Box Office Report: Baby Penguins and Bond Beat Baby Jesus Badly
For the third weekend in a row, Happy Feet took first place at the box office, and for the third weekend in a row Casino Royale was not far behind. Though a ton of folks are questioning its messages and sexual undertones, the animated kiddie flick still managed to take home $17 million; Casino Royale almost topped it, but fell short with only $15 million. Deja Vu ($11 million) looked familiar enough for it to hold onto third place, bringing its total thus far to $44.1 million.
From another article, it points out just how horrific the numbers were on the nativity movie: "If this past weekend was any indication, people are a lot more interested in the death of Jesus than his birth.... With Christmas only a few weeks away, you'd think this was the perfect time to release a film that revolves around the birth of Jesus, right? Wrong. The film took in only $8 million, the second lowest total in history for a film debuting on over 3,100 screens. But why did it tank? Bad marketing? Poor reviews? Were people too busy Christmas shopping? Was it because Mel Gibson and the controversy were absent?"
So I ask it from a different perspective. Are the two films, i.e. Passion and Natitivity the same genre? Any thoughts on Jesus as a genre? The important aspect, it seems to me, would be understanding how to market this genre (if it is one), as Gibson so effectively did.
It also occurs to me that maybe we're asking the wrong question. Is there instead an anti-semitic genre, and we should be connecting Passion and Borat instead. (I offer that while fully understanding that Borat is making fun of anti-semites)
Note: I'm not really suggesting this - what I'm suggesting is that drawing conclusions based upon random factors in the midst of so many considerations, i.e. marketing, star power, timing, critical reception, etc. is a constant in both the film business and in film studies, but it is often like looking at goat entrails to predict the future. Nevertheless, we're going to be playing in those entrails within a month!
1 comment:
I think the main difference between these two films is explained by one of your later posts: that concerning the torture genre and the appealing nature of watching such films. We've all seen movies (cartoon, ABC or otherwise) depicting the birth of Jesus. Not many have seen anything showing his death - especially when it is shown in fully graphic detail
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