Monday Morning Quarterback

By BOP Staff

April 27, 2009

Rar!

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Reagen Sulewski: If this was November or December, you could say there was a lot more in store for this, but with no Oscar season coming up, and with critics more or less abandoning this film to its fate, I have to say it's done. Jamie Foxx can go back to showing off his ridiculous natural hairline.

Jason Lee: To me, this movie looked like August Rush. Except that the main character in "The Soloist" isn't as strange.

Brandon Scott: This is a big downer...the film should never have been pushed back from late last year's original date. Mixed reviews hurt it and now my interest has significantly dwindled. I was rooting and excited for this one, now...its a "maybe" in theaters for me. Too bad, though I don't think it hurts either actor's appeal. It does go to show how much the vehicle is important to going to see a movie, though. These are two inarguably big stars together in a movie, and it flopped with a $60 million budget. Vehicle is everything, like I mentioned with Beyonce in Obsessed.

Kim Hollis: Yeah, this has to be considered a disappointment, but I'm not really sure how you market a movie like this one outside of awards season, either. It's not going to hurt Downey any, but I'm starting to think that Foxx might have his struggles cut out for him unless he chooses his next few projects pretty carefully.

The final frontier...

Kim Hollis: Disney's Earth, cleverly timed with an Earth Day release, earned $8.8 million over the weekend and $14.5 million in five days. Is this a win for the studio?




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Josh Spiegel: A slight win, sure. Obviously, the numbers could have been better, but Disney won't be disappointed. If anything, it probably means we'll see more DisneyNature films over the next few years. I think the one drawback here is that some people may have rightly noticed that Earth is essentially a 90-minute version of the 11-part Planet Earth miniseries. And, since the movie can't be seen on something like IMAX, it may be less attractive to catch this version on a regular movie screen. Also...most kids aren't excited about nature documentaries; so...yeah, this is a win. The results could have been much worse.

Marty Doskins: Where this film is really going to win is once it gets released to DVD. I've heard teachers talking about using it in their classrooms once it comes out. There's already a teacher's guide available online that my wife printed out for herself. It has information appropriate for every grade so I think Disney is already looking ahead to tap this market.

Reagen Sulewski: Technically it's already out on DVD since it's re-edited footage from the Planet Earth doc. But that goes to the larger point - this is essentially free money for Disney, once they pay back the prints and advertising.

Jason Lee: While I agree that this is pretty much free money and yes, this movie has been out internationally for months now, I was still hoping that it would find a larger audience over opening weekend. Once the summer blockbusters start rolling in next week, this little gem of a movie will get slaughtered. Here's hoping that people search this one out in the coming weeks.

Brandon Scott: I think it's a real nice win. I mean, it's a narrated film that is going to do in the $30 million or more range? That's huge. This could easily have been a $2 million opener and instead it is sitting at $15 as we speak? That's big to me.


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