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Wow. Flop of the summer courtesy of Michael "I have a very fertile mind" Bay. Where's Nick hiding?

I think they waited way too long to release The Island. It was my #1 movie a few months ago, a few weeks ago I was tired of waiting for it, and by the time it finally opened yesterday, I kinda lost interest in seeing it. I'll probably still go see it in the next few weeks though, and buy the dvd for sure when it comes out.

I wouldn't blame Michael Bay for its failure.

I think CATCF will have a saturday bump this weekend unlike last with HP6 coming out.

The Devil's Rejects will open to double what Corpses did because it's in double the theaters. Corpses opened in less than 600 theaters. Rejects will have a less per screen average, so is it really progress?

The PSA is not a completely fair indicator. People do travel to theaters if they want to see a movie. So double the theaters does not necessarily mean double the customers. But in this case it did, which means the film is playing well in a larger demographic. $25-30 mill. for Devil's Rejects is solid, it will be huge on DVD.

The Island was not killed by it's release date. Bay has been blaming the marketing for weeks, so he saw this coming (maybe not this bad, but he knew). But I don't even think it was the marketing. I think the concept, Ewan and Scarlet in a cloning thriller was simply not big enough. If it had been tweaked, with someone like Cruise or Smith, it may have opened to double and pulled in a respectable 90-100. But the stars just didn't have enough firepower to get this one into must-see territory. It's too bad, because it does seem like Bay's best film. Hopefully this doesn't mean a dumbed-down Transformers.

I think Rejects will struggle to get to $25 million. You know its Saturday box office will be less than Friday. People see these movies opening night. I can't see it making more than $8 million for the weekend. And it won't triple that for its total run.

The Bears deserves its bombing. If you're going to remake that movie you really have to push the envelope. Too many hardcore fans remember the old version. It gave us nothing new.

The Island as a title was definitely part of the reason it failed. It didn't tell you anything about the movie. For all we knew, it was either a remake of the Peter Benchley movie or a tropical island comedy. There was a book called Spares that would have been much better.

The Island's marketing was all about imagery and nothing about plot, so nobody had any idea what the movie was about beyond a few action scenes, which apparently wasn't enough.

Let's give Nick a break, shall we?

And yes, a big name would have assured The Island of a better start... but does the advertising really get anyone excited about a story? I still say they should be giving up the second and third act of this film in ads... the surprise is not the key to experiencing this film.

If by 2nd and 3rd acts you mean Lincoln meeting Ewan (I haven't seen it) then I agree, very little of this was mentioned in the trailers. It just felt like an escape movie, albeit a very pretty one. But a star would have saved it. Trailers showing dueling Tom Cruise's or Will Smith's would have been killer. But that wasn't here.

Yes, advertising does get people excited about a story--how do you think most folks learn what a movie is about? Publicity? Most features on extra or ET can mention the story but it can really only supplement a good advertising campaign.

The Wedding Crashers strong holdover means it looks like we'll be seeing more rated R comedies in the next couple years.

Not a bad thing if you ask me.

Mr. Bloppy, Dave wasn't asking about advertising in general, he was asking about the specific advertising for this movie, which he believes to have been a failure in that it didn't convey the story.

Oh.

Uh.....nevermind.

Nick is hiding anywhere...I was just tired of hearing all you people yell and scream about "there's too many nicks" so i created a post-name. i still say the the island is one of the more entertaining movies of the summer...shame people don't want to be entertained. if there had been a big name in the lead role (Smith, Pitt, Cruise, et al.), $40-50 million opening for sure.

thanks for your support Dave.

Regardless of whether or not people "want to be entertained", remember what Dave P always says, that opening weekend is all about the marketing. If it's so entertaining, perhaps it will hold up next weekend...? Somehow I doubt it though.

never thought I'd feel sorry for Mr Bay [a tiny violin is playing]. maybe the geeks are mad about the potential uncredited remaked-ness of The Island.

The marketing does make it look like just an action movie, which maybe with the other choices around is simply not appealing enough.

absolutely agree...nowadays, especially in the ultra-competitive summer movie landscape, marketing and star power is everything...look at F4. F4 makes the Island look like a Scorsese picture. but we were brow-beaten with ads for F4...and it was based on popular and recognizable material. one of the best things I felt about the island was that it wasn't a sequel/re-make, and they got cool, quality actors for the leads...rather than obvious summer names. and as much as i like bay, selling a movie solely on the director's name and his previous work wasn't enough for most people. when was the last time you heard trailers announcing "from the director of..." without even the slightest mention (both through voice-over and on-screen credit) of the stars. and dworks barely ran tv spots, comparatively speaking to all the other flicks this summer. i hope the word of mouth is strong and it plays for a few weekends...but i doubt it. it will have to clean up overseas and do great dvd sales to make up for the failure of it's domestic box office. i wonder what bruckheimer is thinking, having passed on the script and seeing his boy lose out for the 1st time...

