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Shaun of the Dead = Bomb?

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Willco

Hollywood Square
Didn't even crack the Top 10 according to Friday's estimates...

1 THE FORGOTTEN
3,104 $7,900,000


2 SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
3,170 $2,200,000


3 MR. 3000
2,736 $1,525,000


4 FIRST DAUGHTER
2,259 $1,350,000


5 RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE
2,736 $1,200,000


6 WIMBLEDON
2,039 $1,175,000


7 CELLULAR
2,763 $1,125,000


8 WITHOUT A PADDLE
2,319 $750,000


9 NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
1,024 $575,000


10 HERO
1,926 $540,000

... Well there goes our From Dusk Till Shaun sequel!
 

Alucard

Banned
No way...Shaun of the Dead shits on most of the other movies on that list. Maybe it hasn't gotten enough advertising or isn't in enough theatres? I'm doing my part and spreading its coolness by word of mouth.
 

Willco

Hollywood Square
Yeah, anyone find it awful that Resident Evil: Apocalypse will make like a gazillion more dollars than Shaun of the Dead, despite it being shit and Shaun of the Dead being "... the second coming of zombie Jesus". The reviews are in!
 

Baron Aloha

A Shining Example
I saw it today at 2pm and the theatre was about half full so I don't think its a complete bomb. I thought it was just "okay" myself. It has its funny moments but they are nowhere near Dead Alive levels. The first half hour is the best part of the movie because its funny seeing how oblivious Shaun is to the zombie outbreak. After that its the same sort of thing we've seen before. Also, it seems like this movie can't decide what it wants to be. At times its funny but at other times it takes a very serious/dramatic turn. It's always well acted but these serious moments take away from the comedy because its kind of hard to get back into a jovial mood after some of them.

The best part of the movie for me was...

The part where Shaun and his friends pretend to be zombies so that they can walk though the zombie mob. This is always something I've thought of when I watch zombie movies because I've always thought it would be good idea but the people in these movies never think about it. I'm so glad someone finally did it.
 

COCKLES

being watched
First half - Instant Classic
Second half - Meh.

And all the Spaced cameos kinda pulled me out of the movie.
 

evil ways

Member
JC10001 said:
The best part of the movie for me was...

The part where Shaun and his friends pretend to be zombies so that they can walk though the zombie mob. This is always something I've thought of when I watch zombie movies because I've always thought it would be good idea but the people in these movies never think about it. I'm so glad someone finally did it.

According to zombie folklore, they are driven by hunger and the smell of fresh flesh, which is why you probably never see them eat eachother or themselves, so it wouldn't work.
 

FoneBone

Member
I think word of mouth might help it. Then again, I said the same thing about Sky Captain last week.

Oddly, the theater I was in didn't seem particularly deserted.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
Comfort_Eagle said:
How the fuck do you think Titanic made so much money?

Stupid teenage girls who saw it 10,000,000,000 times until Lost in Space came out and knocked it out of #1.
 

way more

Member
People, people. Hopefully it will build up word-of-mouth and slowly release in more and more theaters. For a movie like this, that sort of model will work perfectly.

And I think Americans have much worst taste then the rest of the world, Germans excluded.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
MIMIC said:
OMFG! I am so SICK of this excuse!!

I find your lack of faith disturbing!

popelackfaith.jpg
 

Triumph

Banned
mac said:
People, people. Hopefully it will build up word-of-mouth and slowly release in more and more theaters. For a movie like this, that sort of model will work perfectly.

And I think Americans have much worst taste then the rest of the world, Germans excluded.
Dude, be fair. The Japanese have far worse taste than the Germans. Of course, we Americans reign supreme as the KINGS of Bad Taste.
 

Triumph

Banned
Willco said:
Americans > World.
That's right! And if you disagree with us, we'll invade your country and give you "democracy", which apparently involves making your citizenry dumb enough to enjoy daytime tv and actually want to put pink lawn flamingos in their front yard.
 

