It's difficult enough for me to set aside time for one movie since my work, sleep, and exercise schedules all conflict. (I've been trying to find the time to see Ratatouille for two weeks now and haven't yet succeeded. But I did finally watch the 2nd half of "Houses of the Holy" this morning before work, after only 5 days of trying!)

Bayistas:

I have one more pass to go see a free screening of Stardust on Thursday. It's at 7:30 at the AMC Van Ness - it's a press screening, so getting there early-ish (like 7) is advised. If anyone would like to join Suzi and myself, please let me know!

I'm in, juliana!

Unless, er, someone already e-mailed you or something.

Also, happy birthday!

Hmmm. I just noticed Captivity is co-written by "Joseph Tura". That's a made up name if ever I saw one. Wonder what that's about.

From boston.com:

Finicky film freaks will recognize "Joseph Tura" as the name of Jack Benny’s character in the classic ‘‘To Be or Not To Be,’’ which means someone’s hiding under a pseudonym and it’s probably Joffe.

How is that made up? I don't get it.

ETA: And ita comes through.

I was kind of surprised that Captivity TANKED at the box office. Horribly. Then I noticed that only a thousand theatres even carried it. And it was still beaten by Sicko.

I was kind of surprised that Captivity TANKED at the box office.

Despite all the hullabaloo, I thought it still kinda looked bad.

There's probably a lot of markets where they wouldn't open it thanks to all the bad press. "Family theater" chains and the like.

I was kind of surprised that Captivity TANKED at the box office.

I guess misogynistic fictionalized torture and rape just don't bring 'em in like they used to.

Despite the low theatre count (er, for a wide release), it's per screen average was still rubbish. It tanked. Given the amount of media hype, you would have thought it would have done better, so I think Steph is correct.

The studio tried to play a strange (but obvious) game towards the end -- they sighted the film as an example of female empowerment, for example, then had a launch party which they told the media in advance would send women's groups nuts, and had things like this at the launch party: [link]

That party also had the banners the MPAA had demanded they remove from distribution up. The MPAA got them to take them down at the party. It was a cynical publicity attempt.

I've been looking at Lion's Gate recently, and 'torture porn' accounts for just over half a million dollars of their theatre gross for the last few years, and totals $2bn (estimated) with DVDs.

Given the amount of media hype, you would have thought it would have done better

If media hype couldn't make Snakes On A Plane a hit, even gawking curiosity shouldn't make a big difference to Captivity's numbers.