New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Mmmm...Überbacon

Kim Hollis: Footloose, the remake of the 1984 hit film, made $15.6 million this weekend. How should Paramount Pictures feel about this result?

Bruce Hall: Any time your film is in the discussion for the number one slot on opening weekend, that's a good problem to have. Any time that same film is a remake and by many accounts no worse than the highly overrated original, that's also a good problem to have. And for a $30 million budget, $16 million really isn't a very big problem either. Bottom line - a virtual first place tie with Rock'em Sock'em Robots: The Movie counts as a win in my book.

And by the way, Kenny Wormald has a Bacon Number of 2. But since he played Kevin's old part, I wonder if that doesn't somehow make him some kind of Überbacon. Just food for thought.

Matthew Huntley: For the most part, they should be pleased. While they won't get the bragging rights to say their movie opened at #1, they did cover about 2/3 of the production budget on opening weekend. Plus, the exit polls for Footloose were high, suggesting small declines in the weeks ahead, or at least until the end of October. Considering this could have been an all out disaster (people literally booed when the trailer was released last summer), it's a decent start and practically guarantees profitability.

Edwin Davies: Given the budget and the genre, this is a pretty solid result. Dance movies tend not to break out unless there is some serious heat behind them (as in the case of High School Musical 3) and Footloose definitely didn't have that. As Matthew pointed out, this remake has induced nothing but eye-rolls since the trailer debuted, so for it to overcome the "Really?" attitude that has dogged it for so long isn't a bad result.

Brett Beach: I think Paramount should be slightly underwhelmed. True, it did make more than the Fame re-go did its opening weekend (and will outgross that), and it performed in line with its genre (with the gold medal out of nowhere crown for the last 10 years still being bore by Save the Last Dance at the moment) although more like a Step Up sequel. With all the crossover/promotion this has received in recent weeks, I expected something a little stronger, maybe in the 20 millions. It seemed to me, from a gender standpoint, that this is one that women who liked the original might take their daughters to. So, at least partially a family film or outing. It stands to make back its budget, but that is the most positive thing I can say.

David Mumpower: I lean toward the "impressive performance" side of the spectrum. Given the cheap production cost, Footloose will prove to be a financial win, which is enough to justify the decision to remake the movie. How lucrative a win it proves to be will depend upon exterior factors such as the popularity of the soundtrack as well as the video demand for the movie. Perhaps my biggest shock about the project is that the movie is by all accounts good. Given that the original is...well, painful to watch now, I am impressed that Craig Brewer managed to find an enjoyable film idea in this. The one aspect of this I believe hasn't been discussed enough is that if we stop comparing Footloose to other remakes such as Fame and Arthur, it's a lot like Country Strong and Pure Country 2 on paper. One of those is a straight to video title while the other grossed $20.2 million domestically. Footloose has name recognition neither of those possessed but its opening weekend is quite impressive, relatively speaking.

Continued:       1       2