| Read These First |
| • |
By Chris Ryall |
| • |
For anyone with an RSS Newsreader |
| • |
From the Movie |
| Film Columns |
| • |
By Michael Dequina |
| • |
By Matthew Savelloni |
| • |
By Matt Singer |
| • |
By Alison Veneto |
| • |
By John McLean |
| • |
By D.K. Holm |
| • |
By Kim Morgan |
| • |
By Christopher Stipp |
| Theater |
| • |
By Kevin Hylton |
DVD |
| • |
By D.K. Holm |
| • |
By Christopher Mills |
Poop Shoot Entertainment |
| • |
By Ian Bonds |
| • |
Celebrity Interviews |
| • |
By Scott Bowden |
| • |
By Us and You! |
| • |
By Joshua Jabcuga |
| • |
By Michael Crawford |
| • |
By Chris Ryall |
| • |
By Chris Ryall |
| Movie Poop Shoot Web Comics |
| • |
By Stevenson and Damoose |
| • |
By Stevenson and Damoose |
| • |
By Odjick and Austin |
| • |
By DeBerry and Cunard |
| • |
By Mills and Staton |
| • |
By Brad Graeber |
| Comics |
| • |
By Tracy (& Shelby & Sarah) Edmunds |
| • |
By Scott Tipton |
| • |
By Britt Schramm |
| • |
By Marc Mason |
| Music |
| • |
By M.C. Bell |
| Books |
| Back to Movie Poop Shoot |
| • |
- back to the Poop Shoot |
|
Week of March 13, 2006 |
|
You can take "The Peacemaker," "Deep Impact," and "The Tuxedo." We'll take "Gladiator," "American Beauty" and anything else that didn't suck.
Emilio's 17
Yeah, like he needed all that overpriced crap anyway...
This lawsuit's going to make 'House Party' look like 'House Party Two!'
I told you... don't call me SENIOR!!
Maybe this is all a bad dream too?
Thanks Sharon, but I think I'll wait until this one comes out on DVD (so I can freeze frame of course)
There is absolutely, positively no nepotism in Hollywood. None.
You're good, baby, I'll give you that... but me? I'm magic.
This band will go down like a lead balloon
Well, Goodbye there Children...
They can't sell the Capitol Records building! What will be left to destroy in the next crappy 'end of the world' movie?
Same old Courtney - still sponging off Kurt
Panic on the streets of Austin
You're a fat, Botox faced, wig-wearing ninny! Oh yeah? Well your band has a dirty H addict as a lead singer!
Black Sabbath, Blondie, Miles Davis, The Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Skynyrd Enter Rock Hall
|
|
01 |
THE BREAK-UP |
$39.17
$12759/av |
|
02 |
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND |
$34.02
$9159/av |
|
03 |
OVER THE HEDGE |
$20.65
$5170/avg |
|
04 |
THE DAVINCI CODE |
$18.61
$4953/avg |
|
05 |
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III |
$4.68
$1756/avg |
|
06 |
POSEIDON |
$3.49
$1283/avg |
|
07 |
RV |
$3.20
$1469/avg |
|
08 |
SEE NO EVIL |
$2.04
$1607/avg |
|
09 |
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH |
$1.36
$17615/avg |
|
10 |
JUST MY LUCK |
$855K
$892/avg |
|
|
E-MAIL THE AUTHOR
THE BOTTOM OF THINGS
By Michael Sampson
October 29, 2003
I’m sure you’ve heard about GANGS OF NEW YORK’s tumultuous journey to the big screen. There were debates and then debates about what exactly the debates where about (content, length, edits?) but for whatever reason, the film was put off like a fourth-grader’s homework. The Martin Scorsese epic was originally to be released on December 21st of 2001, priming it for that season’s Academy Awards. There were…”issues”…with the film and the tragedy of September 11th was still fresh in people’s minds and a December date was nixed. Instead the film was moved back to the summer of 2003, giving Scorsese some time to tweak his final cut and still give GANGS the high-profile release it deserved. All was well and good and things were looking as sweet as apple pie. Except…another Academy hopeful - the Tom Hanks depression-era drama ROAD TO PERDITION - was opening on the same day and somebody had to budge.
