Monday Morning Quarterback Part II
By BOP Staff
February 3, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Kim Hollis: Was horror film saturation the biggest problem for The Unborn?
Reagen Sulewski: Seeing as how you mixed up the title in the question, I'm going to say it's at least part of the problem.
Kim Hollis: Right. Obviously the film I meant to discuss was The Uninvited. Or perhaps some other random horror film with "Un" in the title.
Max Braden "Undead Films Need More Brains To Fill Seats."
Joel Corcoran: I'd say that's at least part of the problem, but not the entire explanation. Even though the movie market is saturated with horror films (and has been for a while), good horror movies will still do well. But The Uninvited strikes me as the Clay Aiken of horror movies - looks pretty good at first glance, run-of-the-mill, mostly inoffensive, average talent level, but nothing truly outstanding to make it stand out from the crowd.
Brandon Scott: I am going to say yes. Week after week after week there has been another horror movie of late. Also, I can't say awareness was sky-high here. That's just my guess, though, since my awareness of ads on TV is entirely minimal anyway.
Tim Briody: As I mentioned in the Friday column, this feels like the 12th horror film already released in 2009.
Scott Lumley: Perhaps they should have just titled it "Unwatchable" and tried the reverse psychology route.
David Mumpower: I'm not generally one to criticize titles or release dates, but if a film named The Unborn claims a January release and you're selling a title called The Uninvited, there are two options. The first is to change your release date and the other is to change your title. That is, these are the options unless you're intending to draft off the bigger title, but did someone at Paramount really see The Unborn as that type of strong performer? This one is just strange. I'd write it off to bad luck and bad timing if not for the fact that both issues were avoidable.
Renee who?
Kim Hollis: New in Town, the Renee Zellweger film being generously described as a romantic comedy, opened to $6.8 million in only 1,941 exhibitions. Say something funny about New in Town.
Max Braden: It actually got a bunch of laughs in the theater I was in. The funny thing is this was probably one of Zellweger's most natural performances in a while. You could even see her eyes.
Joel Corcoran: Minnesota accents are always funny.
Brandon Scott: True story: a few months back I was in a car holding a little dog with me and Renee is straight up staring at me as we drive. I thought it might be the dog, but even so, I found it a bit off-putting. I mean, a Jerry Maguire-era Zellwegger, I would have been more inclined to let her gaze so adoringly at me, but this felt...."creepy". What does this have to do with New in Town? Likely, nothing. But perhaps her judgment in script choices is clouded as she has yet to forget that day. Just a hunch. I mean, this film is apparently so bad, it had to have been shot, edited, and released in a matter of three to four months, right? Oh, Renee...you stop it, now.
Sean Collier: Movies generally do better when you advertise them.
Jason Lee: New In Town had no one in town watching.
Which is too bad, because I thought that the trailer looked really good. Or maybe I'm just a big softie. Or I like Renee Zellweger. Or both.
Yeah, both.
Reagen Sulewski: That's the theory, Sean, but I'd bet this would have been the exception to the rule.
David Mumpower: This movie proves what I've been saying to Les Winan for years now. No one cares about Vikings fans.
Attention Go Daddy: We're taking our business elsewhere if these commercials keep up.
Kim Hollis: What was your favorite and least favorite Super Bowl commercial? Do you see any movie as hugely benefiting from their ad during the big game?
Max Braden: Year One looks worse as bad as The Love Guru. I'm thinking Michael Cera is going to regret this. The Transformers sequel trailer has everything in it that brought in millions for the first one. This is going to be big. The Hulu ad wins the night just because of Alec Baldwin at his best. I was annoyed by the "It's probably time" one and didn't find it funny at all. Pepsi's SNL ad was brilliant crossover.
Joel Corcoran: I think I have to go with the the Budweiser commercial with the Clydesdale talking about his great-grandfather coming over to America from Scotland. Some other commercials were funnier (e.g., the Career Builder ad running down how to tell when you hate your job), but the Budweiser ad was a good mix of humor and thoughtfulness. My least favorite were the GoDaddy.com ads, which were even more predictable and unimaginative than last year's ads.
Brandon Scott: I hate discussing the ads, because they have been hyped for several years, and have been terrible for at least seven to ten years. I can't remember the last time an ad airing during the Super Bowl left an impression on me. I usually crack open another frosty or hit the head during the break. I will agree that Year One looks horrific, though. Wow. Stunningly bad. I personally think Jack Black is on the way out. If this ends up being as bad as it looked, coupled with the atrocious performance in Tropic Thunder, wow...I mean, I guess we need to put him back in the sidekick High Fidelity mode. He is a guy I generally like, but respect can be lost faster than it can be earned.
Tim Briody: Hey, dummy.
Sean Collier: *riots on the streets of Pittsburgh*
Scott Lumley: Sadly, I don't get to watch the Super Bowl commercials because my local stations preempts them with Canadian commercials, which leaves me in the very odd place of feeling aggrieved because someone denied me the chance to watch some commercials. I will probably catch them at some point online just to show those mean TV programmers that my inner consumer will not be denied!
David Mumpower: I loved the Jason Statham commercial, even if it was just an update of The Hire and the Cars.com ad had a distinct Wes Anderson vibe. I was also surprised that the G.I. Joe commercial wasn't terrible, because I'm expecting that one to be a train wreck. In terms of commercials that didn't work for me, Year One looks like a cheap rip-off of History of the World Part One, which is a sad statement to make given the lackluster nature of that film. And Fast & Furious is just brutal. Why would anyone start a commercial with Paul Walker delivering a line that poorly? Focus on the action. Never let him talk in the ads. It's just common sense.
Kim Hollis: I don't really think any commercial was *super* memorable, but I liked Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head quite a bit. And the Coke commercial with the bugs was very pretty. I hated the Careerbuilder commercial (and can't understand why people liked it) as well as all the GoDaddy.com stuff. The movies, sadly, didn't really stand out much.