Not to get off subject, but I wonder if Waverly Theater could do for Scott Pilgrim what it did for this little flop:
OT: Moral of the story, "Profits talk".
OT: Moral of the story, "Profits talk".
The Big Picture: The Numbers
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I was never much of a Bob-fan myself, but recently he's really grown on me. Maybe it's because his second show is all nice and settled in, or maybe it's because a lot of his views have been similar to mine lately and he's been well spoken in the extra consideration columns... Or hell, maybe it's because I have Jimquisition to compare him with making Bob seem vastly superior.
In any case, I really enjoyed hearing about all of this. It's nice to get a clear-cut view into the industry of film without any pretense or sugar-coating. And since Del Toro is my favourite director possibly ever (Sorry M. Night, last airbender sucked T_T) it was all doubly interesting.
Hats off to you sir.
In any case, I really enjoyed hearing about all of this. It's nice to get a clear-cut view into the industry of film without any pretense or sugar-coating. And since Del Toro is my favourite director possibly ever (Sorry M. Night, last airbender sucked T_T) it was all doubly interesting.
Hats off to you sir.
This was kind of sad. But good nevertheless.
I hope you don't get any trouble for mentioning a certain book. You are totally right about what you said.
I hope you don't get any trouble for mentioning a certain book. You are totally right about what you said.
This was kind of sad. But good nevertheless.
I hope you don't get any trouble for mentioning a certain book. You are totally right about what you said.
I hope you don't get any trouble for mentioning a certain book. You are totally right about what you said.
Is it just me or was this whole episode a wide open door that was just kicked in?
More like a rant really. I understand where it comes from, but in his capacity as a movie-critic, Bob should try and focus on the movies that do come out. i understand it can be frustrating, but I doubt most viewers watch his reviews to hear him whine some more...
More like a rant really. I understand where it comes from, but in his capacity as a movie-critic, Bob should try and focus on the movies that do come out. i understand it can be frustrating, but I doubt most viewers watch his reviews to hear him whine some more...
Well said!DearFilm said:
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World tries to be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with geek references. It achieves the latter, but fails at the former.
The Expendables was not a great movie, in fact, I would go as far to say it wasnt a real good movie, or even a plain good movie, but I still enjoyed.MacNille said:
That is completely pointless, however...
As great an innovation Scott Pilgrim may have been, if people dont like it, than shit, its screwed. I cant fathom why people should pay money to watch a movie they dont like, over a movie they did like. Sorry to a lot of people here on the Escapist (as it does seem to be this way) that Scott Pilgrim got suckered punch by a Macho mantasy, but it makes no sense that people would support something they didnt like or care for over somthing they did like or care for. Its like women protesting to end women's suffrage... why support something you obviously dont like?
Also, I cant stand people calling anyone who watched The Expendables over Scott Pilgrim ignorant, or anyone who says one group is ignorant for choosing something over another. Thats just the height of arrogance, I myself am guilty of this sin also, so dont bother pointing that out.
Bob, seriously... you're sore over this, we get it. But its been several months, almost a fucking year, GET OVER IT, ALREADY!
I regret seeing Scott Pilgrim only once when it was in theatres. I wish we'll see a ton of DVD sales ala Batman Begins, but that seems unlikely considering, as I believe some critic pointed out, it's made for an audience that downloads everything anyways.
I remember watching a video of Edgar Wright and Scott Pilgrim's cast promoting the film (though I think it had already been out for a while), with Del Toro, of all people, interviewing them. There was one moment where he said something to the effect of "To all the people asking why there aren't any good movies these days: Whenever we make a good movie, you never come see it."
He said a lot of awesome things in that video. At one point he defended Michael Cera's acting ability by comparing it to porn. And it worked. There was another point where he said in regards to Scott Pilgrim "Anyone who didn't see this is a ************." At the time, it seemed as though he was just telling people off for not seeing a fantastic film, but if he were to say it again now, it'd feel more as though he's telling people off for ruining his dream project. I wonder if there was any of that contempt behind his statement.
It's all so sad. All these motherfuckers spoiling everyone's fun.
I remember watching a video of Edgar Wright and Scott Pilgrim's cast promoting the film (though I think it had already been out for a while), with Del Toro, of all people, interviewing them. There was one moment where he said something to the effect of "To all the people asking why there aren't any good movies these days: Whenever we make a good movie, you never come see it."
