Monday Morning Quarterback, Part II

By BOP Staff

May 21, 2014

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Edwin Davies: Million Dollar Arm, an inspirational baseball movie from Disney starring Mad Men's Jon Hamm, opened to $10.5 million. How do you feel about this result?

Bruce Hall: Well, that's better than Draft Day, so I guess that's something. Disney's hope is no doubt that Million Dollar Arm can pick up sloppy seconds over the next few weeks from those not interested in super heroes or giant lizards. It's a disappointing start, but audiences like John Hamm and they seem to like this movie, so I can see Million Dollar Arm at least eventually breaking even.

Matthew Huntley: Funny that Bruce mentioned Draft Day in his response, because it was with that film that I first saw the trailer for Million Dollar Arm, and I must say, it neither impressed nor excited me. All the advertising for this movie makes it look overly saccharine, right down to the poster that shows John Hamm standing in the sunlight looking on in the distance with the Taj Mahal in the background (could they have picked a more stereotypical Indian symbol?). I'm completely judging it on superficial qualities, I know, but that's how most people determine whether or not to see a movie, and I have a feeling many agree with me that this one came across as corny, traditional and uninteresting. Hopefully that's not the actual case, but with the onslaught of so many bigger movies taking away the same audience (yes, even kids and families will be flocking to X-Men next week), I'm afraid Million Dollar Arm's lifespan will be limited. Lucky for Disney it only cost $25 million to make, which is actually slightly more than Draft Day. This doesn't seem to be a good year for inspirational sports dramas.

Felix Quinonez: This result is nothing to write home about but it seems just fine. The movie looked very bland, seems to follow the same storyline of countless of other movies that came before it, it got tepid reviews, and the lead actor is not a box office draw. Because of this I don't think anyone should be surprised by its low opening weekend. But on the other hand it was relatively cheap to make so no one will hurt too much from it.



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Reagen Sulewski: I wouldn't be shocked if a bit of xenophobia played some role in this performance - while it's a very American story - achieving success beyond the odds in the most American sport of all - it's still a story about "others", and that's always a harder sell, even if it's not an overt attitude. It's just one more hurdle to jump through. That said, this was always a small film, and while this is below expectations, it's was always a low risk for Disney.

Edwin Davies: This seems pretty much in line with the genre and the reviews. It seems that most sports movies need either a unique hook or strong critical support to really break out to appeal to an audience beyond sports fans, and while the idea of people from India coming to America to play baseball is an interesting one, the trailers made it look generic and the reviews confirmed that the film didn't really do much with the premise. (One of the best articles I read about the film argued that its greatest problem was that it didn't focus enough on the Indian boys, instead using their story as a way to teach a white guy a lesson about love.) It's a shame, really, because the film was written by Thomas McCarthy, whose back catalogue as a writer-director is built on interesting, nuanced portrayals of outsiders like The Station Agent, The Visitor and Win-Win, as well as Pixar's Up, which he co-wrote and was Oscar-nominated for. I guess nuance gets thrown out the window when you get stuck with a Disney sports movie.

Max Braden: That's an okay result, and basically expected. To add on to what Reagen said, if you don't depict baseball in an American stadium during a championship game or season, you're already facing an uphill battle. This is probably the same number or even better than if it had been a story about importing foreign youth to play soccer (or golf, or tennis, or hockey) - Goal: The Dream Begins opened to under $2 million at 1000 sites in May of 2006. For most people, just a chance to play baseball in a Major League game would be a big triumph, but for audiences, the underdog has to win much bigger than that to seem like an interesting story.

Jay Barney: I think this is an okay result. From a box office profit perspective, it is not great, but the lead does not have a huge film history, either. Madmen will be finishing up and it is natural for Jon Hamm to expand to the big screen. Disney probably won't take too much of a hit on this one. Memorial Day will help it a little. Hamm is building his resume right now and will probably receive meatier rolls in the future.


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