The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series

[jaghetersimon]

It's also getting trampled (heh) by War Horse at the box office.

I think that the studio expected HUGE business, given the amount of marketing they've thrown around the movie and Mara.

Just a few pages ago people were suggesting that this movie would be a blockbuster, given how popular the books were. And now it's too dark to attract audiences? It doesn't make sense.

It might end up having good legs but I still think that this is definitely a disappointment for Sony.

[ross]

Dec 26, 2011 19:49:49 GMT -4 jaghetersimon said:

Just a few pages ago people were suggesting that this movie would be a blockbuster, given how popular the books were. And now it's too dark to attract audiences? It doesn't make sense.

To be fair it is doing considerably better than I expected (though I guess I was alone in thinking it would be too dark to succeed.)

[Deleted]

What a culture we live in when a show that hasn't even been out a week -- and a dark one, too, at Christmastime -- is considered a "disappointment". What a culture we live in where the primary concerns of studio executives have any bearing on what the public thinks about their product.

Everyone with whom I've spoken in the last six days with any interest in the movies or books has said they're definitely going to see it in the next two weeks as they've been too busy with Christmas shit to go. The prehate that some are clinging to in the face of largely positive reviews -- and overwhelming opinion that Fincher and Mara's version is superior to Oplev and Rapace's -- is hilarious.

[ross]

Dec 26, 2011 20:01:13 GMT -4 @bstewart said:

What a culture we live in when a show that's hasn't even been out a week -- and a dark one, too, at Christmastime -- is considered a "disappointment". What a culture we live in where the primary concerns of studio executives have any bearing on what the public thinks about their product.

Everyone with whom I've spoken in the last six days with any interest in the movies or books has said they're definitely going to see it in the next two weeks as they've been too busy with Christmas shit to go. The prehate that some are clinging to in the face of largely positive reviews is hilarious.

Be fair. I've only criticised the budget, which I honestly do believe to be unneccessarily high. If it had been made for 'only' $30 million (still twice the cost of the Swedish film) we would be looking at an amazing success story.

[Deleted]

I'm saying that judging the performance of any film released at the time of year when people are doing things other than movies more than at any other time of the year before that first week is even finished is ridiculously unfair.

[ross]

That's reaching. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is being judged against other movies released at the same time or just before or after (ie. Tintin or A Game of Shadows) and with the same period in other years. That's pretty fair or rather it's equally unfair to everyone even the Chipmunk movies of the world.

Look on the bright side - at least you're not a Tintin fan.

[Deleted]

Dec 26, 2011 19:49:49 GMT -4 jaghetersimon said:

It's also getting trampled (heh) by War Horse at the box office.

I think that the studio expected HUGE business, given the amount of marketing they've thrown around the movie and Mara.

Just a few pages ago people were suggesting that this movie would be a blockbuster, given how popular the books were. And now it's too dark to attract audiences? It doesn't make sense.

It might end up having good legs but I still think that this is definitely a disappointment for Sony.

I said in Mara's thread that I thought this film was being way over hyped and over sold. Considering the (internet) media frenzy in the lead up of this film and Mara I thought this movie was meant to hit like a Christopher Nolan release or some other huge tent pole type film. It is way too early to call the film a bomb or even a disappointment. I agree with ross, the movie is doing better than it probably should be doing considering subject matter, rating, film going trends (seriously I know so many Adults w/ no children who happily pay to watch animated films at the theater - I am one of them). I think it will hold well and increase through out the week and into the new year but this movie won't be the supernova they (media, studio, Fincher fanboys) were hyping it to be.


And that is what I don't understand...when exactly did Fincher happen? That he is at a point in his career where he is given so much deference, attention and hype by the media that his films are expected to be event film going? He is a very good capable Oscar nominated director with a distinct aesthetic & style. But I think right now he is very overrated. I am shocked that he has enough clout with any studio to be given a +100 million budget to basically remake a film that came out not even two years ago. I do not think of him as Mr. Blockbuster at all. Fincher plays well when he is at that margins of mainstream/commercial film making (even though he is & has always been a studio director).

[Smilla]

I saw this last night with my sister and am largely meh about it. Which is saying a lot since I like Fincher, adore Daniel Craig and this was really the only new movie I could motivate myself to see in 2011. At all.

My biggest problem was its unevenness. The opening sequence annoyed me because it felt overdone and out of place when contrasted with the somber tone of the rest. Also, even as someone who has not read the books, I thought it was predictable. I knew what Lisbeth's creepy caseworker would do, what she would do in return, who the killer was and what would eventually happen with Harriet right off the bat. Plus, the subplot with Bloomqvist's big story got squashed under choppy editing and bad pacing.

I'm also not sure how I feel about having a bunch of non-native Swedes try to affect vaguely Swedish accents for these roles. Seemed like a pretentious, even amateurish thing to do.

Don't even get me started on Those Scenes. Maybe they seemed tame to those viewers desensitized to that kind of violence by the age of Torture Porn, but I found them shocking and grotesque enough to actually be surprised the film got an R rating.

Again, overall, meh. Doesn't deserve the hype or the generous reviews. And not even Daniel Craig could get me to watch it again.

[Ginger]

I haven't even seen it yet, but I do hope they will get to make the sequels. I want to see all three! Fincher is planning to shoot them at the same time since they are basically one story in two parts - maybe that will keep the budget down.

I've been looking forward to this movie for a long time, but Christmas weekend was not the right time. When I'm home with my family for the holidays and we go out to see a movie together, we generally don't choose one with explicit sexual violence that will cause my 70 year old mother to walk out, know what I mean?

[Atreides]

Dec 26, 2011 20:36:05 GMT -4 @cdnchick said:

Dec 26, 2011 19:49:49 GMT -4 jaghetersimon said:

And that is what I don't understand...when exactly did Fincher happen? That he is at a point in his career where he is given so much deference, attention and hype by the media that his films are expected to be event film going? He is a very good capable Oscar nominated director with a distinct aesthetic & style. But I think right now he is very overrated. I am shocked that he has enough clout with any studio to be given a +100 million budget to basically remake a film that came out not even two years ago. I do not think of him as Mr. Blockbuster at all. Fincher plays well when he is at that margins of mainstream/commercial film making (even though he is & has always been a studio director).

I looked up his filmography and the box office and 3 of his last 4 movies have done very, very well financially with the last two (The Social Network & Benjamin Button) also getting a lot of Oscar love. All of his movies (except maybe Alien3, which he hated making) have at least interesting concepts behind them. I think you nailed it with the "margins of mainstream/commercial film making" though. He's not quite "intimate" enough to hang out with the Pedro Almodovars or Woody Allens of the world nor is he hanging with the Steven Spielbergs and James Cameron. He does have more than enough vision and style though to separate him from the mainstream journeyman directors though. I'd say him and Christopher Nolan are in the same niche; little wonder they are the two directors internet fanbois go gaga over the most these days.

Dragon Tattoo is definitely intriguing. I haven't read the books or seen the Swedish movies so I'll be going into this blind. It's just that the craziness of the holidays and life in general will push my seeing it at least late January!

ETA: Just realized looking at his filmography that I have seen every David Fincher film except for Dragon Tattoo. Very rare for me to have seen the entire work of any director! Of his first eight movies, I'd say I really liked four of them with the rest being meh to decent.