Meanwhile the film was looking to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in order to build buzz for the eventual Oscar push. Scorsese and Miramax head Harvey Weinstein still couldn’t see eye-to-eye on the film and a full premiere was scrapped in favor of a “20-minute promo reel.” Back at headquarters, Miramax, looking to avoid a conflict, wisely backed off a showdown with PERDITION and rescheduled for an unspecified holiday 2002 date. Finally a date was settled upon: Christmas Day, 2002. No problems, right? Wrong. That damn Tom Hanks was getting in the way again.
Delaying Leo DiCaprio and GANGS this time around was Hanks and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, which also co-starred…Leo DiCaprio? Yes it seemed Leo would be going head-to-head in two of his films. One had to budge and one certainly did. The nomadic GANGS moved yet again to December 20th where it eventually opened.
In the end, the tap dance routine didn’t seem to phase GONY’s critical or commercial success. It grossed over $100 million on the strength of a handful of Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. But for every GANGS OF NEW YORK that is subjected to the endless schedule juggling at Miramax and succeeds, films like WAKING UP IN RENO, the Billy Bob Thornton/Charlize Theron comedy that had at least seven different release dates in the two years after filming began, fails miserably. It got so bad for that film, I was invited to a junket for the film only to receive a call days later saying the film had been delayed indefinitely. RENO barely made a blip at the box-office when it was released in just a handful of theaters.
Comparing RENO to GANGS might be like comparing a bushel of shiny apples to a sack of hot shit but the point is, for every one major success that is to be had because of (or in spite of) the constant rescheduling are about five other films that fail as a result.
Poor David Twohy, who wrote and directed the thriller BELOW (PROTEUS before another one of Miramax’s changes), and was all but abandoned at the time his movie was set for release after numerous dates in 2002. The director and his assistant took to the web themselves in an effort to start some sort of grassroots campaign to give the movie some - hell, ANY - promotion. Unfortunately for Twohy, while the film was well-received by critics, it was too little too late and BELOW sunk to the bottom of the charts.
Of the 18 Miramax films with a set release date for 2003, 10 have moved their release date 2 or more times. Three (VIEW FROM THE TOP, DUPLEX and THE HUMAN STAIN) were moved 4 or more times. DUPLEX is the most blatant example with the date switching a whopping 10 times since it’s original August 16th, 2002 date and it’s eventual release on September 24th of this year.v
(The control sample of this study was Fox, a major studio I picked at random to compare against Miramax’s numbers. For all their releases this year, Fox averaged less than 1 release date move per film. Only one film out of their 2003 releases shifted more than twice and that was PHONE BOOTH, which was delayed numerous times because of the Beltway Sniper shootings.)
Then there are the approximately 11 films that are still officially listed as TBA for 2003. (Some films were removed from the statistics because they have now become direct-to-video.) At least three have had numerous release delays with SHAOLIN SOCCER scoring an impressive eight moves. THE WARRIOR comes in a distant second with three moves.
In addition to dates being pushed back, many films that are now TBA have been pushed back indefinitely and currently have no date. Consider the Julia Stiles film CAROLINA, which completed filming in early September of 2001. Here it is over two years later and the film still doesn’t have a release date. THE GATHERING is another film that wrapped in late-2001 that is languishing on the Miramax shelves.
The only true example I could find of Miramax picking a release date early and sticking with it is the Jude Law/Nicole Kidman/Renee Zellweger drama COLD MOUNTAIN, which, as of now, is still scheduled for release this Christmas.
Looking ahead to 2004 we see a number of films that were originally slated for release in 2003 but were pushed back until next year. PROZAC NATION, the Christina Ricci film based on the novel of the same name, was originally scheduled for a late-2002 release after filming began in spring of 2000. Then it was pushed back to January 24, 2003. Then March 14th. Then on March 10th, a mere four days before the film’s release, it was announced it was shifting from that date to an unspecified date. Eventually it was decided June 6th. Then about two weeks before it’s summer release it was again yanked and pushed back to a “4th quarter” release. Now after all these dates it’s tentatively scheduled for an April, 2004 date. Almost FOUR years since it began filming.
