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
“Take Me Home Tonight” Behind the Scenes Featurette February 24, 2011February 24, 2011The folks over at Relativity Media have released a behind the scenes featurette for the upcoming 80’s comedy Take Me Home Tonight. Directed by Michael Dowse, the film stars Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Don Fogler, Teresa Palmer, and Chris Pratt. Set in 1988, recent MIT grad goes through a series… Read More
Elephants On Parade: The Coolest Pachyderms In Film November 20, 2013From “Water For Elephants” to “Horton Hears A Who,” the elephant is beloved in both classic and modern films. Unfortunately, these movie tributes belie an unfortunate reality: according to the World Wildlife Fund, elephants are fighting for survival, with threats from ivory poachers to the continued decimation of their natural… Read More
News Movie Review: The Boy Next Door January 23, 2015January 23, 2015This week The Boy Next Door meets Jenny from the Block in this January thriller from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse. Jennifer Lopez plays Claire, a woman who after being cheated on by her husband (John Corbett) is on the mend as her broken family reels from the events. Things are… Read More