnemonic suffered from the same problem. Not entirely surprised about Bounty Hunter. If anything screams "by-the-numbers", that fucker is it. Plus, Butler is just not rom-com material. I'm guessing Ugly Truth only made money because of the way they tried to make it look like an Apatow clone.

Gordon: Yeah, people are totally watching Alice because they love the 3D, and not just because it hits all the right quadrants like Charlie. Next, you'll be telling me Titans is gonna be a hit solely because of the 3D. And Hubble's going to do well in limited because a major studio is backing it, just like March of the Penguins. If it was in 3D, and no one knew about it, it'd be a bomb. Anyway, don't be gloating about Avatar's take correlating to the viability of the format when you got its Oscar prospects wrong.

Posted by DeeZee at March 20, 2010 3:05 PM

comment #10

George Prager says ...

Johnny Mnemonic suffered from the same problem

Posted by George Prager at March 20, 2010 3:46 PM

comment #11

valjack says ...

"Remember Me" is GOOD MOVIE and the critics are wrong about it! I haven't seen a movie like that in a long time! It is a relationship movie and all the performances are great!

Posted by valjack at March 20, 2010 5:28 PM

comment #12

Chris Willman says ...

Took my 82-year-old parents and 10-year-old daughter to "Alice." I kind of assumed they were all feeling a little alienated by it or at least not that caught up. After it was over, the eightysomethings and tensomething agreed that it was an utterly fantastic movie, much to my surprise.

Which is to say, don't assume it's doing well because of the 3D or there being nothing else to see. I would not have expected to be a great word-of-mouth movie, yet it is.

Posted by Chris Willman at March 20, 2010 7:52 PM

comment #13

Wrecktem says ...

Christ, Wells. I explained it to you over and over and over again. Now you're feigning shock and disbelief? Jesus I need a drink.

Posted by Wrecktem at March 21, 2010 12:12 AM

comment #14

Gordn27 says ...

"Yeah, people are totally watching Alice because they love the 3D, and not just because it hits all the right quadrants like Charlie."

Ah, so now you're saying that you were correct that 'Alice' would fail because it's 3-D and 3-D is just a fad? Okay, dude. Sounds like a winner argument right there. You have fun with that.

Posted by Gordn27 at March 21, 2010 1:37 AM

comment #15

DeeZee says ...

Gordon: I don't ever remember saying Alice would fail. However, since you brought up the subject now, for a movie with a $200 million budget w/o P+A, its current take is a tad disappointing, considering the pedigree of the talent attached to it, a shorter running time than Avatar, and the higher ticket prices for the 3D.

Now, if 3D is allegedly here to stay, this fucker should easily be making at least $400 million in profit by now, especially since the competition is considered as "anemic" as it was by those who saw Avatar. The fact that its only making a return which is about as high as that for Charlie makes you wonder what the fuss is over the format.

BTW, I'm really doubting the IMDB numbers which suggest that they managed to keep 'Titans' budget down to $70 million. Unless Leterrier learned to cut corners since Hulk, there's no way it can be shot so cheaply when that friggin' kraken alone probably costs at least $50 million.

Posted by DeeZee at March 21, 2010 2:54 AM

comment #16

thewhackness says ...

Why are Hispanics referred to as Eloi? You're not ignorant or anything...

Posted by thewhackness at March 21, 2010 7:14 AM

comment #17

Noah Cross says ...

$265 million take in 17 days for a March release is "a tad dissappointing". (Gee, I wonder if they'll sell any DVDs of this.) I'm sure the folks at Greengrass, Damon and all the folks at Universal are weeping for them.

Posted by Noah Cross at March 21, 2010 8:15 AM

comment #18

Noah Cross says ...

"The fact that its (Alice) only making a return which is about as high as that for Charlie makes you wonder what the fuss is over the format."

Charlie and the Chocolate Family grossed $206 million in the summer. Alice seems well on the way to making over $300 million in the winter, so I wouldn't call those comparable.

Posted by Noah Cross at March 21, 2010 8:22 AM

comment #19

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

"there's no way it can be shot so cheaply when that friggin' kraken alone probably costs at least $50 million."

Why? It's just a typical CGI-turd. Certainly nothing I would call state-of-the-art/cutting-edge or anything. All the technology being used to render it has been around for quite a few years...

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at March 21, 2010 11:09 AM

comment #20

DeeZee says ...

Noah: It's not like there have been no March tentpoles which have done that well. The Matrix comes to mind.
And the take for Alice is disappointing, given the budget, and Depp's prior success with four quadrant flicks. As for Charlie, it made a lot more than that as a whole with world-wide sales.

Kane: Perhaps not, but that hasn't stopped these things from going over-budget in the past.

Posted by DeeZee at March 21, 2010 12:47 PM

comment #21

brooklyngutter says ...

Forget Donna, The big story here is that relativity media's ryan kavanaugh financed; Green Zone, Repo Men and Bounty Hunter. That's about 70 million ++ in loses. I thought he had a computer program that determined box office hits like movies starring box office sensation Jude Law ripping out people's hearts BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO MONEY TO PAY, this MOVIE REPO MEN, FORGET THE BLIND SIDE, THIS TYPE OF HEART WARMING STORY (PUN INTENDED) is what the American people want to see, especially in this post great ressesion era- with mass foreclosures and car repos!!

Posted by brooklyngutter at March 21, 2010 1:02 PM

comment #22

penchenk87 says ...

Blogger Indonesia Internet support safe, healthy & benefits. The Internet is an information network and global (world). Shadows, a million benefit we can get only with the ability and willingness to use the Internet. For example, with colleagues dipenjuru berkorespodensi world use "super-express mail" (email). We are also able to freely obtain data for a school assignment, reading national and international news.
more visit: Blogger Indonesia dukung internet aman, sehat & manfaat | Ingat Solo Ingat Soloaja.com

Posted by penchenk87 at June 28, 2010 6:04 PM

comment #23

ely says ...

Mod Converter is a powerful MOD video converter which can MOD to AVI, MOD to MPG, MOD to MPEG, MOD to WMV and to other video format, such as ASF, DivX, XviD, MP4, VCD, SVCD, DVD-Video, VOB and so on.
Mod to AVI Converter
Mod to WMV Converter
Mod to VOB Converter
Mod to MPG Converter
Mod to MP4 Converter
Mod to FLV Converter
Mod to Xvid Converter
Mod to 3GP Converter
Mod Editor

Posted by ely at June 29, 2010 2:19 AM

comment #24

Tryl3r says ...

nice post buddy thanks for sharing
Personal blog newbie
witul4r's blog
Blogger Indonesia dukung internet aman, sehat & manfaat
Blogger Indonesia dukung internet aman, sehat & manfaat

Posted by Tryl3r at July 5, 2010 9:20 AM

comment #25

bangbangun says ...

I am very interested in this information, so I'd like to send me information, I also believe that some of this can serve me for my university project called