Surrogates Flops At Box Office Dan Koelsch, September 28, 2009 The official box office returns are in for the weekend, and it looks like there ain’t nothing like the real thing. Surrogates flopped with a three day pull of only $14.9 million, coming in second place behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, which pulled in $25 million in its second week. For a action film with a $80 million budget, that’s not good for Disney, who owns Touchstone Pictures, the studio behind the Bruce Willis film. Why the poor results? The critical reception of the film was harsh, with the film only earning a 38% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. If you read my review, you’ll know I disagree with most of the critics, though I understand some of their points. The film is a bit moody and cliche, but I didn’t find those elements distracting enough for me not to enjoy the film. You could also blame the failure on people not really understanding the concept the film. When I told people I went to see Surrogates this weekend, almost everyone asked me, “Oh, yeah, what’s that about again?”, even though the trailers are pretty clear about the premise. Probably one of the biggest follies by Disney was it’s marketing of the film. The viral site ChooseYourSurrogate.com went nowhere, and public awareness for the film was very low, despite those creepy bus-stop posters (seen above) all over the place. I’ll have a complete review of the viral for Surrogates tomorrow. Hopefully this doesn’t mean Disney will stop trying to make interesting films like this. However, Michael Bay’s The Island flopped, and everyone came out of that OK. Why do you think Surrogates did so bad? News Surrogates
Iron Man 2: See the Premiere with Scarlett and No Hulk! September 17, 2009June 6, 2010Want to go the premiere of Iron Man 2 next year as a guest of Scarlett Johansson? Just pay a handsome sum and you’re in. The actress is an ambassador for the charity group Oxfam America, and they are collaborating to auction off two premiere tickets, which include a meet-and-greet… Read More
The Buzz: Nolan Talks IMAX and 3D, Hopkins as Hitchcock, & Possible “Catching Fire” Director April 20, 2012April 20, 2012The Buzz is a feature in which we round up the Top 3 most-buzzed-about movie/TV stories of the week (in chronological order). Why go through pages of blogs just to find out what everyone is talking about? We’ve got it all right here. Read More
Avatar and Sherlock Holmes Featured on Tomorrow’s ‘Behind the Screen’ December 15, 2009December 15, 2009Tomorrow seems to be the Official “See More of Robert Downey Jr.” Day, because along with Entertainment Tonight’s segment on the upcoming Iron Man 2, MTV’s series ‘Behind the Screen’ will preview Sherlock Holmes, along with Avatar. The show will have exclusive clips from both movies as well as an… Read More