" i wonder what bruckheimer is thinking, having passed on the script and seeing his boy lose out for the 1st time..."

I couldn't help but having an evil fantasy enter my head that Bruckie would HOLLA to an asst "GET DANNY CANNON ON THE PHONE!" and we'd see ol Michael end up special guest starring as himself on CSI Miami in a specially themed episode "Bay ends up in the Bay"

Ahhh ha ha ha ha ha ha [best evil laugh I can muster poolside, sorry]

PLEASE MAKE IT LIFELIKE FOR US CINEPHILES JERRY. ADD LOTS OF SHARKS. YOU DON't HAVE TO PAY THEM. THINK OF THE RATINGS.

Ok. fantasy over.

The funny thing is, Stealth has gone to an all-action campaign... and for that film, I think it is the best possible choice. Still, I suspect a similar number for Stealth next weekend.

stealth is going to tank...it looks like crap....i mean, i will see it just to see Biel and some explosions, but it looks LAME...and i love action flicks...i am shocked that the island didnt at least open to over $25 million though...the suits have got to be jumping up-and-down.

I'm disappointed that The Island isnt doing well, but what the hell. It'll be on DVD later this year and I can see it again and be content that "I" like it.

That sad thing is that Stealth might not bomb. Biel's ass has been all over the trailers, it has Jamie Foxx, and it looks like Top Gun on speed. The general public will most likely eat it up.

if the general public didn't eat up the island, how can stealth possibly do well? no big stars are in it (Foxx is great, but he has not yet proved himself as a bankable action star in any way). Scarlett and Biel are both hotties, but neither one of them are major stars either. the studios behind these two movies spent all their money on the movies themselves, and not on star talent. it's great for the quality of the special effects and the action, but without a big name, it's so much tougher to get a smash weekend. i don't know...i am rambling....i am just disapointed that people didn't show up for the island...it's so much damn fun...and the best that bay has done yet (the rock is a very, very close 2nd).

(THB ED: STEALTH SPOILER WARNING)

I think they might be some African Americans who will go see (Stealth) the first film of Foxx's since when the oscars, but boy once the end of the first act gets out that will likely stop.

Well Entertainment Weekly did a story on what I noticed about The Island, the fact that it's identical to Parts the Clonus Horror.

I don't think the ads did anything to compell people to want to see it, other than trying to push the fact that Bay directed it. Does that make anyone want to see a movie?

Most people do not know who the hell Michael Bay is so why was he push so hard in the ads.

I assume it was because DWorks didn't know what else to do and it was the only thing that would shut Bay up. Is this is Bay's 1st non #1 opening?

Even though I am a cinephile it was a long time before I realized that The Island wasn't leftover ads for that DeCaprio movie I consciously avoided. Then it seemed like it was a remake of Logan's Run. Nothing made sense. I had to go looking for information on it. Then I read the name "Michael Bay" and thought, "Oh, I can throw this one away. It's gonna be stupid." I finally decided to go see it because it's one of the few movies this summer that isn't a remake. I liked it okay, but it felt like Bay was ginning up the action sequences in order to apologize for any good ideas it might contain.

Paul V, take your stupid spoilers to AICN. And yes, that was a spoiler.

I really found "The Island" to be entertaining but afterwards I really started to pick it apart. With bigger stars (sorry Ewan and Scarlett) this would have been a killer movie.

How would bigger stars prevent you from picking it apart?

So if it starred Jolie and Pitt it would have garnered 4 stars from you? I thought they were fine. Thought the movie was fine.

Stars make the movie now? No. This movie (THE ISLAND) suffered from the same moviegoing public that felt Wedding Crasher was a "touching comedic experience." If the people get confused this easily, why market to the people? If they get confused by a futuristic escape epic that decided to hide as much story from the marketing as possible. Then blame the people. They apparently want everything revealed in the trailers and TV spots (no matter how YOU feel) to make their widdle bitty heads stop hurting from the thinking.

I haven't seen The Island, but I have a hard time believing that it's not #1 because it makes audiences think too hard.

Who thought Wedding Crashers was touching? I just thought it was hilarious.

I actually think that audiences don't want every detail... but they do want to know the story.

