I hadn't realised that Kick Ass was considered a box office disappointment

[andrewducker]

Via

Comments

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

Great post. And sadly, all too true. The good films never do as well as some crappy shoot-em-up with a washed-up action "star."

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Comic-con has gained too much of a reputation as a test-bed for new material for the studios. I suspect if they have any sense, they'll start using Comic-con less and less.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

Funny thing is, Kick Ass has done so well on DVD/BluRay that they're talking about fast tracking a sequel.

[andrewducker]

I believe that Serenity also did much better on DVD than it did at the cinema. This seems to be something of a trend for geek movies. I strongly suspect that Scott Pilgrim will do likewise.

[skington.livejournal.com]

See also the Shawshank Redemption. Did rubbish at cinemas, then sold boatloads on DVD, and carried on selling boatloads.

(See also Stardust, where e.g. Neil Gaiman said "hey, let's market it as something like the Princess Bride" and marketing people said "Nah, Princess Bride made no money in theatrical release".)

I think the problem is that the people who "know" about finance, and look at first weekend cinema revenues because that's the only indicator, pronounce a film a success based on that alone, and there's no way of saying "hey, US first weekend revenues aren't the only metric".

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Yes:

The estimate is that Kick-Ass will do 100 to 150m on DVD based on the American sales, so it'll end up making a $250m (£160m) on a $28m investment.

>

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

I would have seen Serenity over and over again, if it hadn't been so utterly, hope-shatteringly awful. Maybe they should try not only looking going in the preview, but actually being almost something like decent.

(Loved Kick-Ass, though!)

[andrewducker]

I saw Serenity twice, and loved it to bits. Thought it was just as good as the TV series, which was I also thought was great.

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

I adored the television show, couldn't stand the movie. What was the point? River is a superwoman who can single-handedly destroy, well, everything. Why was anyone else even there? Oh, and let's kill off a couple of people for no point whatsoever.

The entire tone was different from the show, and every interesting storyline from the show was butchered in the movie.

The movie by itself would have been a vaguely enjoyable B sci-fi movie, but not when it slaughtered a fantasy world that was really unique and interesting.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

Hollywood seem intent on missing the blissfully fucking obvious, which I will now spell out in great clarity:

GEEKS DON'T DO CINEMA.

but are very happy to splash out on the extended special edition 4-disc Blu-Ray which plays rather wonderfully on the beefy home PC cinema system, which does things like pause on demand and lacks extremely annoying cinema audiences who insist on being noisy asshats the whole way through the show.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

I don't believe Kick-Ass was a box-office disappointment, but I may be confusing that term with flop. It just didn't do great. Did better than it cost to make, although probably broke even when you consider advertising.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, once you include non-US earnings it probably broke even.

[ajr.livejournal.com]

I don't believe Kick-Ass was a box-office disappointment.

This is because you are (clearly) a rational human being, and not the sort of crazy person to whom opening weekend box-office figures are the most important thing ever. Sadly, most of Hollywood falls into the latter category, along with most of Hollywood watchers. Which is why Kick-Ass is 'widely regarded' as a box office disappointment. Because, by that narrow criteria, it was.

Hollywood logic. Go figure.