Monday Morning Quarterback

By BOP Staff

April 17, 2012

Great manager, terrible public speaker.

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Felix Quinonez: I think they should be happy with this result. It had a pretty low budget and I think it looks so bad. Also, it's aimed at kids that more than likely never heard of the three stooges so I'd say it’s a win for the studio.

Reagen Sulewski: There's a double edged sword to those ads - yes, they're terrible, but then again, that's what actual Three Stooges films were like back in the day. It's jarring to see that kind of slapstick transposed into modern settings, kind of like (although nowhere near as offensive as) if someone remade The Jazz Singer complete with blackface. It's a cultural artifact best left in its original context, but I can kind of see why people might want to see this. I'm still ashamed of those people, and they should know better, of course, but they were probably mostly all under 13-years-old, so that's at least something.

David Mumpower: Reagen touches upon the key aspect in my estimation. The Three Stooges are iconic and this sort of humor is broad and timeless, independent of what that says about humanity.

Kim Hollis: The Cabin in the Woods, an instant BOP fave from Team Whedon, opened to $14.7 million this weekend. The genre-defying feature received glowing reviews yet mediocre word-of-mouth, including a C Cinemascore. What do you think of this result and what is your overall perception of The Cabin in the Woods?




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Edwin Davies: This is about as good a result as we could expect considering that there was always going to be a major problem with the film: how to sell it to an audience without actually telling that audience what it is about. The joy of the film lies in seeing how it reveals itself to be more than just a generic horror film, but the only way to avoid spoiling the twists lay in selling it as a generic horror film, which may have turned off people who wanted to see something a bit more fresh and original - the very people who would love Cabin In The Woods, ironically enough - and would inevitably lead to people who went in expecting a generic horror film being disappointed, hence the C Cinemascore.

I think that this result shows that enough people got a sense that there was something worth checking out, but considering that this was always going to be a tough sell, it's towards the upper echelons of what was expected. The good news is that the people who love the film really love it, and the stellar reviews should help it to finish north of $40 million (though probably not more, unless it holds up way better than your typical horrors and satires tend to do). Since it was made for a fairly thrifty $30 million, and since it will probably do okay overseas, this will wind up being a solid win for all involved. Though obviously it'll be overshadowed by Whedon's OTHER film of the year: that version of Much Ado About Nothing that he has filmed in his apartment (which, yes, is a real thing).

Matthew Huntley: Given its boldness and originality, a $14 million opening is somewhat of a disappointment, and unfortunately I don't envision it grossing more than $25-$30 million overall. It's too much of a niche film - that is, a horror movie with brains. I have a feeling most audiences are going to describe it as "slow," "weird," "not what I was expecting," etc., which will sadly encourage most people not to see it in theaters. It's a shame, too, because the film's intrigue hinges on the audience being ignorant and it was refreshing to see a movie resist falling for the same old routines. For once, we can't call things out ahead of time, which shakes the traditional Hollywood movie-going experience up a bit, something you're either into or which turns you off. Too bad the general populace seems to be turned off by it, because Cabin deserves better.


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