Every movie is different. For me, using 2 DreamWork examples, in the new Reese Witherspoon comic drama with Mark Ruffalo, the status of Ms. Witherspoon's character is a story point. I enjoyed guessing through the first act and into the second. I'd hate to see the detail given away, though you have to sell the central concession of the film... that Ruffalo is having an oddball romance with someone (Witherspoon) who is somehow not of this earth.

For me, The Island is the flipside.

The Island's first act is a "what's going on?" thing. But the spirit of the movie starts once Ewan And Scarlett leave home. And the outcome of chasing them is the only real surprise that matters. There is no need to give away the choices they make. There is no need to answer every question they have. But I think audiences looking to go to the movies need to be able to say...

SPOILER WARNING

"I want to see that movie about the clone who is on the run to save its own life... I'm curious about the issue of a shared soul... how freaked out would I be if I met myself... would I be okay with killing my own clone for parts?"

SPOILERS OVER

Of course, the movie comes up short in answering those questions. But opening weekend is never about the movie.

Michael Bay will be fine

I am Spam Dooley and I feed my people!

Well, Dave, then the trailer for Just Like Heaven may be viewed as causing serious problems. Witherspoon's character's "status" is directly addressed (and explained). Interestingly, with "The Island," the trailer got no response. With "Charlie," the trailer got pretty rapturous response, in particular for pretty much everything Jon Heder said.

I do admire "The Island" ad campaign (though it might have killed the movie) for not getting into the second half of the movie.

I, actually, had raucous applause during the times the Island trailer played in front of Revenge of the Sith. Why this film failed just might be one of those "DVD will save the budget" mysteries. Or, of course, Europe and the rest of the world might embrace this film. Maybe it had a good Saturday?

I might be knocking the audience. In this case, it's easily warranted. Blaming the marketing people for selling two good looking stars, in a moderately FX heavy show, and with a director who comes close to having a brand name...marketing people just cannot account for The Island not clicking, possibly, with the audience.

Trailer:there wasn't enough mystery in the Island trailer and I think trumpeting that it is a Bay movie makes people think of the worst blow 'em up pictures. I couldn't get Anyone to go with me on that basis. Lota all alone with popcorn.

It was one of Bay's better movies and i really don't like his stuff.

Rumor on the story Originality and the highly implausible continuing escape if leads are different issues and I can't see it having a big dent in BO but it may annoy some from slight grumbling I heard on the exit from theater.

None of Michael Bay's films are exceptionally profitable when production and marketing costs are figured in, and replacing Ewan with Tom Cruise doesn't help the bottom line. The big problem with The Island is that it oddly seems like an outdated action flick. Back in the 90s, this type of action movie would have scored, but audiences seem to crave something extra in their action these days (super heroes, wizards, Jedis, etc.). The Island just seems stale in comparison.

I went to the sneak preview of Must Love Dogs tonight and it was a sold out theater. People ages from early 20's to 70's were there, mostly women or couples. It made me realize this summer needed a romcom badly, and I don't mean Bewitched. It will open big next weekend. Audiences are hungry for other quality product during the summer, not just action/popcorn. The trailers for Just Like Heaven, and for the Dec. release starring Jennifer Aniston/Mark Ruffalo/Kevin Costner, as well as Elizabethtown and Rent were all rapturously received. In fact, Rent got huge applause.

I was channel surfing my tv when I saw some show called Soup on E!. They played a mock trailer for "The Island" which mixed scenes from The Island with scenes from the old tv show Fantasy Island.

Spoiler

My favorite part of this mock trailer was Scene: Ewen and SJ flying some jet(?) across the sky CUT TO: little guy from Fantasy Island shouting "Look Boss! The Plane! The Plane!"

Really? The Rent trailer got applause? I don't have anything particular against the movie, but it also doesn't look like anything special or applause-worthy.

The people who applauded Rent were probably the ones who saw the stage show...IMO it is a great musical and has a young, hip cast.

Just when you thought it was safe to assume Spam Dooley got killed by his people... da dum... da dum... dum dum dum dum dum dum dum... da da dum! Da da dum!

I saw THE ISLAND today and it's...boring. I'm no Bay hater, so I can say with tongue not in cheek that I think this is a total step down for him in terms of what "Michael Bay" is capable of delivering. BAD BOYS 2 was just on cable and, although not a "good" movie, it's got some pop. THE ISLAND is dull. I wonder of going PG-13 hurt it? I dunno....not a "horrible" movie, but pretty forgettable. Dare I say Bay's worst? Heheh...

As far as BAD NEWS BEARS goes....I wrote a review over at Film Threat (I write for them) and the movie has grown on me...like lice. At first it just annoyed me, but coming up on 2 days later, I'm rather pissed at it's existence. I just expected more from Linklater...but it's clear this was nothing more than a money grab or an attempted cash-in at the success of SCHOOL OF ROCK. In the end I don't really care because it'll allow Linklater to make "his" movies...but damn it, they just should've done better.

