Archive for October, 2009
16 items.
I always feel a little bit dodgey doing jokes about box office results. I always fear that it plays a little to inside and the numbers really aren’t that important to the average movie goer. Box office results only matter to the studios, the filmmakers and the movie bloggers desperate for something to talk about.
That said, I’m REALLY pleased that Paranormal Activity beat out Saw VI at the box office this weekend (I pretty much begged for these results on last Monday’s The Triple Feature).
Paranormal Activity earned $22 million over Saw VI’s $14.8 million. That’s quite a smackdown. Especially when you consider Saw VI was on over 1,000 more screens than its competitor and Paranormal Activity was in it’s second week of screenings. Smelling blood in the water, critics are already starting to wonder out loud if this is the end of the Saw franchise.
If you enjoy the Saw movies, then that’s your prerogative. I guess what I’ve resisted is the ritualistic behavior of “Whoops! It’s Halloween! Time to see another Saw movie!” It doesn’t leave a lot of room for innovation. Considering what a jolt to the system the original Saw was, I think it’s a disappointing fall from grace for the franchise to be another by-the-numbers torture porn money maker for Lionsgate.
Then again, Lionsgate as a studio isn’t really known for restraint. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they will run this franchise into the ground after wringing every last possible dollar from it.
It should be noted that Paramount is already considering a sequel to Paranormal Activity. Considering it cost about $15,000 and has earned nearly $64 million at the box office so far, that’s not surprising.
I don’t think fans have to worry about Paramount running this franchise into the ground like Lionsgate has with Saw, though. With an eye toward history, the last time this kind of word-of-mouth phenomenon occured, it was for The Blair Witch Project. When Artisan Pictures turned around a sequel immediately following the original, they gave us Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and it tanked… hard. I could see something similar happening to Paranormal Activity if Paramount isn’t smart.
When phenomenon like this occur, people are reacting to more than just a really good horror movie. I think they’re connecting with the authenticity of it. More than other splatter-fests with no-name actors and unkillable boogeymen, I think the reason Paranormal Activity is crossing over from traditional horror fans into the mainstream is because of its rags to riches story compounded by the excellent word-of-mouth. The idea being “If they can scare the living daylights out of hard-core horror fans with a budget of $15,000, then this must be something to see.”
Long story short, I think if Paramount tries to put lightning in a bottle twice, they going to get electrocuted.
In other news, Theater Hopper: Year One and Year Two were reviewed over at This Week in Webcomics – which is timely, becuase I’m planning another major push to get Theater Hopper: Year Three published by the end of the year.
Noting the success of my friend Gordon’s fund raising for the first print collection of Multiplex using Kickstarter (not to mention the success of Spike from Templar, AZ in her fund raising efforts has convinced me to utilize Kickstarter as a tool to help me meet my goals. So stay tuned for news there.
In the meantime, please go read the book reviews over at This Week in Webcomics. They put a lot of thought and effort into them and I think you’ll enjoy their insights.
In the meantime, I hope you make plans to listen to The Triple Feature movie podcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST at TalkShoe.com. We’ll be talking about Saw VI and, well… I’m not sure what else! But it’ll be a good time, that’s for sure! I look forward to it every Monday night. Be there!
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I’m putting together my fund raising page for Theater Hopper: Year Three over at Kickstarter and I’m having a problem.
As you may or may not be familiar, Kickstarter allows you to incentivize your backers with rewards they can earn depending on the amount the pledge to your cause. For an example, check out Gordon’s Kickstarter page for his Multiplex book.
My problem is, several people have already pre-ordered strong>Theater Hopper: Year Three and I don’t want to leave them out in the cold when it comes to rewards.
All of the rewards that fall under the $15 pre-order amount will be delivered to everyone who pre-ordered a copy so far. That includes their name on a special Thank You page in the book as well as a PDF copy of the book.
However, past the $15 mark, I was planning on offering incentives such as a custom sketches in the book, a special, limited-edition 1″ button set with a 3D theme, a new t-shirt design with 3D glasses on them and going so far as to offer up to 5 custom avatar illustrations for the backer’s personal use.
What do I do for those people who have already pre-ordered a copy of Year Three, but who also want to take advantage of the larger rewards?
Basically, I am very concerned about alienating anyone. ESPECIALLY the people who pledged their support early on and have been patiently waiting for the book to be produced.
The best idea I can come up with at the moment is to deal with these requests on a case-by-case basis. Meaning, if someone wants the higher level awards, then they can pay me the difference and I will send it to them. Maybe I offer them a 25% off discount of the difference as a small thank you for their patience.
