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November 29, 2008
You Have A $150 Million Movie... Now What?
Only eight movies before Twilight have cracked $100 million domestic from distributors that were not studio-affiliated. And the only company in that group that are still seriously in the distribution business is Lionsgate. And they got their one movie in 9-figures from Miramax, a Disney division. Avco, Newmarket, Orion, USA… all gone. IFC does occasional theatrical releases now, but is primarily working the new media angle.
So, congrats on Twilight, Summit… and watch your ass.
I don’t know how Avco went down. Newmarket couldn’t collect on some percentage of the massive gross for The Passion and Mel got the lion’s share anyway… sending Bob Berney out and into Picturehouse and Newmarket back into DVD. Orion got big and then crashed in a mighty blaze as the economy and some expensive titles went bad. And USA was a Barry Diller pie-of-the-puzzle that ended up being mushed into what became Focus Features. IFC just couldn’t deal with the massive costs of marketing primarily for theatrical with arthouse product.
So what of Summit, whose #2 all-time grosser (of just 6 releases) is the $25 million domestic for the Sean Faris classic, Never Back Down? (#3 is the $12.4 million for the 3D bug comedy Fly Me To The Moon.) Is Twilight going to be their Passion of the Christ or March of the Penquins or My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Or, as Chicago would sing, is this only the beginning?
I hate to kick a company when it’s up, but I don’t see the next Twilight (well, literally I do) or even their Good Night, And Good Luck in the hopper.
I don’t know how much trouble they will have getting 100% of their rentals on Twilight with only The Brothers Bloom as motivation for good behavior on the part of exhibitors. On the other hand, they are already a more stable operation than Newmarket was. And the number on Twilight will not be as overwhelming/tempting to exhibitors willing to make mischief. (On the other hand, cash flow is an issue everywhere right now… even for guys like Phil Anchutz.)
I do wish Rob Friedman and everyone at Summit the very best. They have done a great job on Twilight… which will be the third or fourth biggest film of the season and still get a lot more attention for that success than any of the films that do better. But the feast/famine thing is very, very dangerous. Tread lightly, even in the light of this great success… that’s all I’m sayin’.
And on the flip side, there is a reason why studio machines roll on. Warner Bros. has dumped two of the most successful films of this season, Twilight and Slumdog Millionaire. And no one is getting them out of the business. No one is getting fired for incompetance. After all, they have The Dark Knight, a film coming directly out of time-Warner's ownership of DC Comics, the kind of relationship which independant companies cannot afford. Instead, the indies wait around hoping to get Marvel dregs. And Harry Potter & Batman team up to erase all mistakes, no matter how massive. Taa-dah!!!
Posted by dpoland at November 29, 2008 12:47 PM
Comments
It's a home run for Summit, no question about that, thanks to the die-hard fans of the Twilight saga. Though the budget and quality have to go up for the Twilight sequel New Moon. I thought the movie captured the tone of the book, but it really is just a CliffNotes version, and that left many fans disappointed. Unless the sequel satisfies fans and general audiences alike, there probably won't be sequels after New Moon.
Posted by: brack
at November 29, 2008 01:17 PM
I... TOLD... YOU... SO.
WHO else was calling this MAMMOTH BOX-OFFICE TRIUMPH *over a half a year ago*?????
Before the endless EW covers, before Finke, before Voynar, ONE MAN stood proud as the TWILIGHT HYPE MAN, a one-person STREET TEAM telling you exactly how it was all gonna go down.
They should put me on salary for pimping that shit so hard and turning it into a FOREGONE CONCLUSION.
KRISTEN STEWART is the FUTURE OF CINEMA.
Get on your knees and BOW. First to LexG, then to the GREATEST ACTRESS OF THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS OF CINEMA.
Also, NEVER BACK DOWN fucking OWNED; Not its fault you all smugly think you're too good for it, and that most of you last the will to get your ass handed to you by a movie.
Posted by: LexG
at November 29, 2008 02:16 PM
What was the $100 million grosser fro Avco? I know it wasn't Vice Sqaud.
Posted by: Jimmy the Gent
at November 29, 2008 02:44 PM
That's funny, I was just watching Vice Squad last night, what are the odds?
Lex, you're still hundreds of millions and at least a dozen Oscars short on your Twilight predictions = FAIL.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at November 29, 2008 02:46 PM
Who is going to snap up THE STEW first:
Bruckheimer, Bay, or Spielberg?
It seems inevitable.
Posted by: LexG
at November 29, 2008 03:12 PM
No one if she keeps acting like a total idiot in her TV appearances. She's still a nobody, and will stay one if she keeps that up.
