King Kong (dir. Peter Jackson)

[Deleted]

To add to the spin, the movie is three hours long so it can't make as much money as something like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe because it can't have as many showings per day.

I hate that it is all about box office these days. Like if your movie doesn't make $100 million opening weekend, you have a huge bomb on your hands. Over and over again, movies that have "tanked" in theatres have gone on to make profits (often huge ones) on DVD. I hope this movie does well, if only to reward a filmmaker for taking a risk and making a beautiful, moving film (according to reviews, I haven't seen it yet). This might turn out to be a slow-burning type film (if it truly does "tank" in its opening weekend) where people elect to see it over the holidays rather than other films coming out and it ends up making a steady 20 million a week for a few months rather than 100 million the first week and 15 the next (or whatever). It just disappoints me that the movie went from getting rave reviews to being a "flop" in the span of a day.

[Ripley]

TTMR saw it last night with a friend and said it was everything a movie should be. He said the whole thing felt real, and that he absolutely loved it. I'm looking forward to it myself now.

[MrsCatHead]

I thought this movie was crap. There were some laughs, yes but overall, it was a dud. A veeeerrrry looooong dud. And it pisses me off cuz I was so excited about seeing it.

BUT Evan Parke? He is sex on a stick. And I liked the color of Naomi's hair. Other than that, I got no love for this movie.

Does anyone know why Howard Shore dropped out? Was any of his music left in?

[foxfair]

Why *did* they open it on Wednesday, btw?

And just to clarify, it wasn't me making the remarks about "geeks" etc., I was just relaying quotes from some PR flack.

Fox News (Roger Friedman) has this right now:

What's happened? Peter Jackson's "King Kong" — a three-hour, $300 million extravaganza that wowed advance screening audiences — is a catastrophe in the making.

On Thursday, Kong's take was a measly $6,295,755 — off $35.5 from Wednesday's weak $9,755,745 opening day. Kong ranks now as the 21st best Wednesday opening ever — a dubious distinction...

One stumbling block to a bigger take may be that you simply cannot take young children to see this movie. It is way too intense. So my advice: get a sitter. Jackson's movie is a smart three-hour video game/fun house/theme park.

Is that a good point about it not really being suitable for the under 12's?

Anyway, the hype machine is oiled by the studios themselves - they make their bed, and then they have to sleep in it.

[lazerusgerbil]

I hate that it is all about box office these days. Like if your movie doesn't make $100 million opening weekend, you have a huge bomb on your hands.

When movies cost 200 million dollars to make, of course it's going to be about the box-office. Trying to make a movie as excellent as possible is a noble ambition, but tell that to Universal employees who might have to empty out their desks before Christmas. Artists are not businessmen, and while a studio exec suggesting Batman fight a giant robot spider is part of the problem, letting directors run gung-ho with projects only results in a panicked studio greenlighting Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

It's not the end of the movie. It is only two days. But it's a monster movie, no a psychological thriller or romantic comedy or other genre that's known for staying power. It should be making a signifigant amount of money, taking into account the promotion and pedigree. It's too soon to call it a flop, but it's not unfair to say things are troubling.

[realitybug]

And just to clarify, it wasn't me making the remarks about "geeks" etc., I was just relaying quotes from some PR flack.

I know, I was just talking about the people who said that. It's, like, thanks for that.

[angel17987]

I just saw it and I have one word: LONG!!

It wasn't bad, the acting was good, the special effects were fairly well done, and there were moments where I jumped slightly. It was just too damn long overall, the story started out slow, and eventually I got too bored to really enjoy it. Overall, I just wasn't impressed. Meh.

[realitybug]

That doesn't necessarily put people in the seats. I mean, Spiderman wasn't that great, but it had a great opening weekend.

[foxfair]

To add to what ThursdayNext said on the previous page, a friend of mine who works as a reviewer had this to say over e-mail:

And yes, I've heard that KONG isn't performing anywhere up to expectations. Though a theater owner who's very much in the know told me last night how surprised he was that Universal hadn't struck nearly enough prints. As a three-hour-plus movie, if a megaplex only screens it on one screen, that permits just a single evening show. It can't possibly generate the behemoth opening grosses if the availability isn't there. Go figure

Interesting. I wonder if this is Universal's screw-up?

[jazz]

There is still the weekend to come. Maybe people will going en masse with the whole family on Saturday and Sunday.

We usually discuss movies in our office during breaks and I was really surprised by the lack of interest in this movie by my co-workers. I'm not seeing it myself but I thought with all the hype that people are actually looking forward to see KK.