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Buffista Movies 5: Development Hell

A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.

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tommyrot - May 10, 2006 11:49:52 am PDT #1693 of 10001

Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

The Fall of Tom Cruise

Hollywood frets over the weak opening of Mission: Impossible III.

...Hollywood is left pondering who can still legitimately be called a movie star. Last year, the late Radar magazine conducted a (never-published) survey of agents, producers, and executives. One question was, "Who is the industry's most desirable actor?" Even then, Cruise was not the favorite. "I don't think it's the couch-jumper any more," the head of one studio division said at the time. Brad Pitt won almost by default even though he is hardly a sure thing (Troy, Fight Club, Meet Joe Black), while second place went to Will Smith.

Many of those polled struggled to come up with names. "Is Pixar a man or a woman?" asked a producer after groping for answers. "A Pixar image is the single most compelling image."

"There is nobody who's a star," said one marketing executive. "There are a lot of good-looking people—but they're not movie stars." And that may go a long way toward explaining what Anderson Cooper is doing on the cover of this month's Vanity Fair.

Jessica - May 10, 2006 12:00:18 pm PDT #1694 of 10001

And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Hollywood frets over the weak opening of Mission: Impossible III.

t eyeroll

Yeah, cause $48 million is a terrible opening weekend. (Pre-Memorial Day for the third episode of a franchise.)

tommyrot - May 10, 2006 12:05:48 pm PDT #1695 of 10001

Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

Yeah, cause $48 million is a terrible opening weekend. (Pre-Memorial Day for the third episode of a franchise.)

Well, it was significantly below Hollywood expectations. (I can't say if those expectations were realistic.)

erikaj - May 10, 2006 12:44:55 pm PDT #1696 of 10001

Always Anti-fascist!

I think that might be the problem. They've gotten used to slapping Mr. or Ms. Bankable on some sequel and expecting there to be stampedes.

Matt the Bruins fan - May 10, 2006 1:35:35 pm PDT #1697 of 10001

"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

I am happy that Cruise's movie seems to be the one that the house of cards tumbles down on, though.

Jessica - May 10, 2006 1:35:49 pm PDT #1698 of 10001

And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Well, it was significantly below Hollywood expectations.

IIRC, it was projected to make $50m (and $2m is pocket change in box office dollars). I think we're mainly seeing a "HA! TAKE THAT, CRUISE! You're crazy and your movie bombed!" reaction.

Sean K - May 10, 2006 1:59:19 pm PDT #1699 of 10001

You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

Plus, there've been rumors (no link right now) that big chunks of the ticket sales for MI:3 were driven by Scientologists buying huge numbers of seats (that are not necessarily filled with butts when the opening credits roll).

Matt the Bruins fan - May 10, 2006 2:00:22 pm PDT #1700 of 10001

"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

Do the studios really care? Ticket money for empty seats will spend just like any other...

§ ita § - May 10, 2006 2:04:16 pm PDT #1701 of 10001

Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I think it'll affect Tom's reputation--I don't think they can assume that Xenu will bankroll him forever.

Sean K - May 10, 2006 2:04:30 pm PDT #1702 of 10001

You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

Do the studios really care? Ticket money for empty seats will spend just like any other...

No, of course not. Studios don't give a rat's ass if not a single pair of eyeballs watches, as long as the ticket sales are there. It just adds a little schadenfreude sauce to the small helping of schadenfreude tar tar that comes from the movie not making expectations.

But truth be told, I think Jess' point is quite valid.

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