Monday Morning Quarterback Part II
By BOP Staff
March 17, 2009
Kim Hollis: I think there are a lot of things at play here. First off, people outside of comic book fans and graphic novel readers simply don't know the Watchmen. Yes, it's one of the most highly regarded books of the 20th century, but the reality is that people don't really read these things outside of the comic book culture for the most part. If you have unknown characters, you'd better do the best job you can of making them accessible to a wider audience. Iron Man is a key example. Most people really don't know Iron Man. So why were they so engaged by the character? The trailers and commercials made Tony Stark a guy people could relate to - funny, smarmy, and smart. Pile some awesome-looking effects on top of that and you've got a winner.
With Watchmen, though, the marketing appealed to the fans of the book and not much else. Fans were carefully watching to see if Zack Snyder had deviated from the source material and were ready to fire off multiple missives if that proved not to be the case. For non-fans, though, all they had was some hot-looking action, but there were an awful lot of characters to wrap one's brain around. Who the hell is this blue guy and why is he building some weird-looking structure? Why does this one guy look like Batman dressed in brown? And seriously, a superhero called the Comedian? How does this make any sense to people?
In the end, Warner Bros. - and Zack Snyder - were likely faced with a losing proposition. If the film was made more friendly to a general audience, it would have been severely knocked as a failure by most. Since Snyder instead tried to keep the faith and make a movie that was as loyal as possible to the source material, they're paying the price. There's no hope of keeping it going now that the primary audience has already gone out to see it.
Jason Lee: Frankly, I'm at a loss to explain how 300 was able to perform so much better than Watchmen. In my mind, Watchmen is a superior film in almost every area (visuals, story, acting, etc.) and every time I try to come up with a justification for Watchmen's low gross, I find myself tripped by the fact that 300 was able to overcome those challenges.
Tim Briody: This was an adaptation of an over 20 year old comic series that was pretty darn far from the mainstream. We should be considering $120 million a roaring success.
Pete Kilmer: It's a tough movie sell that's not X-Men or Superman or some hero property that is iconic enough for the mainstream. I doubt we'll see another R-rated graphic novel property like this anytime soon. Props to Zack Snyder, who did a fantastic job with this. It's gonna sell a ton of DVDs when the collector edition hits.
Joel Corcoran: I think Watchmen will end up being to comic book superhero films what Full Metal Jacket is to war movies or Unforgiven is to westerns. It's a film that turns the genre sideways and delves into some deeper, unanticipated storylines that explore much broader philosophical themes than expected. Sure, the producers and director could've turned the story into something like the Fantastic Five and made a bigger splash at the box office, but I think staying true to the story - and the darker themes - will end up making the studio more in the long run.
Centerfolds just don't have the same zip they once did
Kim Hollis: Miss March earned $2.3 million with a per venue average of only $1,349. Say something funny about Miss March.
David Mumpower: Centerfold by the J. Geils Band was the number one single for six consecutive weeks. Any less of a performance by Miss March would have been a failure in my eyes. There were more 45s sold of Centerfold than there were tickets sold for Miss March.
Kim Hollis: Perhaps Miss March would have been better off as Miss February, as planned earlier.
Jason Lee: Miss March and wait for April . . . there are much better films coming out in a few weeks.
Tim Briody: This movie wishes it was Fired Up, as hard as that is to believe.
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