Daily Box Office Analysis
By David Mumpower
July 24, 2012
In the wake of the Aurora, Colorado tragedy, box office results continue to be a touchy subject for many movie goers. While being respectful of this understandable sensitivity, I presume that if you are reading this column, you have at least some interest in the news of the day, which is the first weekday of The Dark Knight Rises. As this topic still strikes too close to me, I completely understand. After all, three regular contributors to BOP over the years claim the greater Denver area as their home.
Nothing about the topic is comfortable right now and while this will be the only time I directly address the matter during the Daily Box Office Analysis, I want to be clear that I spent the body of Friday morning panicked over the safety of my friends. BOP’s coverage of The Dark Knight in 2008 was one of my favorite times during the site’s 11 year history. Discussion of The Dark Knight Rises, on the other hand, is permanently scarred by this and as such will always be an awkward conversation for me. I will not bother faking this. So, if my tone comes across as a bit icy at times when I perform box office analysis for Christopher Nolan’s final Batman movie, I sincerely hope that you understand the rationale behind the cool façade.
Let me start by discussing a different personal failing of mine. I despise being wrong. Bear with me a moment on this. My wife had taken a vacation day last Friday in order that we could watch The Dark Knight Rises at first opportunity. Our scheduled exhibition was at 11:40 a.m. By 5 a.m., we had been informed of the details of the shooting. My wife handled the news by obsessively watching all the various updates about the situation. I handled it by literally putting a pillow over my head and going back to sleep. The idea of this criminal assault was simply too much for to assimilate in my state of semi-consciousness.
By 10 a.m., BOP had already posted our box office report about the midnight viewings revenue. At the time, the estimate was $27 million. In the past, a failing of mine has been consistently timely updates, something I am striving to correct. At no point during this update did the idea dawn on me that such a column would seem callous to others. My wife and I were so focused on posting an update prior to leaving for our screening that we did not consider the human element enough.
From 10:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. (arriving 90 minutes early and having dinner afterward), we sat in a movie theater while the rest of North America chronicled one of the worst entertainment industry-related stories of all time. Only when we returned home did we appreciate how tacky that update must have seemed for many of you. Over the rest of the weekend, we demonstrated better decorum but that in no way excuses our insensitivity from that early Friday post. As I say, I hate being wrong and we were in that instance. The fault was entirely mine. While we received no direct complaints in this regard, I still want to offer an apology to anyone who felt this way regarding the topic.
Continued:
1
2
|
|
|
|
Print this column