He said a lot of awesome things in that video. At one point he defended Michael Cera's acting ability by comparing it to porn. And it worked. There was another point where he said in regards to Scott Pilgrim "Anyone who didn't see this is a ************." At the time, it seemed as though he was just telling people off for not seeing a fantastic film, but if he were to say it again now, it'd feel more as though he's telling people off for ruining his dream project. I wonder if there was any of that contempt behind his statement.
It's all so sad. All these motherfuckers spoiling everyone's fun.
Don't look at me i saw scott pilgrim at the cinema! And also the vast majority of the population are complete fucking morons who gawp like idiots at shit like the expendables and transformers.
Could there be any better way to show that you missed the point? Mountains of Madness, wasn't JUST an R-rated movie, it was an H.P. Lovecraft movie, and H.P Lovecraft isn't exactly the world's biggest money maker, pair that with Del Toro (Who's movies a usually cult hits but rarely hit it big in theaters) it was a big risk. Scott Pilgrim, as Bob said, was based on an independent Canadian comic book, with a heavy helping of geeky references on top of it, (You know, kind a risky investment) if Scott Pilgrim had made money at the box office, the people helming projects like Mountains of Madness would be more likely to take that kind of risk, but Scott Pilrim didn't make money. You know what did make money? One of the biggest wastes of time in the history of cinema, a pandering, painfully boring action movie, filled with amazing talent that it did absolutly nothing with. But because it made shitloads of money instead of Scott Pilgrim, the heads at Universal were not willing to take a risk as bit as Mountains of Madness.DearFilm said:
Getting it now?
Blame Universal for Scott Pilgrim's failure, Bob - not the public. It was obviously a niche film that would appeal to only a small segment of the public, but yet someone greenlit a budget far in excess of what the movie could bring in. I don't know what sucked up the majority of the money.
The cast? Cera can't get that big of a paycheck, can he? And the remainder of the cast don't seem to be in line for big-ticket paychecks. Not that I thought any member of the cast was particularly bad.
Special Effects? Heck... the graphic novel roots actually let them get away with some pretty cheesy effects if I recall correctly. The Director? Locations? Where the heck did 60 million go??
To me, it sounds like someone really oversold Scott Pilgrim to Universal, and the execs in charge didn't understand their product well enough to estimate the revenue it would generate. And it's too bad. With a much more modest budget, SP might have been considered a hit; and might have paved the way for similar projects - with a modest budget. And out of that, they might have wound up creating a runaway hit somewhere down the line.
As for the Lovecraft movie... darn, it sounded interesting. Here is to hoping that del Toro founds another studio willing to bankroll the project.
The cast? Cera can't get that big of a paycheck, can he? And the remainder of the cast don't seem to be in line for big-ticket paychecks. Not that I thought any member of the cast was particularly bad.
Special Effects? Heck... the graphic novel roots actually let them get away with some pretty cheesy effects if I recall correctly. The Director? Locations? Where the heck did 60 million go??
To me, it sounds like someone really oversold Scott Pilgrim to Universal, and the execs in charge didn't understand their product well enough to estimate the revenue it would generate. And it's too bad. With a much more modest budget, SP might have been considered a hit; and might have paved the way for similar projects - with a modest budget. And out of that, they might have wound up creating a runaway hit somewhere down the line.
As for the Lovecraft movie... darn, it sounded interesting. Here is to hoping that del Toro founds another studio willing to bankroll the project.
This made me angry. Not cause I disagree, but because I know he was right.
I fucking loved Scott Pilgrim. Nothing would have been better for that film than for it to get the profit it deserved. And it was pretty upsetting when I found out how bad it did, which I later attributed to online film torrenting (that was how the majority of people I know had seen it).
But now, not only did that film not do well, but another potentially mind-blowing (in a relatively literal sense, it is Lovecraft after all) will never see the light of day. I am disappoint
I fucking loved Scott Pilgrim. Nothing would have been better for that film than for it to get the profit it deserved. And it was pretty upsetting when I found out how bad it did, which I later attributed to online film torrenting (that was how the majority of people I know had seen it).
But now, not only did that film not do well, but another potentially mind-blowing (in a relatively literal sense, it is Lovecraft after all) will never see the light of day. I am disappoint
It did, but it was only up for a couple of days. I intended to see it, but it was gone by the time I had time to.Srdjan Tanaskovic said:
I got it on DVD though, and it's good. It's unfortunate really how a thin layer of video game culture makes people think it's a movie about video game geekdom or something.
I'll admit I'm part of the problem. I went to see both Thor and the new Pirates movie recently. Neither were particularly good, but at least I could riff on them with the people I went to see them with afterwards.