Please tell me what you think in the comments below!
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The Michael Jackson concert documentary This Is It comes out today for a limited two-week run. Without getting into the sticket-wicket of commenting on the singer’s personal life, I will say that I’ve always enjoyed Jackson’s music and obvious talent. But as an “event”, This Is It doesn’t feel like something I need to participate in.
The movie is a compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage assembled as Jackson was preparing for a series of sold-out shows in London. That’s great – I mean, who wouldn’t want to see the behind-the-scenes footage of what was meant to be one of the largest concert spectacles of the last 20 years. But from a narrative standpoint, what exactly is going to be the payoff?
I mean, it’s not like we’re going to see the result of all this hard work and preparation. We’re not going to see Jackson on stage in front of tens of thousand screaming fans, pouring his heart and soul into the music and delivering the performance of a lifetime. We’re going to see him on stage at the Staples Center standing in front of a bunch of backup dancers wearing wifebeaters and track pants.
At least, that’s my impression of it.
From an entertainment perspective, I’m not sure what the audience is meant to take away from This Is It. At the end of the day, the man is dead. We’ll never know what could have been. So is the movie meant to memorialize him in some way or are the producers counting on some kind of morbid curiosity on the audience’s part to investegate Jackson’s last recorded performance.
There is a stop-and-look-at-the-car-crash element to this that I am skeptical of.
But to each his own. If you plan on checking out This Is It during its theatrical run, I’d love to hear what you thought about it!
As for the movie’s release, so precariously close to Halloween? I don’t really think anyone would show up at the theater dressed up like Zombie Michael Jackson. But if you’re going to any Halloween parties this year, I bet you’ll see more than one.
To a certain extent, it’s unavoidable. Certainly Jackson himself didn’t help matters any by setting the template for a zombiefied “look” with his video for “Thriller” over 25 years ago. Of course there is the bigger-than-life persona of the man himself. A celebrity of his stature is simply going to attract this kind of weird homage.
But if you take the macro view, it’s kind of weird dressing up as a dead celebrity for a holiday, isn’t it? I mean, how many people are going to go to a Halloween party dressed as Ed McMahon or Farrah Fawcett? Maybe they’re just not as iconic. Food for thought, I suppose.
What about the rest of you? Any ambition to see This Is It this weekend? What about Halloween? Going to any parties? What about your costumes? Share your comments below!
I have to live vicariously through you this year because we’re staying at home on Beggar’s Night. Immediately afterwords, I will be watching the live 7-hour lockdown of the Ghost Adventures crew on The Travel Channel – because I am a nerd.
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I almost forgot, but I wanted to share with you guys a link to an interview I did with Li Comics. It’s only a handful of questions and should probably only take you a few minutes to read, but you might find it informative.
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I was beating my head against the wall yesterday trying to come up with an idea for today’s strip and was really strained for ideas. Between This Is It (which I covered Wednesday) and Boondoock Saints 2: All Saints Day, Gentlemen Broncos and The House of the Devil were the only other new releases this week.
Feeling those last two movies were too thoroughly obscure to reference, I decided to settle on Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day.
Of course, your enjoyment of today’s comic is completely reliant on whether or not you’ve seen the first Boondock Saints. So, if you haven’t… sorry about that.
If it helps you at all, here’s a picture of Willem Dafoe running around in drag. I won’t spoil the reason why. You should probably see it for yourself.
Check out this link as well to help further paint the picture. There’s audio, but don’t worry. It’s safe for work.
The Boondock Saints was a movie that people have told me for years to check out. But by the time it had really taken off as a cult picture, I kind of stopped renting movies. I finally got around to watching it earlier this summer, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t find it to be the cultural phenomenon that others have.
I think it’s a question of timing. I wasn’t really there when the movie took off on DVD, so I didn’t experience that sense of discovery that is so key to making something like this feel like it was “mine.”
Does that make sense? I don’t mean to sound like a jerk about it. Think of it like being the last one to hear the story behind a particularly delicious inside joke your friends are all sharing. By the time you get clued in, everyone is on to something else and looks at you like an idiot for making any references to it. That’s what The Boondock Saints is to me.
I think if I were a freshman or sophomore in college in 1999 and not graduating from school that year, I probably would have been all over this. As one with Irish heritage, I instantly felt a kinship with The MacManus Brothers. But the depravity, gunplay and violence liberally sprinkled throughout the movie kind of made it feel like a Pulp Fiction knockoff to me.
