Bad news for the alamo, anolther bomb for disney??

[Bob O]

The Alamo ONLY made 3.4 million on Friday and came in a distant 3rd.
Not good for a movie that cost aprox. 107 million to make and untold 10's of millions on a pr campaign, i guess more write downs for disney???

 

[mobmilli]

How many times has this story been told??
For some reason guess Disney thought with their name on it, We'll explode at the box office. This one I knew not to waste my money and had a feeling about Home on the Range but had to give it a shot, but wasted money on that one !!

 

[Uncleromulus]

Actually, over time, I think it will do well enough. Saw it yesterday and thought it well done and probably more historically "accurate" than any previous Alamo movie.
But then--maybe that's the problem??

 

[Grog]

It actually is a good movie. Unfortunately, to get it down to 137 minutes, Disney had Hancock trim too much out of it. This movie easily could have been the three hour epic that was originally envisioned. There's a couple of scenes that may not make a lot of sense to people to people not familiar with the subject matter. I read the novelization of the script and there's a couple of major, and a few minor, scenes missing.

As for not doing well at the box office, that seems to happen when the doom and gloom predictions start long before the movie comes out (there is the rare exception, like Titanic). Disney didn't help by announcing a Christmas 2003 date then pulling it. Whenever that happens it always gets the rumor mill going. Going up against The Passion on Easter weekend probably didn't help much either.

 

[Bob O]

No movie was as savaged as The Passion of the Christ by the media/critics, but a good/quality movie can overcome the naysayers, i will see ther Alamo but it is unlikely this movie will do likewise.
Of course disney could have spent almost the same amount of money and could have had Russell Crowe/Ron Howard to sell the movie, alas they dont have the quality and prvoen track record they provide to see a moive.
As for "well enough" is that to say the movie will make at least 150 million box office to break even??? Not very likely!!

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by Bob O
The Alamo ONLY made 3.4 million on Friday and came in a distant 3rd.

Do people even GO to the movies on Good Friday? We were never allowed to when we were kids. Not that Alamo is necessarily a kids movie, but I wouldn't expect Good Friday to be a big movie night. Except maybe for "Passion of the Christ." And I'd expect Passion to take the weekend as well. We'll see ...

 

[Bob O]

For most movies Friday amd Saturday are there big days and sunday starts the drop off.
Considering our countries current moral standards etc, i dont think enough people going to church is an excuse for Alamo's box office.

 

[WDSearcher]

I wasn't using it as an excuse, just wondering if taking Friday's numbers alone was enough to assume that the whole weekend would be bad. I figure it'll hit about $10mil for the weekend, but never really make up its production costs. At least not domestically. It might do quite well overseas -- there are a lot of countries that really like American westerns.

I'm still looking forward to seeing it ... just can't make it this weekend.

As for Passion of the Christ ... whether the film was a critical success or not, it made the bulk of its impact and money on pre-sales. Churches bought tens of thousands of tickets for special showings on Ash Wednesday before the film had even been seen by critics, and those same churches and religious organizations have continued to purchase large blocks of tickets -- or buy-out entire theaters -- throughout the Easter Holy Season. And they'd have likely done that regardless of the critical response. If Mel had to rely only on the interest of the general public for his film, he'd have done far worse at the box office.

 

[Grog]

So far it's taken in $9.2 million and is in 4th place behind Johnson Family Vacation. Disney took on The Passion and two movies (Hellboy, Johnson) that are pulling in the young adult demographic this weekend. Of course at the time the April decision was made, nobody could have forseen the runway blockbuster that The Passion became. Most probably thought it would be out of theaters by now. Hopefully The Alamo can rebound to respectable levels, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[eclipseSD]

Hidalgo. Bomb. Home On The Range. Bomb. The Alamo. Bomb.

This really hasn't been a good month and a half for Disney, has it?

 

[KNWVIKING]

What did a seven week old movie siphone away from new releases ? 20 mil ? How big a movie weekend is Easter weekend to begin with. Next week, most kids are outof school and The Passion has probably seen its last major numbers. What's due out next weekend ? Anything worth mentioning ?

 

[Planogirl]

Originally posted by KNWVIKING
What's due out next weekend ? Anything worth mentioning ?

Nothing for kids. For young adults, Kill Bill 2 and The Punisher. I think that the weekend after could be a big problem with the Clifford movie and 13 Going on 30.

Does anyone think that girls may have been drawn away from HOTR by Ella Enchanted and The Prince And Me? Plus Scooby Doo is still doing pretty well. There's just too many movies out right now.

 

[Bob O]

wdwsearcher-Mel Gibson's movie did benefit initially from pre-sales, but that it no way made the movie the massive blockbuster it is!!!!
It is a blockbuster because it is a "GREAT" movie that tells a compelling story that people want to see, many numerous times. If the movie had been lousy it wouldnt have had the sales at the box office it is having now or after the initial pre-sales because word of mouth would have killed it. As for the churches making large pre-sale buys, alot of church leaders had seen the movie prior to it being released and were very much aware of the quality of this film.
As for American westerns, if you want to see a great one, go watch UnForgiven or TheGood The Bad and the Ugly.

 

[Lori in CNY]

Originally posted by Uncleromulus
Actually, over time, I think it will do well enough. Saw it yesterday and thought it well done and probably more historically "accurate" than any previous Alamo movie.
But then--maybe that's the problem??

Maybe not in all parts of the country but up here in SNOW country, our major malls were all closed for the day...including the movie theaters.

 

[DemoBri1]

Originally posted by eclipseSD
Hidalgo. Bomb. Home On The Range. Bomb. The Alamo. Bomb.

This really hasn't been a good month and a half for Disney, has it?

"blah blah blah blah"

 

[raidermatt]

Interesting take, Demo...



This from CBSMarketwatch.com:

Goldman sees possible $50M charge from Disney's Alamo (DIS) By Michael Baron
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Goldman Sachs estimates that Walt Disney (DIS) may have to record a write-off of as much as $50 million related to the poor performance of its 'The Alamo' film. The movie opened this past weekend, selling roughly $9 million in tickets, a figure that fell well short of Goldman's estimate of a $20 million debut that would be needed to avoid a charge. Shares of Disney, a Dow component, were down 2 percent to $$25.73 in morning action. Also weighing on the stock was an opinion from Banc of America that Comcast would drop its acquisition bid of Disney.

 

[dpic]

I think if I wanted to invest $100 million in a movie where my studio's reputation where on the line, I think I'd pick one where the stars of the show (the ones I paid a lot of money to cast) were alive at the end.

With the money it costs to go to movies, I want to walk out of a movie feeling good. A film where all the major, likeable stars end up dead doesn't exactly make me want to beat a path to the theatre.

 

[Grog]

I want to walk out of a movie feeling good. A film where all the major, likeable stars end up dead doesn't exactly make me want to beat a path to the theatre.

That's why they filmed the battle of San Jacinto as well. Unfortunately, it's not really advertised that that's how the film ends, so people are going to assume that the ending is one big downer.

 

[eclipseSD]

No matter how much you loved Hidalgo, HOTR, or the Alamo or just Disney in general; you cannot tell me that they did not bomb miserably with the public, critics, and box office (where it really counts.)

'Alamo' Bomb Pressures Eisner

Huge Write Off

Can't Eisner see the writing on the wall?

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by dpic
I think if I wanted to invest $100 million in a movie where my studio's reputation where on the line, I think I'd pick one where the stars of the show (the ones I paid a lot of money to cast) were alive at the end.

You mean like "Titanic?"

Or ... "Lord of the Rings?"