Posted by: Blackcloud
at November 29, 2008 03:17 PM
TOTAL IDIOT???? Explain, please.
You mean, acting like a perfectly normal, shy, polite young actress who isn't used to the Hollywood bullshit machine, and doesn't respond like a trained seal when Dave pulls his "Look at you, you're like a kid, is your boyfriend's name Louie?" stale shtick he's been doing for TWENTY YEARS>?
Posted by: LexG
at November 29, 2008 03:26 PM
No, acting like a stoned, sullen kid who doesn't realize that they haven't been invited on the show to hang out, but rather to actually be entertaining and tell funny or interesting stories so as to make their appearance worthwhile on a media platform with millions of viewers, and maybe to actually make her tweenybopper movie look worth seeing to people outside the key demographic.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at November 29, 2008 03:30 PM
I was entertained by every second.
And it's well known that K-STEW takes her craft very seriously, and it was obvious Dave was dismissive and condescending to her and about her project from the moment she sat down.
Which seemed like an arbitrary target, since there are DOZENS, HUNDREDS of similar, and similarly-aged, and similarly-serious, actress over the years where Letterman's just started fawning and flirting and messing up their hair and being a giant goofball.
But THE STEW doesn't roll like that.
Posted by: LexG
at November 29, 2008 03:34 PM
A limp noodle could out-act Kristen Stewart. She is mind-blowingly terrible in Twilight. No wonder the studios shied away, based on her perf alone. If you REALLY want to check out her acting chops though, see "What Just Happened" a movie in which I wondered if she was sleepwalking in scenes that featured her. The future of cinema??? Two of her last 5 movies couldn't even find distribution!!! And Twilight isn't even going to outgross Madagascar: Escape 2 Hell.
Also, D-PO are any of the films you named franchise films? Summit has a trilogy to work with, and supposedly Twilight is the weakest book. Also, Push, their new sci fi flick dropping in a couple months doesnt look too bad...
Posted by: EthanG
at November 29, 2008 03:35 PM
She OWNED in WHAT JUST HAPPENED? and TOTALLY ELEVATED DE NIRO'S GAME. It is no coincidence that his most invested and lived-in performance (except maybe for Good Shepherd) of the last decade is the one where he knew he had to square off against Kristen Stewart.
She was BRILLIANT in TWILIGHT and will be nominated.
EthanG, you don't deserve your last initial after that nonsense. Get on your knees AND BOW AS THOUGH GENERAL ZOD HIMSELF WERE COMMANDING YOUR HATING ASS. BOW.
Posted by: LexG
at November 29, 2008 03:38 PM
Lex, you were 'entertained by every second' because your hand was wrapped around your tallywacker. I used a euphemism so as not to offend your delicate sensibilities. Stewart was boring, and on Letterman it's 'go strong or go home' (unless a certain hotel heiress is on, and then he betrays himself).
Posted by: jeffmcm
at November 29, 2008 03:38 PM
Jeff, that first sentence is untrue and offensive, but mostly I wish your JARED-FROM-SUBWAY-LOOKING-ASS would stop imagining me in that manner. You seem to mention it way too much for comfort.
I always knew you were a fan.
K-STEW OWNS YOU and PARIS OWNS YOU, face the FACTS.
Posted by: LexG
at November 29, 2008 03:40 PM
Lex, you have officially piloted The Hot Blog on its' shark-jumping odyssey.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at November 29, 2008 03:40 PM
FIVE DOLLAR FOOTLONG, BITCH.
Posted by: LexG
at November 29, 2008 03:41 PM
(That was a reference to Jeff's resemblance to a certain sub sandwich pitchman.)
Posted by: LexG
at November 29, 2008 03:43 PM
I'm also staggered by the arrogance that you have in pretending to be offended by the exact same content that you spout regularly (i.e. jerking off to actresses) You are a liar.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at November 29, 2008 03:43 PM
And I don't have NEARLY as much loose, baggy, extra skin as Mr. Fogle. I warn you, I know lawyers.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at November 29, 2008 03:46 PM
Tom Cruise's lawyers?
Posted by: brack
at November 29, 2008 03:59 PM
Uh, boys...
Posted by: David Poland
at November 29, 2008 04:03 PM
Did I just cause a pissing contest between Jeff and Lex?
Posted by: Blackcloud
at November 29, 2008 04:09 PM
Jared from Subway looking ass? BAAAAAAAWHHHHHH!!! That's a good one.
Brack: what the fuck ever. Those fans are women and women have a problem when ADAPTATIONS do not follow everything JUST LIKE THE BOOK! This is the differences between men and women: men accept the change more than women ever will.