Ironically, I had seen Overnight, the documentary about the making-of The Boondock Saints long before I saw the actual movie. If you haven’t seen Overnight, I strongly suggest you check it out. The movie is about writer-director Troy Duffy who came from nowhere, sold his script to Miramax and then promptly imploded in a nuclear blast of egotism and arrogance.
Watching that film makes you wonder how Boondock Saints 2: All Saint’s Day ever got made. But Duffy himself explains the situation quite well in this interview with Movieline (thanks to Mike Russell at Culture Pulp for the link). As always, it boils down to money.
“The fans made Boondock I successful. Whether they know it or not, they got the sequel made, because at a certain point these [studios] are like, ‘It’s financially irresponsible not to make this movie.’ Boondock I has been a financial juggernaut since Day… One, and it’s put up numbers every single year for a decade. How many films are even viable after 10 years to make a sequel at all? Boondock just never… died. It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And finally the powers that be went, ‘We gotta make this thing.’”
So, on the one hand, it’s pretty cool that the support of a dedicated fan base over the course of a decade led to a sequel being made. But on the other hand, if money is the primary motivator for everyone involved, can it be a genuine experience.
Granted, the movie has reassembled its principal cast and the majority of it’s crew who – according to Duffy – are working for very little money. But like I said, in the end, it all comes down to money and I’m curious if the fans who made the original film a cult sensation are going to pick up on that. I imagine it would be a real turn-off.
If you’re excited to see Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day, I don’t mean to be a buzzkill. All I’m saying is keep your expectations in check.
That’s it for me today. I’m looking forward to tonight. We’re taking Henry out for trick or treating. Wanna know what he’s going as? Lightning McQueen from Cars and it was totally his idea.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it’s a Disney thing, but Cars is a movie, by George. So I can’t help but feel like I’m putting him on the right track toward a proper pop culture obsession.
Leave your thoughts about The Boondock Saints, Overnight, Troy Duffy or anything else that might be on your mind in the comments below.
Cheers!
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I started talking about this earlier in the week (and have been talking about it privately with friends and family for almost a month), but I wanted to let everyone know that I have officially launched my Kickstarter fund raising project for Theater Hopper: Year Three.
I was introduced to Kickstarter by my friend Gordon a few weeks ago. Looking at it, I recognized it immediately as being perfect for helping me raise money for Theater Hopper: Year Three. But I just kind of… stared at it. Like, for the longest time. I couldn’t figure out exactly how to make it work for me.
After witnessing Gordon’s success with the site, I was motivated to take action, raise the funds I needed to make Year Three a reality and make good on all of the previous pre-orders that people have been waiting to see fulfilled.
For those of you unfamiliar with Kickstarter, the idea is simple. Basically, you put a project on their site, say “I need ‘X’ amount of money to complete this project” and then people pledge money to your cause at a level they feel is appropriate.
Let me stress that you can donate ANY amount you want. If you want to donate a dollar, great. If you want to donate $7, super. However, there are certain tiers at which the amount of your pledge will yeild specific rewards.
You can see the rewards I’m offering on the Year Three Kickstarter page and I think there are several attractive offers that you might want to take advantage of. But, again, the amount you donate is completely up to you.
Regarding those of you who have already pre-ordered, you will automatically receive all of the rewards up to the $15 pledge level as well have your name printed in a special “thank you” section of the book. If you want to obtain any of the higher-level rewards, contact me directly at theaterhopper@hotmail.com. I am offering the higher-level rewards for 25% off the difference of your existing pre-order. We can work out the details over e-mail and you can submit your pledge to the Kickstarter site as part of the overall fund raising effort.
I am asking for $3,500 by December 31. It’s very important that we make that goal in that time period or else I do not see ANY of the money that has been pledged. The Kickstarter system will not charge you as a supporter until the goal amount and deadline have been reached. If the deadline comes and we don’t make goal, you won’t be charged one red cent.
In order to insure that the goal amount is met, I will be promoting this fund raising drive quite heavily. I just want to tell you up front that I will be talking about it often in case that kind of thing annoys you. I will do my best to keep blogs about movies and blogs about fund raising apart, but I plan on posting reminder messages quite frequently.
As you can see above, I’ve already removed the advertising next to the comic to make room for the Kickstarter widget that will show you how much money has been raised and how much time is left in the campaign. I’m giving up ad revenue to do this because – at this point – no amount of money from advertising is going to make up for what I need to deliver this book.
At any rate, this is the new status quo regarding Theater Hopper: Year Three. I appreciate your support. Thank you.
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