Suerte

Member
Uuuhh, just because it hasn't done well in America, dosen't mean there won't be a sequel. It was a success in the UK and that's where its target market is. Also, I don't think they're working on a direct sequel of Shaun, I hear it's a buddy cop type movie next, set in the kind of "Spaced" world. (eg same actors, etc)
 

Willco

Hollywood Square
I think some expecting a laugh-a-minute riot are going to be disappointed, but this certainly is the funniest and most enjoyable flick in the genre since Evil Dead II.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
FoneBone said:
It's not really an "after all" situation. Fact is, the movie was simply excluded from those early Friday numbers. In actuality, it was 7th for Friday, 8th Saturday and projections put it at 8th today. So it's not like it made some big turn around, the data we had earlier was simply incomplete.
 

border

Member
A bomb? Come on! What do you want from a movie that's only on 607 screens? I live in a city of roughly 1 million citizens and I would have to drive an hour and a half to Gainesville to see the damned movie. Of course it's not going to do bang-up numbers when so many markets are ignored.

It is averaging over $5000 per theatre, which is really a blockbuster figure.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Brian Fellows said:
And it made about 5 times more per theatre than most everything else in the top 10.
Of course, this doesn't mean much. A significant portion of this movie's audience is surely fans of the genre, and would have driven a little further to see it earlier. It's not like if this had 2 or 3 thousand theaters it'd be making the same average.

In general, the number of theaters and the per theater average are inversely proportional.

Besides, the only new film that had a smaller per theater average was First Daughter. The Forgotten beat it by a significant amount and had 5 times the theaters. Everything else in the top 10 has been out for 2-6 weeks.
 

aparisi2274

Member
Here is the real bomb:

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Domestic Total as of Sep. 26, 2004: $25,594,000 (Estimate)
Distributor: Paramount Release Date: September 17, 2004
Running Time: 1 hrs. 47 min. Production Budget: $70 million
MPAA Rating: PG Est. Marketing Costs: $35 million
 

aparisi2274

Member
Willco said:
Except those numbers are all wrong.

What numbers? The numbers I posted from boxofficemojo? The numbers that people post in here every week? now all of a sudden are wrong?

Also, how can u say Shaun of the Dead is a bomb when it only opened in 307 theaters and made $3mil. that pretty good.
 

Willco

Hollywood Square
He (Director Conran) said "Sky Captain's" budget was less than the $70 million that has been reported.

Filming took place on a sound stage in which various areas served as different locales, "and we walked the actors around these different environments."

"Within the span of 10 minutes, you cross the globe," Conran said. "And it was those kinds of economics of scale that made this affordable."

Using computers kept the budget low, especially for a potential big-studio blockbuster (The New York Times reported a budget of $70 million, but Conran says the real figure is much lower) -- and also helped give the picture a unique look, one derived in equal parts from black-and-white films of the '40s, pulp magazine covers and Golden Age comic books.

Ironically, the blockbuster mentality in Hollywood is such that Paramount (and by studio mandate, Conran) is keeping mum about "Sky Captain's" budget, which Conran confirms is well below the $60 million to $70 million quoted in several mainstream publications. Conran won't pretend to understand the logic behind keeping modest budgets secret.

It's real budget is about $30 million. It'll make that and more when all is said and done. It's not even the biggest bomb of the year, by far.

aparisi2274 said:
Also, how can u say Shaun of the Dead is a bomb when it only opened in 307 theaters and made $3mil. that pretty good.

You're 300 theaters off in your count, but that's okay. I said it bombed based on Friday estimates. I did not expect it to crack the Top 10. This is a huge achievement and everyone involved are to be congratulated.
 

border

Member
Where was the 30 million budget confirmed? Sky Captain hasn't even made back the money they spent on marketing....unless the foreign markets pull through it'll assuredly be a box office bomb.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
I'm not sure how that is a confirmation. You still have to take Conran's word for it. He's the only one disputing the widely reported $60-70. I'm sure it's lower than that, but it's not much of a confirmation.

I mean, directors aren't exactly unknown to twisting things in the media in order to protect themselves. Just go back a month and look at Paul WS Anderson. I'm just saying... it's not like anyone can hold Conran accountable for what he says in the media, and it's not like he wouldn't have ulterior motives. I'm too cynical to just take his word for it, even if the $60-70 million is likely high.
 

border

Member
My point was just that Conran says it is "lower" than estimated, but hasn't confirmed any particular figure (not sure where 30m came from)....
 
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