Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

April 2, 2014

You can't stop him. No, really. You can't.

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Matthew Huntley: I don't think this is all that complicated of an idea to grasp: Arnold Schwarzenegger's time as an action movie star has passed. He's no longer young, buff or even respected, not after all the hoopla regarding his extra-marital affairs. It seems fitting, then, that a generically-titled movie starring Arnie would play as if he was a no-name. This is now strike three (after The Last Stand and Escape Plan) and the former Governator should just restrict himself to cameos, if that.

The real shame here is for the director, David Ayer, who earned a lot of admiration with last year's End of Watch. I haven't seen Sabotage yet, but it would have been nice if he could have followed up the former with a bigger commercial hit.

Brett Ballard-Beach: Edwin's analysis is quite comprehensive and spot-on. I would only add: this threw under last year's The Last Stand and 1986's Raw Deal leaving him that much closer to hitting his all-time worst opening (1985's Red Sonja). With things looking as grim as they are, the makers of the next Terminator film better have a helluva concept in place because relying on (or counting on) any residual goodwill for Arnie in his signature role would seem to be a losing proposition at this point.

Bruce Hall: The problem (Arnold, are you reading this? No? Well...okay then...) is Arnold himself. Nobody cares anymore, and I'm not sure it even has anything to do with whatever level of controversy might still surround him personally. He's simply reached his shelf life as an action star, and very few people are interested in watching an almost 70-year-old man pretend to beat up people one-third his age.

When you can no longer grow muscles you have to act, and the only exception to this rule is Charles Bronson.

Knowing that Arnold is returning to the Conan and Terminator franchises, and having heard some details on both projects, I'm already (biting tongue) starting to miss Jason Momoa and McG.

David Mumpower: The release of Sabotage was fascinating to me. In a way, we had an irresistible force/immovable object scenario. We have chronicled the consistent excellence of Open Road Films, the Regal Cinemas/AMC Theatres initiative. Meanwhile, the total rejection of elderly action heroes, especially Arnold Schwarzenegger, was selected by our staff as one of Top Film Industry Stories of 2013. When Open Road Films releases a Schwarzenegger movie, something has to give. In this case, the boredom with all things Governator overrode any chance for another small scale triumph for the upstart distributor. I cannot say I am surprised. Whenever I see Schwarzenegger talk (what some would call acting), I cannot help but think two things. The first is that he cheated on a beautiful woman in favor of an unattractive maid, thereby ruining not just his political career but also any lingering popularity he had. The second is that no human being should be that muscular at the age of 66. He looks every bit as fake as those who have suffered from plastic surgery mistakes. At this point, Schwarzenegger has little place in Hollywood. His time in the sun has ended.




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Kim Hollis: Cesar Chavez, a Latino-targeted film directed by Diego Luna, earned $2.9 million this weekend from 664 locations. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: This seems okay to me, but not as big as it could have been. Chavez is an iconic figure for the Latino community, and releasing the film so close to Cesar Chavez Day seemed like a great way of capitalizing on the connection, but I think it may have suffered from the problem that all biopics face; it might have seemed too much like homework to really break out in the way that the more lighthearted Instructions Not Included did last year, when it grossed over twice as much as Cesar Chavez on half as many screens.

Brett Ballard-Beach: It seems like this coulda and shoulda been an event pic for its targeted audience, even if only for the purposely timed opening weekend. It's possible that with this, Bad Words, Grand Budapest Hotel, and God's Not Dead all comprising a very crowded marketplace for the over 600 but under 1000 screen count club, it just wasn't able to stand out, even with an impressive cast and a known and respected actor making his directorial debut.

Bruce Hall: Had this film cracked the top ten, I would feel better about it, but a per theater average of $4,310 is definitely worth noting. We'll see how the movie does as it expands, but this could be something worth keeping an eye on.

David Mumpower: I must admit that I expected quite a bit more. The distributor of Instructions Not Included was selling an important project with name recognition. The problem with the premise is that it is a bit preachy. Whereas Pantelion Films' 2013 releases both offered tremendous entertainment value, a César Chávez comes across as more of an edutainment production. Those are by nature tougher to sell. Since the film only cost $10 million, we are certainly not talking about a box office failure of any sort. It simply will not perform as well as many of us had hoped.


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