Of course, there’s also JERSEY GIRL, which saw it’s share of delays for reasons due to MATRIX- and GIGLI-related situations, was delayed about two or three times in between it’s original summer 2003 date and its current March, 2004 release.
What about MINDHUNTERS with Val Kilmer, Christian Slater and LL Cool J? April of 2003? Not anymore. Try January of 2004.
ELLA ENCHANTED obviously didn’t make it’s original target of this August. Now it’s aiming for April of 2004.
How about the Jennifer Lopez/Robert Redford drama THE UNFINISHED LIFE that she was filming earlier this summer? Get comfy while you wait. It’s been delayed until December of 2004.
Johnny Depp and Dustin Hoffman won’t get to see their JM Barrie biopic NEVERLAND this Christmas as was originally planned. It was first bumped back to summer of 2004 but now has moved back to Christmas….of next year. A full year after it’s original date.
Speaking of being released a full year after its original date, the Eddie Griffin comedy MY BABY’S MAMA was scheduled for an April, 2003 release in order to avoid clashing with Griffin’s other Miramax film, the stand-up act movie DYSFUNKTIONAL FAMILY (which itself was delayed three times). After a shift to two dates in fall of this year, it’s all way to April of 2004.
VALENTIN is a movie I’ve never heard of but that doesn’t mean it’s immune to the Miramax shuffle. Originally scheduled for a June release this year, it’s now penciled in for summer of next year (after a few dates this fall weren’t quite working out either).
Pretty exhausting, huh? The moral of the story is, don’t get your hopes up too high when anxiously awaiting a Miramax film. Whether the strategy works or not is a matter of debate and often times it boils down to whether or not you’ve got a good film. The shifts didn’t seem to hurt GANGS but killed DUPLEX. But who can say whether DUPLEX failed because of the release date shifts or because it was simply not a very funny film. It does however seem to be a bit unnecessary, like a fantasy football owner who can’t help fussing with his roster until the very last minute on Sunday. Sometimes he’ll sit Randy Moss when he lights up the opponent for 3 TDs and 200 yards. Other times he’ll start a sleeper like Arlen Harris who scores 3 TDs. In the end, I think it harks back to that old experiment with stocks. There was a guy throwing darts at a board with different regions of the board representing different stocks. Then there was a so-called expert picking what he felt were the best stocks around. In the end, the dartboard and the expert wound up gaining around the same amount of money.
Oh and since the time you began reading this, Miramax pushed back JERSEY GIRL to a July 2005 release.
Just kidding.
BRAIN DUMP
Yes, I know the Dump portion of this site is as consistent as the New York Giants but I’m in a type-happy mood this week and I’m bringing it back…
Just a quick word on the Stash Bash this past weekend…Was planning on writing a whole column about it but for those who weren’t there, it could get a little booooring. Met some nice folks - including Antony Teofilo, Matt Singer and Ian Bond from the Shoot - finally met Kevin, talked with some fans of the site and was on my way shortly thereafter. A good time was had by all and it’s always great to sit back and watch people meet Kevin. He’s really great with the fans. I’m not that nice to people I DO know, let alone complete strangers…
Can we please stop using the phrase “A love letter to…” when describing movies? The first time I heard it was around the time of ALMOST FAMOUS, describing it as Cameron Crowe’s love letter to rock and roll. Now it’s damn near everywhere, whenever a director has a passion project. A love letter to kung-fu movies. A love letter to Jesus. A love letter to monster movies. A love letter to Europe. A love letter to New York City. I watched a porno last night that was a love letter to lesbian orgies.
Did you see “24” last night?! Damn that show is good! (I’m actually writing this before the show actually aired so I haven’t seen it yet, but I know it’s gonna be damn good!)
Poop Shoot Fantasy Football League Update: The Bottom of Things is in second place behind the undefeated Crushers. We meet up this Sunday for a Battle of the Titans. Two teams enter. One team leaves…
E-MAIL THE AUTHOR |
ARCHIVES
|
|
|
