Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

February 25, 2014

The biggest winners at Sochi didn't take home any gold.

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Jason Barney: Early on the trailer turned me off to this one. When I first understood what the ad was introducing I had a glimmer of hope. I do believe that Pompeii represents an historical and scientific curiosity, which could have been really successful. However, everything about it screamed overdone Hollywood stupidity and it kept fans away. The timing to open this one up in February is somewhat odd, as even if it is terrible, it seems like more of an attempt at a summer blockbuster.

As far as recent movies that end up being total disasters, this one will go near the top of the list. This joins the camp of I, Frankenstein, The Legend of Hercules, and 47 Ronin as the most recent HUGE misses.

Felix Quinonez: I think the central disaster of the movie isn't widely known enough to be a draw in itself. And the fact is the trailers failed miserably at giving us a reason to care. Allegedly there is a romantic element to the movie but it was not highlighted by the ads. There was nothing for viewers to connect to and the movie just seemed like a brainless special effects display. And at this point, no matter how much money was spent on it, disaster movie special effects are common place. They are not enough to get people to the theaters.




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Matthew Huntley: Agree with everyone's analyses on this thread and the only thing I'd add is that this story has actually been told numerous times (the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that is), so I think another factor to consider is the redundancy of the disaster plot.

Max Braden: These ancient civilization stories are such long shots. Unless you've got a runaway hit like 300, or appeal to the young adult audience as in the Percy Jackson series, or actually put some effort in to make it a solid production like Gladiator, they just come across as very niche action flicks that make far less than anyone wanted on a budget far higher than anyone should have spent. This movie's opening is a totally unsurprising repeat of The Legend of Hercules (which only opened six weeks ago but feels like months and months ago).

David Mumpower: Regarding Edwin's point, the only successful project involving lava was The Last Days of Pompeii, a mini-series we were shown in entirety during Latin II class one semester when my teacher was going through an especially bad break-up. The other notables were all either disappointments or bombs. Volcano grossed only $47.5 million against a $90 million budget (unconscionable for 1997). Joe Versus the Volcano was poorly regarded and earned what was considered to be a least case scenario result of $39.4 million. For perspective, consider that the other two Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks projects were You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. They grossed $115.8 million and $126.7 million respectively. Joe Versus the Volcano was a project mocked for its quirky title and little more. Finally, Dante's Peak was even more expensive than Volcano, costing $115 million to produce. So it was a bigger bomb in earning only $67.2 million. Lava films have historically done poorly and I was surprised not only that this title was produced but that the marketing failed to highlight the one great selling point: 3D lava. When I watched National Geographic in HD for the first time, that was the most gripping visual. Why, then, have the Pompeii ads done a poorer job of highlighting it than the movie poster? Pompeii was a mistake from start to finish. It's that simple.


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