1. WHY DO PEOPLE APPLAUD TRAILERS??? That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard on here!

2. On Stealth, the movie that I keep thinking about in terms of comparison is April's Sahara. That had 3 B Grade stars (Maconaughey, Cruz and Zahn Vs. Lucas, Biel and Foxx) yet managed to cut itself a piece of the pie. Stealth won't do AS good because there's more competition, but still... I can easily see $18mil maybe. Plus moviegoers essentially had a weekend off from new releases (in terms of big debuts) so casual goers may just go for the latest one instead of the movie released last week.

3. Must Love Dogs is probably going to have a Monster-in-Law factor to it. What else IS there for women to see. And if couples have already seen Wedding Crashers then there's not much else.

4. Could part of The Island's failure be attributed to audience's distaste for cloning movies. Has there ever actually been a movie about clones or doubles that has been successful?

5. My friends who aren't movie obsessives like myself have no idea what The Island is about. Everytime we see a trailer or an ad on tv they ask me what it is. So I would put it's failure partially towards the advertising. But still, under $15mil is horrific

6. Wasn't "Bad Company" directed by Bay. That was his current worst I believe. I don'tcare that much to go off and find if that's right and how much it made.

7. The Devil's Rejects definitely got helped by 1000 Corpses' cult status (it has it). But after an $8mil opening for a movie such as this it's hard to fathom it getting any further than $20mil.

8. I would argue that more people know Michael Bay than Tim Burton. And if not by name then by their respective films.

The Devils Rejects. Early front runner for Worst Movie of 2005.

Nobody has ever looked at a trailer for a movie and said "Hey, that looks pretty entertaining. Oh, wait, it's a movie about _clones_? Screw that." This whole notion that people are rejecting The Island because it's about cloning is the silliest thing I've heard all day. Besides, according to point 5 above, nobody knows it's a clone movie anyway.

PS: Joel Schumacher directed Bad Company.

The thing about cloning was a joke, because far be it from somebody at this blog to make wild stupid accusations. Plus, I had just read an article on Jean-Claude Van Damme of all people and remembered he had 2 movies about clones.

I suppose I should know by now that people will take everything 100% seriously on here. I'll never say anything remotely sarcastic ever again.

(Joel Schumacher directed Bad Company? egads...)

Panda Bear, why exactly did you see The Devil's Rejects?

Bay fails? Too bad, Pearl Harbor excepted, i can watch any of his movies quite happily. Bad Boys 2 for example, for all it's poor taste, overlength and choppy storytelling, does have some dynamite action and great jokes. In fact the 'first date' scene is to me one of the funniest scenes in any movie this century so far - 'Have my daughter home by 10:01. If she ain't home by 10:01, i'm in the car........' Compare this with the likes of XXX2 or Fantastic Four or whatever. Bay is o.k. by me anyway.

Hey was Must Love Dog any good?

every single cloning movie that hollywood as produced has FAILED with american audiences...this definitley has something to do with lack of interest from the public...you have Buscemi telling the stars in the ads: "You're copies of people." There you go...clones. And the lack of starpower has something to do with it, even though casting non-action heroes for the leads helped the movie big-time in it's over-all quality factor.

Panda, we agree! Devil's Rejects is the worst movie of the year at this point. I'm just glad I saw it for free.

The Island just wasn't any good. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't as smart as it thought it was, and it wasn't as entertaining as it needed to be. It was basically mediocre, which sometimes is worse than being just plain bad.

Add to that a pretty bad marketing campaign and you have the flop of the summer -- heck, of any summer.

"it was'nt as smart as it thought it was..."? What does this statement even me? Do Parisan filmgoers ever walk out of a film saying; "They that they were so smart. But they werent! HA HA HA!"? Such an anti-intellectualism comment that so many films are seemingly tagged with. Like many of those other films, The Island actually has some incredibly interesting story elements going on.

Baromir plays a great character. One that demonstartes the glaring differences between medical and social science. In Baromir's quest to cure all ills. He a) ignored the fact that humans are social animals, b) that the socializing between humans stirs their creativity, and c) that this would lead to an altering of the clones he created. Such a great GOD COMPLEX character in such a really good film.

Why this film failed to find an audience this weekend. Might have more to do with the competition, than anything else. All of that sustained hubris about the Wedding Crashers has gotten people to the theatres. If I were Universal. I would be worried. Since the L40YOV (the joy of abbrv.) appears to be one of those geniune, honest, and funny comedies. That a Wedding Crashers audience would avoid more so than the beauty of Scarlett Johanson in a tight, white track suit.

