Monday Morning Quarterback Part III

By BOP Staff

March 28, 2013

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Jay Barney: Again, it is sad when we can define a movie that does not lose money as a success, but Admission is not going to cost anybody any money. I agree the numbers are much lower than anyone would have expected or hoped, and the potential for much higher grosses should have been on the table, but not every film can be a smashing success. This one will make back its $13 million budget and be a footnote in the career of Fey and Rudd. Will it be disappointing. Yes? Will the end result be awful? No.

Max Braden: I love Tina Fey, I think she's hilarious in 30 Rock, but in movies like this where she's more restrained, she doesn't ring true. Date Night was similar. I also started to hear unusually negative rumbles about a plotline not really evident in the trailer. Ironically, it made me think, "Didn't they just do that recently, in The Switch?" Have Jason Bateman and Paul Rudd done a movie together yet? I'd prefer that.

David Mumpower: I couldn't shake the notion that Admission felt like a very special episode of well, any comedy/soap opera ever made. Beyond that issue, my expectations were already low because Focus Features rarely distributes major wide releases. Jason is correct that it will earn back its budget, but Admission has been relegated to a title that will earn most of its attention on home video.

Kim Hollis: After debuting with $87,667 per location in three theaters last weekend, Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers expanded to 1,104 sites and made $4.9 million this weekend. What do you think of this result?

Brett Ballard-Beach: As I noted elsewhere, Harmony Korine is in the multiplexes and the top 10, please adjust your Apocalypse watches accordingly. For a $2 million film that a brand-new distributor probably hoped would break out, but was in no way sure on, using social media and word-of-mouth to sell this film as successfully as they have has to be viewed as a win. I was thinking and hoping that this might pull a little closer to $10 million, and God knows what the second weekend will be like (I truly don't know if further expansion is called for), but let the latest Disney channel starlets to go R, soak up the accolades and debauchery for just a few more minutes.




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Felix Quinonez: I think it's a solid expansion but it's not really that impressive. I think there was some curiosity because of the Disney starlets but I don't really see this having strong legs. But then again it's already made back its budget and gathered some attention for the distributor and its stars so every one involved should be pleased.

Edwin Davies: Considering Harmony Korine's back catalogue (his last film was shot on VHS and about people who have sex with garbage. That's a real film. That exists!) this is...kind of mindblowing, really. It's a deliberately provocative film which seems to divide people into the...I'm going to say 5% who enjoy it and 95% who don't know what the hell it is, but the distributors managed to ride the wave of controversy, hype and praise/damnation pretty expertly. I wasn't expecting it to be a huge breakout success, and wouldn't be surprised if it leaves theaters with less than $10 million in total, but for something that cost next to nothing - especially considering the actors involved - and got plenty of attention for everyone involved, this is a resounding success.

Max Braden: You have to wonder how much of that was young girls living vicariously through the girls on screen vs. dirty old men ogling the young girls on screen. I think it's a big win for Korine, Hudgens, and Gomez, because even if they didn't have a lot of eyeballs on the movie, they can still use high concentration number to claim a strong interest in their product. I think it positions them really well to lobby for future indie films and mainstream material at the same time.

David Mumpower: Everyone has touched upon the aspect of this that few of the people who watched Spring Breakers realized. A nutjob director (and I almost say that as a compliment) has just earned a spot in the top 10 at the box office. This is the best small scale example that sex sells that you will EVER see. I cannot shake the feeling that Korine is laughing at all of the people who watched Spring Breakers in theaters. It's like when the bad guy gets away with the crime in the end. He's the vulgar, erratic Keyser Soze of movie directors.


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