So those women -- who also read the Harry Potter books and bitch about those films -- will have to learn how to deal. That's how it works. If they want to bitch about, then they can go without Pattinson. It would seem they are incapable of doing so, and as usual the fucking MOVIE WILL WIN.
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at November 29, 2008 06:02 PM
Oh yeah: Warners will figure out one day, that franchises can only go on for so long. Eventually, they will hit upon something, and they will get a clue. If not; the next decade will be really uplifting for them.
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at November 29, 2008 06:05 PM
I just wish Summit would throw some of that money into promoting Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom. They delayed it two months because they presumably needed more time, essentially losing the momentum of the movie's premiere at Toronto (and a junket held there with most of the journalists from across the nation who will probably forget all about it by now)... so I have a feeling that Twilight and its sequels will be an anomaly for the company, used to fund the rest of the year's lackluster releases.
Posted by: EDouglas
at November 29, 2008 07:24 PM
Stewart won't become the star out of Twilight, it'll be Robert Pattinson.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0
at November 29, 2008 11:50 PM
K-STEW BOW TO THE STEW.
ZATHURA.
FROM THE STAR OF TWILIGHT.
I am not hating on Pattinson and that dude will be huge, and much respect. What I wouldn't give to look like that dude or have his life at the moment. BUT THE STEW IS THE NEXT KATE WINSLET.
Posted by: LexG
at November 30, 2008 12:05 AM
If you had his life you'd throw it away on booze and STD-riddled tarts. And considering your comments about nobody watching Kate Winslet movies twice, I find it hard to imagine many people are clamouring to watch Zathura once, let alone twice.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0
at November 30, 2008 02:51 AM
I thought Stewart was excellent in Twilight. Her role is a bit thankless compared to Pattinson's, since she is the core audience's surrogate, not its love object. But she nailed it.
As for her Letterman appearance, I can't bring myself to watch it, because I don't particularly need to see a cat play with a mouse for 7 minutes. So she's not a great interview -- neither is De Niro or many other noted actors. Sure, if I were a Twilight publicist, I'd be bummed, but I try to judge actors on their acting, not talk show appearances, scripted award show banter, or TMZ ambush footage. Especially teenagers, for God's sake.
Posted by: yancyskancy
at November 30, 2008 02:53 AM
YANCYSKANCY OWNS ALL, as usual.
EASILY up there with the top five cool posters, and ALWAYS recognizing.
FUCK YEAH.
FACE THE FACTS ALL, K-STEW IS GOD AND YOU AND A PUDDLE OF MUDD, WORTHLESS AND WEAK.
Posted by: LexG
at November 30, 2008 02:57 AM
Kristen Stewart was the worst thing about Twilight. Her scenes were painful to watch. The only thing she's good at is lighting up.
Posted by: Filmsnob
at November 30, 2008 08:31 AM
OMG, not weed! Anything but weed! She's a terrible human being!
Posted by: brack
at November 30, 2008 09:18 AM
She's getting nominated????....for what??? SJP is more likely to get a nom for Sex and the City than Kristen Stewart.
Posted by: EthanG
at November 30, 2008 09:54 AM
Can you count on one hand the number of guests who have ever called bullshit on Letterman's condescension? Where have you gone, Harvey Pekar?
Posted by: christian
at November 30, 2008 11:36 AM
Not sure what folks were expecting from Stewart. She was cast as a sullen, bookish, outsider-type teen girl who's crushing on a dangerous guy, so that's what she plays. I don't expect her to get nominated though, because the Academy usually thinks subtlety equals lack of effort. Hope I'm wrong, Lex.
Posted by: yancyskancy
at November 30, 2008 01:31 PM
The best part of that interview is David Letterman's stupidity about modern Europe. Apparently the dumb hick motherfucker NEVER HEARD OF THE CHUNNEL! THE FUCKING CHUNNEL! One of the great achievements of modern engineering, and dipshit has no idea it exist.
If he did. He would know that you can now drive from LONDON TO THE REST OF FUCKING EUROPE! HELL... YOU CAN TAKE A BOAT! Fucking moron and his audience too!
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at November 30, 2008 02:35 PM
as in you can put your car on a BOAT and it will take you to the rest of Europe. They still refer to it as DRIVING.
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at November 30, 2008 02:36 PM
I do love Dave, but there are moments when his limitations are manifest. For a guy with that much money and access, he's often ignorant. At his worst, he's like Leno interviewing David Lynch: "Gee, you're kinda weird. Kinda oddball. I don't get it. Do you?"
Posted by: christian
at November 30, 2008 02:52 PM
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