I am still of the mindset that the Island finds an audience abroad and on DVD.

Anyone catch Drudge's link to Friedman's War of The World piece where he jumps all over the fact that the movie made less than Hustle and Flow and Devil's Rejects on Friday?
Jesus. There's no alteration to the piece or the link now that the movie beat both of the newcomers in its fourth week and is only the second movie of the year to cross $200 million domestically.

Where's the story on the "bottom falling" out on Batman, a proven box office winner, failing to reach $200 million after six weeks?

I know the dude's a sensationalist hack, but isn't there a point when you get uncomfortable with being less than genuine and the fact that your biases are blatant?

It's not hard to be an honest writer/report/critic, Roger. Try it some time.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163458,00.html

Clearly, Roger hasn't been getting the access he wants this summer, so he'll huff and he'll puff and he'll act like a six year old who didn't get his candy.

Since when has he changed? He's always been a writer like that.

Kamikaze Camel, I'm glad to hear that your clones suggestion was a joke, but as you may have seen other people actually believe in that theory. Like I said: audiences don't care if a movie is about cloning.

Rory...you seem familiar. Post here before?

I don't know that The Island failed because of competition, it may be part of it, but it is too easy to say that. It may find an audience in Asia with their huge action market, but I think aussies/NZ and Europe may turn their nose up at it re. last half.

For one thing, it just 'looks' like an action movie and many people feel the posters were non-telling and non-interesting and the trailer/advertising wasn't focused and in a sense a Spoiler. The trailers were old Bay concept and didn't so justice to the potential of the movie.

Also--all the pre-viewing things about the movie/interviews that i saw don't focus on the neat aspects but on the stupid chases some of which were dumb but technically good. It just seems like an upgraded action flick. Who Cares may have been the dealbreaker for people deciding what to see. Also I heard two older folks behind me whisper--"what were they in?" (Ewan and Scarlett--maybe they didn't see the Star Wars' or LIT)

besides the remake debate other things may affect next week:

obscene numbers of product placement, some of which were very stupid and dated the movie. BAD IDEA since technology changes so should the products. I would like to pick at that but too many spoilers would ensue.

lots of science and neat premise in the beginning only to lose the thread in the chase, with the dumbest people on the planet doing the chasing. The leads aren't frickin Terminators. So good start building the special world, then science/sensibility loses out to action. Michael Bay need to watch Lost Skeleton of Cadavra so he can have it pounded in his head that one can never have too much science. more science dude.

Word of mouth Charlie and WS word of mouth seems really positive so The Island may fall to the wayside undetected in the next week and that's too bad because given the past catalog, this shouldn;t be his worst opening, not by far.

Could it be that people are bored with the "science" part of science-fiction. How many movies that are classified as sci-fi and have succeeded have had such a heavy focus on the science part?

I'm not asking that as a "I'm right" think I'm asking it as a legitimate question. It appeared that in The Island there was a whole lot of science talk. WotW was sci-fi but where was the science? That probably legitimately ties into the "people don't want to see cloning movies", not because they're about clones but because its about, as they percieve, science.

...?

I haven't seen The Island yet, so I'm not completely sure this is possible in the context of the script, but assuming it is -- I wonder if the film would have done any better if they had not completely given away the "secret" of it -- it was discussed in every interview and promo piece. So you know you are going to watch a substantial part of the movie with information the two lead characters do not have, and it's no shock when they finally do learn it.

Would they have been smarter to keep the clone angle secret, with the marketing centered around that? I dunno. It's hard to imagine they could have done worse than $13m.

>>>>All of that sustained hubris about the Wedding Crashers has gotten people to the theatres.

Rory, Buy a dictionary and look up the word hubris. It doesn't mean anything close to what you think it means.

Does Rory mean hubbub, maybe?

Should I ignore all of the a) magazine covers b) magazine cover stories c) the constant glowing and positive reviews and d) the Bud product placement commercials selling this film as the MALE COMEDY OF THE SUMMER. If that's not hubris towards a film. I might not know what it means. This, I can, admit to.

If calling the Wedding Crashers, during the middle of July, the "COMEDY OF THE YEAR." As Rolling Stone and EW recently stated does not constitute hubris. Please, pete, give me your definition for my own personal clarification.

Hype, definitely. Hubris, maybe, maybe not. Hubris typically requires a greater degree of arrogance and/or tragedy. Glowing and positive reviews and a low weekend decline rule out hubris and instead mean that it's a movie that audiences genuinly like.

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