I suppose the only thing we can really do about this is just really pay attention to what movies are the unique risk-takers, and which are the safe cash-in clones. The fact is, it doesnt matter if the risk-taking movies are good or bad.. if they make money, we WILL see better films emerge, such as Del Toros project. So if you notice a film come out in theaters that in your opinion seems like it ISNT just a cash-in .. go see it .. dont bother trying to figure out if you think its good or not .. hell, just pay for the ticket and leave if you can afford it and dont think its good lol we all need to do our part here to make sure that we see more worthwhile films emerge.. same concept goes for the gaming industry. I would prefer NOT to see this industry turn into any more of a barren wasteland.
This is why I will always choose to be elitist when it comes to pop culture stuff. At least my ways don't have any pretense about the way of things. I like this stuff, this stuff requires more to be enjoyed out of the general non-specified human, this stuff isn't being made any more cause most people aren't capable of appreciating them...and that's pretty much it.
Let's hope Del Toro gets to make his movie...maybe it'll be another LoTR style hit, who knows, Avatar was pretty niche on paper too.
Let's hope Del Toro gets to make his movie...maybe it'll be another LoTR style hit, who knows, Avatar was pretty niche on paper too.
I liked The Expendables. Went to see it in a cinema with a mate of mine and we both switched are brains off and enjoyed the silly men running around with big guns and loud explosions. It reminded us both of when we were little kids watching copies of Rambo that our big brothers had recorded off the TV onto VHS tapes.
I didn't go see Scott Pilgrim because it had nothing for me to invest in. I don't like the actor, I think he's bland and annoying. I didn't like the look of it because I don't like that style of comic, I don't like indie music and I don't like retro games. I might see it one day. It might prove me wrong. I hope maybe it does and maybe I regret not seeing it in the cinema when it was out. However I don't think it's failure can be blamed on the HP movie not getting made.
Lets look at this.
Scott Pilgrim is a fairly new IP from some fella in Canada who not a lot of people have heard of. As a comic and gaming fan, I never heard of it until the movie was announced and local record stores and comic shops started filling their stores with the novels.
HP Lovecraft, is known world wide, is older than pretty much everyone on this site and is renowned in both the "geek" and "non-geek" world as a father of horror writing. His appeal is much greater than that of Scott Pilgrim.
I'm not sure of the order in which these movies where pitched, but perhaps it was a matter that the studio decided, that because comic book movies at the time were hot news, they'd try go with the "little book that could" rather than an iconic one. Perhaps it was just a bad move on their part. Just like I would think it was a bad move to not advertise SP more and release it on the same weekend that everyone whose been alive since the 80s could go see a movie that had all their childhood action heros in. Nostalgia won out there. Might not be your nostalgia but you're not the generation it was aimed at.
So while it was a shame this HPL movie isn't currently getting made I dont think that...
It's the fault of Scott Pilgrim for failing at the box office,
Scott Pilgrim didnt fail at the box office because we're all idiots and The Expendables was made.
I didn't go see Scott Pilgrim because it had nothing for me to invest in. I don't like the actor, I think he's bland and annoying. I didn't like the look of it because I don't like that style of comic, I don't like indie music and I don't like retro games. I might see it one day. It might prove me wrong. I hope maybe it does and maybe I regret not seeing it in the cinema when it was out. However I don't think it's failure can be blamed on the HP movie not getting made.
Lets look at this.
Scott Pilgrim is a fairly new IP from some fella in Canada who not a lot of people have heard of. As a comic and gaming fan, I never heard of it until the movie was announced and local record stores and comic shops started filling their stores with the novels.
HP Lovecraft, is known world wide, is older than pretty much everyone on this site and is renowned in both the "geek" and "non-geek" world as a father of horror writing. His appeal is much greater than that of Scott Pilgrim.
I'm not sure of the order in which these movies where pitched, but perhaps it was a matter that the studio decided, that because comic book movies at the time were hot news, they'd try go with the "little book that could" rather than an iconic one. Perhaps it was just a bad move on their part. Just like I would think it was a bad move to not advertise SP more and release it on the same weekend that everyone whose been alive since the 80s could go see a movie that had all their childhood action heros in. Nostalgia won out there. Might not be your nostalgia but you're not the generation it was aimed at.
So while it was a shame this HPL movie isn't currently getting made I dont think that...
It's the fault of Scott Pilgrim for failing at the box office,
Scott Pilgrim didnt fail at the box office because we're all idiots and The Expendables was made.
